The Friends of Cobb Mountain, an environmental organization in southern Lake County that was founded in 1976, said it has filed suit against the county for what it alleges to be an inadequate environmental impact report (EIR) the county prepared for Bottle Rock Power LLC's geothermal steamfield expansion.
Bottle Rock Power is proposing to build two new 3.5-acre geothermal well pads, an access road and 1.3 miles of new pipeline to connect to the existing pipeline. The project is located within the Binkley Leasehold at 6743, 6825, 7358, 7385 and 7500 High Valley Road, Cobb.
The Bottle Rock Power plant was reopened in 2007 under new ownership. The California Department of Water Resources had operated the 55-megawatt plant from 1985 to 1991 but closed it due to declining steam resources.
Since it reopened, residents of the area where Bottle Rock's project is located have argued passionately at numerous public hearings about the impact on their families, their homes and their way of life.
The suit alleges that the conditions of project approval by the county involve violations of the county zoning ordinance, and state planning and zoning laws.
The group also asks in the suit that the court set aside the EIR's certification, and that it be repaired and recirculated for review before the project is allowed to go forward. As part of the suit, the group is seeking attorney's fees and associated costs.
County Counsel Anita Grant said the county has received notice of the group's intent to file the suit in Lake County Superior Court.
Since this is a land use claim, not a tort claim, “Our office will handle representing the county,” Grant said Thursday.
The Lake County Planning Commission certified the EIR last December, an action that the Friends of Cobb Mountain then appealed to the Board of Supervisors earlier this year.
At its March 15 meeting, following previous hearings and numerous hours of testimony, the board voted 4-1 – with Supervisor Denise Rushing in the minority – to deny the appeal.
In one of the hearings before the Board of Supervisors, Community Development Director Rick Coel said that he found the 1,100-page EIR was “the most detailed environmental impact report that I've seen prepared” in his 20 years with the county.
However, the Friends of Cobb Mountain didn't agree.
In its Thursday statement on the reasons for filing the suit, the group alleged that the county failed to observe requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act regarding environmental issues, as well as requirements set forth in the county's own general plan.
“The environmental effects, among others include noise, heavy industrial traffic on narrow local roads, exposure of local residents and workers to the rotten eggs odor of hydrogen sulfide gas, and the suspected health effects from this and other air-borne substances emitted from the steam field and power plant,” the group said.
Grant said one of the first steps in the litigation process will include an opportunity for a settlement conference in June.
She said that Bottle Rock Power, as the project developer, is named as a real party of interest, not a respondent.
Grant said the developer indemnified the county, and will have to reimburse the county for the costs of the lawsuit.
This isn't the first time concerns over environmental documents have landed a local government in court.
Last year, the Sierra Club Lake Group sued the county over the Cristallago development's environmental impact report.
The group alleged that the EIR violated the county's general plan, and didn't address some environmental and issues and project impacts. That suit was settled in August 2010 after it was agreed that additional mitigations and new general plan language would be adopted.
The Sierra Club Lake Group also filed suit against the city of Clearlake and developer KK Raphel Properties LLC last year for not conducting an EIR on a proposed shopping center project. Instead, the city council had approved a mitigated negative declaration.
Late last month the Clearlake City Council reached a settlement agreement with the Sierra Club in which it agreed to rescind the project's mitigated negative declaration and conduct a full EIR, as Lake County News has reported.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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