COBB, Calif. – A local environmental group that filed suit against the county last year over approval of an environmental impact report for a geothermal steamfield expansion project has reached a tentative agreement to settle the case.
Hamilton Hess, chair of Friends of Cobb Mountain, said Tuesday that the group and the county have reached an “agreement in concept” to settle the matter over Bottle Rock Power’s expansion project.
He said the attorneys for the two sides are working out the agreement’s details. Hess said he anticipated more information would be available next week.
County Counsel Anit Grant said the county received word Tuesday afternoon about the tentative agreement.
“Everyone has worked very diligently in this process to get to such a positive result,” she said, adding that it is premature to say anything more about the agreement’s specifics at this point.
The suit involves Bottle Rock Power’s proposal 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 on High Valley Road in Cobb.
In December 2010 the Lake County Planning Commission certified the environmental impact report, which the Friends of Cobb Mountain appealed to the Board of Supervisors. The Board of Supervisors denied the appeal on March 15, 2011.
Last spring Friends of Cobb Mountain filed the lawsuit against the county of Lake about two months after that vote, alleging that the county failed to observe requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act and the county's own general plan, and violated state and local zoning laws, as Lake County News has reported.
In the suit the group sought to have the environmental impact report fixed and recirculated, and also asked for attorney's fees and associated costs.
If the two sides are able to resolve the matter, Grant said the agreement would go to the Board of Supervisors for final approval. The final agreement, she said, will be public record.
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