Write Your Own Letter to FERC

There were three ways to send your own letter to FERC:

• By May 10th, send your letter to the Mono Lake Committee and we will submit it to FERC for you. Your letter should be addressed to the address below but the envelope should be addressed to Mono Lake Committee, Mill Creek Comments, P.O. Box 29, Lee Vining, CA 93541
• Submit comments to FERC electronically regarding Lundy Hydroelectric Project #1390. You must subscribe and get an account to file comments electronically. This is the preferred way to submit comments directly to FERC. Deadline: May 12th.

• Regular mail to FERC is routed through Ohio where it is irradiated and takes about a month to arrive. Mail sent through FedEx is much faster--it must arrive before May 12th. Send 8 copies of your letter to:
  Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
  Ms. Magalie R. Salas, Secretary
  888 First St., NE
  Washington, D.C. 20426
  Regarding Lundy Hydroelectric Project #1390

What to put in your letter:

1) Begin your letter with the basics: say that you support the settlement submitted for the Lundy Hydroelectric Project (P-1390)

Example: As someone who cares about Mono Lake, its tributary streams, and all the Mono Basin, I am writing to urge the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to adopt the Offer of Settlement on the Lundy Hydroelectric Project (P-1390) submitted in February 2005.

2) Share your personal connection to Mono Lake, Mill Creek, and the Mono Basin. Why does this area matter to you, how long have you been a resident or visitor, what are your hopes for the future of the lake and streams?

Example: I have visited Mono Lake regularly for over twenty years. I have seen the problems created by excessive water diversions, and I am enthusiastic about the recovering health of Mono Lake. I am excited to see the restoration of the fishery, streamside forest, and wildlife habitat now underway on the lake’s two largest tributaries and I hope to see similar progress on Mill Creek. In fact, last year I personally saw . . .

3) Mention some of the important parts of the settlement

• The collaborative, multi-stakeholder settlement offers a resolution to the 24-year-long process of relicensing the Lundy Hydropower plant.
• The settlement proposes a new license that continues hydropower generation at the plant and puts in place the infrastructure needed to repair environmental damage on lower Mill Creek.
• The Lundy Hydropower plant has a long-standing problem: the lack of an adequate way to return Mill Creek water to Mill Creek, resulting in significant dewatering damage in the sensitive lower reach of the creek below Highway 395. Fish, riparian forest, bottomlands habitat, wildlife, and the lake delta have all suffered. The settlement addresses this critical issue. Southern California Edison will construct a 40 cfs lined ditch, and the settlement contains a mechanism for the construction of a larger ditch or pipe. This lays the groundwork for significant restoration of the degraded conditions on lower Mill Creek.
• The settlement does not alter existing water rights. In fact, it solves the water rights concerns raised by Mono County. It also will facilitate delivery of water rights by constructing a return conveyance facility of adequate size to deliver the water rights of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP) to Mill Creek as outlined in DWP’s letter of December 14, 2004.
• Mono Lake and the environmental resources of the Mono Basin are internationally significant. Congress, the California Legislature, the California Water Resources Control Board, and the California Supreme Court have all recognized this through special protections. The settlement before FERC is consistent with these protections and management plans.

4) Wrap up

Example: Please accept my support of the settlement as my official comment on this matter. I urge you to make FERC a part of the Mono Basin’s history of positive solutions to difficult problems. Thank you for your consideration.

5) Be sure to sign your letter (name and address)!

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Last Updated January 04, 2005 Copyright © 1996-2005, Mono Lake Committee. (how to contact us)