LAKEPORT, Calif. – While federal officials are attempting to gauge the environmental impacts of a local tribe's gas station project in a wetlands restoration area along Highway 20, the county may take its own action to get the tribe to implement measures to protect the environment against the development's possible impacts.
Robinson Rancheria intends to build a complex including a gas station, truck stop, mini mart and smoke shop on two acres across Highway 20 from its casino, located at 1545 E. Highway 20 in Nice.
Lake County Public Works Director Brent Siemer is scheduled to appear before the board at 10 a.m. Tuesday to ask for direction regarding the tribe's planned use of Reclamation Road Cutoff to access the new gas station.
At that time, Supervisor Denise Rushing plans to take to the meeting a draft letter that repeats a request she sent the tribe last month, asking for a discussion with tribal leaders.
Not only does the letter ask for discussion, it also points out that the tribe may be in violation of its 1999 state gaming compact, which requires “good faith efforts” to mitigate off-reservation environmental impacts on land used for “gaming or ancillary developments.”
If the tribe doesn't respond to the request by Jan. 24, Rushing's proposed letter says the county may contact Gov. Jerry Brown's office and request the state open a formal investigation into a potential breach of the compact, a move that could jeopardize the casino's future.
“This is not something we want to be forced to do. We would much prefer working cooperatively with the Tribe just as we have in the past, in order to make sure that all concerns are addressed for the benefit of everyone involved,” the proposed letter concludes.
Tribal officials told Lake County News previously that they would contact the media when they were ready to discuss the plan. So far, they have not responded to Lake County News' request for more information.
Most of the county's concerns over the project arise from its location in the Middle Creek Restoration Project area, comprised of more than 1,400 acres that will be returned to wetlands in order to help address the lake's sediment and nutrient loading issues, as Lake County News has reported.
The land is held in trust for the tribe by the United States government, according to Lake County Assessor-Recorder records.
Previously, the tribe had wanted to swap the trust status of the land – which could be flooded once the restoration project is in place – for another piece of land elsewhere, county officials stated in previous interviews. However, those talks stalled at the federal level.
Now, if the tribe's gas station moves forward, the county could be required to build and maintain a ring levee around the property in order for the restoration project to continue. County Water Engineer Tom Smythe pointed out in a previous interview that a ring levee isn't the ideal solution in an area where the county wants to remove levees because they don't work.
The supervisors had raised concerns last month about stormwater drainage from the site, as well as the tribe already having installed underground storage tanks in the area, where there is a high water table.
Community Development, Water Resources, Public Works and Northshore Fire Protection District representatives have all said that they've essentially been shut out on the tribe's plans.
Northshore Fire Protection District officials said the tribe has not worked with them to address fire safety, as is common on such projects.
While the tribe's project is not under county jurisdiction, concerns raised by local officials has centered on off-reservation impacts.
Robinson Rancheria has indicated to officials that, rather than follow the Caltrans encroachment permit procedures to access the gas station off of Highway 20 – which would require turn pockets and other modifications – they planned instead to use the county-maintained Reclamation Road Cutoff to access the station.
Siemer sent Avila a letter dated Dec. 29 informing her that in order to use Reclamation Road Cutoff the tribe needed to seek an encroachment permit. His report for Tuesday's meeting said he has received no reply from Avila.
Avila also has not responded to a letter that the board directed Rushing to draft following a Dec. 14 discussion on the gas station that the board held as part of an emergency item on its agenda.
Rushing's letter, dated Dec. 16 letter, asked Avila for “assurances that you are not engaging in any action that damages county property or the waters of Clear Lake and that you are responsive to local environmental issues.”
Rushing said this week that she and Avila traded voice mails but now Avila has ceased returning any of her calls.
Army Corps of Engineers awaits reply; Sierra Club weighs in
It's still not clear what oversight federal agencies have – if any – and what permitting is required.
Troy Burdick, superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Central California Agency, said BIA would, in some cases, have involvement.
“We have some limited oversight, it just depends on the project,” he said.
However, he said BIA is not involved in Robinson Rancheria's gas station project, and has given the tribe no money for it. “This is a tribal venture.”
BIA also isn't involved with any of the tribe's ongoing issues with tribal elections and last year approved the tribe's disenrollment of dozens of members.
Burdick said of the election dispute, “Right now that's an internal matter that they have to deal with.”
Because wetlands are involved, the tribe may be required to comply with US Army Corps of Engineers requirements.
Army Corps spokesman Dave Killam said the agency wasn't even sure the tribe needed a permit.
“They've told us that they have not done anything that would cause any kind of flows to go into the waters,” he said. “We just want to confirm that.”
Early in December Lake County News requested information from the Army Corps regarding a permit the tribe took out in 1998.
Peck Ha, the Army Corps regulatory branch manager who is looking into the project, told Lake County News last week that the agency is still in the process of retrieving its files on the project from an offsite storage location, and that it was anticipated that it would take another week to get the files.
Ha said they don't know at this point what the permit – which would have expired in 2008 – was for. It could have been for fill, and Ha wasn't sure if it even covers the more recent developments on the land.
The Army Corps' Sacramento office has worked closely with the tribe since about 1998 to protect aquatic resources and assist with “reasonable” development, Ha said.
Ha also is attempting to gain access to the site so he can see the work that's been done so far and gauge its potential impacts on the wetlands and Clear Lake.
He said he e-mailed them last month. On Jan. 13 he sent a second e-mail to Lester Marston, the tribe's attorney, repeating the request.
Ha said last Friday, “At this moment I'm still waiting for a response from the Robinson Rancheria attorney.”
On Jan. 7 the Sierra Club Lake Group sent a letter to Avila regarding the project.
In the three-page letter – which was copied to the Board of Supervisors, state and federal officials, other local tribes and the chambers – Chair Cheri Holden goes over the group's concerns on air and water quality, biological and cultural resources, geology, hazardous materials and traffic “in the hope of facilitating a solution that protects the environment and is beneficial to the Tribe and the larger community.”
Holden said the project has the potential to undermine the objectives of protecting air and water quality, keeping wildlife habitat healthy and promoting the county's quality of life.
In particular, she requests a “carefully designed dust-control plan,” and points out that the project “will result in the loss of native vegetations and wildlife habitat.”
There also is one known prehistoric site in the project's immediate vicinity, with Holden adding, “the existence of additional cultural resources seems quite probable.”
She goes on to request that a professional archaeological survey take place, and also suggests that a professional geologist review the site.
On the topic of water quality, Holden wrote, “A gas station in this low-lying area near the lake has the obvious potential to severely degrade water quality, not only by creating contaminated surface runoff but also by requiring the construction of underground tanks that would almost certainly lie beneath the water table. Prevention of these deleterious consequences is of the utmost importance to the community, to the ecosystem, and surely to the Tribe itself.”
She added that the Sierra Club Lake Group was “particularly disturbed” over grading taking place during the wet season. “The county Grading Ordinance forbids grading between the dates of October 15 and April 15 precisely in order to prevent undue erosion and sedimentation into creeks and ultimately into Clear Lake. Although the Ordinance is of no effect on tribal land, the physical principles on which it is based still apply.”
The group's “overarching consideration” is that the gas station is located within the Middle Creek Restoration Project area, Holden wrote.
“It is generally agreed that completion of the Middle Creek project will do more to improve Clear Lake water quality, and thus the health of the entire ecosystem upon which we all depend, than any other single action,” Holden wrote. “It is unacceptable to allow a proposal that offers such overwhelming public benefits to be delayed any longer than absolutely necessary.”
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