Dear Friends of Cobb, You Win!
Thanks Friends of Cobb, you win — but at what cost? In my opinion, for the last 4-plus years you have been trying to get Bottle Rock Power Plant to shut down. Well you got your wish. Why, because you had to fight every move Bottle Rock made to become a better and more attractive operation to a new investor or buyer. In 2010 Bottle Rock tried to develop a new steam field on Binkley lease. But at every stage you blocked the progress. You held up the EIR, the planning commission, and then when that failed you sued us to which only after you were paid off did that problem go away. All this delay and law suits drove investors away. No one wanted to buy a power plant with all those troubles. Now, because of all those delays, no one wants to invest in Bottle Rock. The investment costs have become too much to interest a new buyer.
Well, if there ever is a new owner, I hope they will be as environmentally conscious as Bottle Rock. I have worked at the Geysers since 1979 and at Bottle Rock since 2010. I do not know what went on before 2010 but since then one would be hard pressed to find a better steward of the environment than Bottle Rock. We have had our events, in each case took direct action and corrected each with a better plan than before, if not overly corrected each problem, to insure compliance.
Now when you smell “rotten eggs,” who are you going to blame? Not Bottle Rock, we are shut down. Maybe it is the steam lines of the plants to the west as it has been for a long time. It was just easier to blame Bottle Rock instead of the real source.
It’s not a big corporation you hurt, it is the workers — 23 people are out of work. People with families, several with children, one with a new baby, and one with a baby due in August, a total of 43 adults and 19 children are affected. Some workers may find jobs here in Lake County but most will be moving elsewhere which will cost them money that would have been spent on their family. Lake County will be losing the money those people put back into the local economy as well as the loss to our local providers and the taxes Bottle Rock paid to Lake County.
Now that we are closed, who will plow your road when it snows? Who will put sand on the road when it is icy? Who will fix the road when pot holes develop? Who will repair the gate when it fails? Who will donate funds to the Cobb School, the Boy Scouts and many other Charities, now that Bottle Rock is gone?
Yes, Friends of Cobb, you win, but at what human cost?
Dean “Red” Ohlen, Middletown
Pipe it in
Governor Brown is expected to spend a “billion dollars” for who knows what? We need water!
California feeds and takes care of the whole country, even pipes water to southern California. When watching the Weather Channel I see tons of flood waters and snow storms on the east coast, as well as in Canada and other northern states every winter. Why can’t we spend whatever monies it would take to build a pipeline from these states to funnel the flood water or transport snow from via freight cars or big rigs to feed California’s lakes and reservoirs — get California back to normal! California can certainly afford the money to fund this endeavor.
Stanley H. Hart, Lakeport
What is Witter Springs?
I much enjoy reading Gene Paleno’s “Witter Springs Chronicles” column in the Record-Bee, even if he is occasionally prone to mild exaggeration. I’ve lived in Witter Springs for 28 years now, but only met Mr. Paleno once, on a summer’s day about 8 or 9 years ago. A short circuit in the ignition wire of my car caused the wire to fry and it stopped in front of Mr. Paleno’s house. I had been hastening to a dental appointment. He left off some yard work to pass the time until another member of the community happened by and gave me a lift home.
Witter Springs has a bit of an identity problem. It has it’s own ZIP code, but is listed in Wikipedia as a “former settlement,” whereas Cooper, further up beyond the northern end of Bachelor Valley Road, has the status of an “unincorporated community.” I know for a fact that people are presently living in Witter Springs. Traffic past my house on Bachelor Valley Road may be headed for Cooper, but I doubt if there are nearly as many human inhabitants in Cooper as in Witter Springs. Cooper is most likely populated chiefly by deer, bears, cougars, coyotes, jack rabbits, and ground squirrels.
North of Upper Lake is another “unincorporated community” called Vann. I have known people who lived at or in Vann, but none of them ever referred to it as such.
When I was trying to set up a Facebook account a few weeks ago, my home location entry of Witter Springs, CA was deemed an “Invalid Location.” Today when I tried again, Facebook just ignored my entry. So the question remains: “What is Witter Springs?”
Steve Harness, Witter Springs
Annoyed
Normally I write, in my books and essays, about national and international security issues and terrorism. Not this time. While it does not fit the definition of terrorism, it certainly fits the definition of a major annoyance: Telemarketing phone calls!
My favorite time of the day is when I can prepare a romantic dinner for my bride (33 years) with candlelight, soft classical music, Mozart, Handel, Beethoven, Telemann or soft Celtic (with a name like MacRae, what would you expect). But then, the phone starts ringing. There are anywhere from six to eight recorded solicitations and sometimes they do not even bother to say anything. Occasionally, I will answer with a few choice expletives (won’t share them with you). Does any of this sound familiar?
Surely, there must be a way to put a stop to this. Being on the “No Call” list has been useless. Maybe we could persuade the state legislature to make it illegal for such calls to come to California. I’m not holding my breath. On the other hand, our Internet server filters out spam. Why, if enough of us demanded it, couldn’t our telephone provider do the same thing? I can’t believe the technology is not in place.
Peter MacRae, Lakeport
