Terre Logsdon – Record-Bee staff
COBB The geothermal mitigation committee for Cobb has begun the process of reviewing and approving applications for community improvement projects.
The group, which met for the first time April 6, consists of community members Robert Stark, Dwayne Harper and Boyd Green; Special Districts Administrator Mark Dellinger; Calpine representative Dave Jackson; and District 5 Supervisor Rob Brown.
Calpine operates 21 geothermal plants in The Geysers, while Northern California Power Authority (NCPA) only operates two. Those two plants, however, are geographically much closer to Anderson Springs, so NCPA which is a member of the Anderson Springs committee is not a member of the Cobb committee.
It is unknown at this time if the Bottle Rock plant, located less than three miles from Cobb and operated by the US Renewables Group, will join the Cobb group when the plant becomes fully operational by year s end.
Stark said the committee looked at eight requests. It voted to conditionally approve an application from Friends of Boggs Forest for a concept project, he said, which involves installing trails and sidewalks in various areas of Cobb, with links to Boggs Mountain State Forest and a map in the center of town.
We ve allocated $20,000 to begin that project, Stark said, but added they, need a group to take it on.
Brown reported some of the applications were denied.
There are some proposals that we d like to help, Brown said, such as a storage room for playground equipment that the PTO (Parent Teacher Organization) applied for, and a sixth grade science trip.
Those two projects were rejected, said Brown. Other applications that were denied were for home foundation repairs.
We ve had two submissions for foundation damage, Brown, but we can t determine the cause.
Stark said at this point the committee is not comfortable approving applications for individuals, wanting to focus instead on projects that benefit the entire community.
Our committee members aren t interested in judging their neighbors, Stark said. We don t have the kind of physical earthquake-type damage as Anderson Springs.
At the previous Seismic Monitoring Advisory Committee (SMAC) meeting held last Nov. 14, discussions were held about injecting water into specific wells for steam production overlaid with maps of earthquakes in an attempt to positively correlate injection with seismic activity.
In the southeast Geysers area, where NCPA operates, they have tried a new method of injecting water into the wells with horizontal drilling away from Anderson Springs, which Bill Smith of NCPA said appears to have lessened seismic activity, although it s too soon to tell definitively.
The next SMAC meeting is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Monday, May 8 in the Board of Supervisors chambers, 255 N. Forbes St. in Lakeport. Public input is scheduled on the agenda.
Contact Terre Logsdon at tlogsdon@record-bee.com.
