Entities wrestle for control of revenues derived from geothermal provider

On Thursday, the Mammoth Lakes Fire Protection District’s (MLFPD) Board of Commissioners met. One of the topics on the agenda was “Discussion concerning comments for the EIS/EIR of the new Geothermal Plant.”

In the current geothermal configuration, the Long Valley Fire Protection District (LVFPD) receives approximately $120,000 in property tax revenue for the fire protection services it provides to the plant, according to Mammoth Lakes Fire Department Chief Brent Harper. This is approximately one-third of LVFPD’s funding, and losing this revenue would be detrimental to the LVFPD.

With the addition of the new geothermal plant proposed in the Casa Diablo IV project, a revenue increase is expected.

According to MLFPD’s staff report on Thursday, “The Town of Mammoth Lakes, in their comments to the Draft EIS/EIR [for the Casa Diablo IV project], include the possibility of annexing [the lands upon which the facility sits]. The current and proposed facilities are within the Town’s sphere of influence.” By annexing the property, the Town would receive some of the property tax generated by Ormat, however, the Town would have to negotiate with the County for this right, according to Mono County Supervisor Fred Stump. The Town would also have to pay the fees associated with those negotiations.

Since it looks as though the Town may be reviewing annexation of the property, Chief Harper, who stated that MLFPD had never looked at annexation of the current geothermal plant since the loss of the revenue would be so detrimental to LVFPD, nonetheless brought it up to the group. However, the MLFPD is not required to expand if the Town chooses to do so.

“Since I’m getting closer to retirement, I wanted to make sure the Board was aware of what is going on,” Harper said. “It’s always just been a gentlemen’s agreement and I always recommended not touching it.”

However, as the staff report [prepared by Harper] pointed out, MLFPD does provide automatic aid to the geothermal plant along with LVFPD, and since MLFPD is closer to the geothermal plant by 8 miles, it generally has a shorter response time. The staff report also pointed out, “MLFPD also coordinates the regional hazardous material team and provides 70% of the staffing for the team. MLFPD receives minimum financial assistance from the County through the First Responder Fund to maintain this team.”

So perhaps the MLFPD should receive some compensation from the property taxes expected from the new plant.

The Commissioners voted to not pursue the annexation of the facilities and property, and instead work with LVFPD to share the property tax for the new facilities. This option, according to the staff report, ensures that LVFPD does not have current funding reduced; provides a mechanism to compensate both departments for servicing the facility; and gives consideration to revenue from other facilities of the project such as pipelines and wells.

The LVFPD meets in one month and will have the same topic on its agenda to discuss, however, several members of the LVFPD were present on Thursday and seemed amenable to working with MLFPD as mentioned above.

As Stump pointed out, the two fire districts have a much more functional relationship than the Town and the County, so the two agencies should just sort things out on their own.

If the Town were to annex the property, but not the MLFPD, it would not financially affect Long Valley because the Town of Mammoth Lakes does not provide fire protection, Stump said.

The Casa Diablo IV Draft EIR/EIS is still in the comment period. The deadline has been extended and comments will be accepted until Jan. 30.

MP-1

In regard to Ormat’s second project, the Mammoth Pacific 1 Replacement Project (MP-1), which has had its EIR subjected to alleged greenmail when labor union groups appealed it last year, is still in a holding pattern.

One of the labor unions has filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of California against Mono County, which was responsible for preparation of the EIR. The Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA) sought a writ of mandate on Dec. 14, 2012, according to Mono County Planner Courtney Weiche. The group had 60 days from that date to prepare the record for the court. In the meantime, the County is looking at outsourcing for a lawyer and the project is frozen until the issue is sorted out.

The Mono County Board of Supervisors upheld the Mono County Planning Commission’s approval of the MP-1 EIR last year when LIUNA and another labor group, CURE, appealed the Planning Commission’s decision.

According to Weiche, both the MP-1 replacement plant and the Casa Diablo IV brand new plant will be in the same vicinity of the current plant.