By Jeremy Walsh — Staff reporter
COBB — The lawsuit against the county regarding the Bottle Rock Power, LLC (BRP) expansion plan remains in settlement negotiations more than six months after a local environmental group petitioned the court in an effort to stop the project.
“We”re still in the settlement conference mode,” Hamilton Hess, chair of Friends of Cobb Mountain, said. “Both parties are being conscientiously cooperative.”
The group wants the court to reverse decisions made by the Lake County Board of Supervisors (BOS) that allowed BRP expansion to move forward.
The company proposes to construct two new geothermal well pads, drill up to 22 production and injection wells and add nearly 1.3 miles of new pipeline on roughly 470 acres of surface land it leases on High Valley Road in Cobb. BRP currently operates a power plant and three geothermal well pads on land adjacent to the expansion area.
The petition, filed in May, argues the county”s choice to certify the environmental impact report (EIR) prepared for the project, among other decisions, violated state law. Friends of Cobb Mountain claims the EIR does not adequately address or mitigate potential project impacts, such as noise, traffic and possible health effects to local residents.
The BOS, however, agreed with the Lake County Planning Commission”s certification of the EIR, voting 4-1 in April to deny the Friends of Cobb Mountain appeal of commission decisions related to the project.
The group responded by seeking litigation to halt the expansion. The petition lists the County of Lake and BOS as respondents. BRP is among several “real parties in interest.”
The parties have had several settlement meetings during the past six months but have not reached an agreement.
BRP continues to be involved in the negotiations, and though minor work began soon after the BOS approval, construction on the expansion project stopped in mid-summer, according to general manager Brian Harms.
“I”m hopeful that we will be able to resolve this through the settlement process,” Harms said.
A settlement meeting is set for early December, according to Hess.
The next court date is Dec. 19 at 1:15 p.m. for a case management conference, according to County Counsel Anita Grant.
Contact Jeremy Walsh at jwalsh@record-bee.com or call him at 263-5636, ext. 37.
