Updates
Mono
Basin restoration plans: still waiting
As of December 1997, the State Water Board has not yet
announced its decision on Mono Basin restoration plans.
As described in the summer Newsletter, most of the
parties involved in the proceedings, including DWP,
signed a Settlement Agreement on the restoration plans,
and this Settlement Agreement was put before the Water
Board in late summer.
Conway Ranch: in escrow
The Trust for Public Land (TPL) has exercised its
option but has not yet closed escrow on this historic
north Mono Basin property. If the project proceeds as
planned, Mono County will ultimately acquire the property
from TPL. The County has raised nearly $800,000 towards
the roughly $3 million purchase price through grants. The
Bureau of Land Management may be brought in as a
co-purchaser should the County fail to raise sufficient
funds.
FERC proceedings
The Mono Lake Committee recently submitted a motion
for late intervention in the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission (FERC) power plant relicensing proceeding for
the Lundy power plant, which operates with water diverted
from Mill Creek. A key issue for the Committee is the
Mill Creek return ditch, which returns water back to Mill
Creek after its passage through the Lundy power plant.
The Committee believes that the Mill Creek return
ditch has not been maintained at its originally approved
capacity. Unappropriated or unused water that should be
returned to Mill Creek instead runs down Wilson Creek
because of the ditch’s limited capacity.
The FERC relicensing proceedings are a important place
to address possible ditch upgrades.
Return to Winter
1998 Newsletter
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