Page 2: Save the kittens!

You would think that MMSA CEO Rusty Gregory had been caught on camera publicly drowning kittens.

Yes, I’ve heard more than my share of the hubbub surrounding MVP-gate. That MMSA wasn’t prepared for the onslaught of demand for the early pass renewal on Monday, demonstrating clear negligence, incompetence, etc.

Meaning that people couldn’t (at least temporarily, at the tap of a few buttons) take advantage of an MMSA pass cash giveaway.

A giveaway which MMSA most likely didn’t even need to offer for folks to renew.

It’s not like the Mountain was saying, if you don’t renew Monday, we’re going to make you pay $200 extra for your pass.

Rather, people were just bitching over the size of their handout.

I guess, in that sense, it would be just like Obamacare.

I know of two people (reporter Katie Vane being one) who, seeing as the website was down, had the audacity to actually drive three minutes to the nearest lodge where they then waited another three whole minutes in the ticket line. At the ticket counter, they were forced to endure an actual face-to-face confrontation with a smiling employee. One was even offered free hot chocolate.

Look, we all have our peeves about the Mountain, but I think getting a powder day this week was enough to stifle my crankiness.

Or perhaps all it took was a comparison of my powder day Wednesday to a day at Disneyland last Sunday.

30-minute wait just to buy a $92 ticket.

Minimum 30-minute wait at any attraction. Two-year olds totally understand the concept of a 30-minute wait.

Two key rides which you can actually take a two-year old on (Small World and the submarine ride) were closed. Perfect timing for spring break.

Crappy food.

Of course, what they did have was Mickey Mouse, and that photo op at Mickey’s house was worth the whole damn trip, but I told my wife as we were leaving, “I think it would be far more enjoyable for all of us if we just got this kid hooked on skiing.”

And from Charles James …

If you were one of the over one-hundred members of the public that went to Tuesday’s Inyo County Board of Supervisors meeting spoiling for a fight over the County’s Renewable Energy General Plan Amendment (REGPA), it was April Fool’s Day and you would have been disappointed.

The Board chose the path of least resistance and gave those gathered in opposition to industrial solar and wind projects a plan that was mostly to their liking. So much so that many of the 29 public speakers offered praise to the Inyo County Planning Department and to “the best Board of Supervisors ever!” for “listening to the people.”

As the new REGPA was unveiled by Senior Planning Associate Cathreen Richards, there was almost a stunned silence from the public gathered in the board room and spilling outside into the lobby as they listened to a plan that conceded one point after another to concerns raised in public meetings over the past few months.

The greatly revised and reduced Renewable Energy Plan presented to the Board was clearly a relief for the County Supervisors as well, giving them the opportunity to avoid any threat to their political careers for promoting an aggressive renewable energy policy. On the other hand, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power may consider the newly revised REGPA being developed as “not aggressive enough and clearly hostile to their interests.” The City of Los Angeles is not required to follow the County’s REGPA and may decide to move ahead with its own plans for a solar plant near Manzanar despite resistance from Owens Valley residents.

With additional direction from the Board, the Planning Department will be back with yet another revision for Board approval of the “Less-Less Intense Plan,” which became simply the “Pink Plan”, being named after the revised Renewable Energy Plan Areas which were outlined in the color pink and greatly reduced in number, size, and capacity.

The new REDAs halved the number of proposed large sites from the previous Less Intense Map of earlier plans and eliminated the most controversial site, the Southern Owens Valley Solar Ranch (SOVSR) proposed by Los Angeles Department of Water and Power near Manzanar altogether.

There was little incentive for the County Supervisors to take a strong stand in favor of industrial solar or wind projects, and not just because there was very vocal opposition to them. There was simply never an argument presented on behalf of industrial-sized renewable energy plants. Since LADWP announced plans to build SOVSR near Manzanar, there have been very few answers to the firestorm of criticism coming from its opponents, other than a “charm initiative” several weeks ago from two representatives of the LADWP Planning Department meeting with selected groups in the valley.

There was considerable support for rooftop solar and smaller development of solar plants that serve local communities. There was no support at all for wind-generated power. It was decided that is should be removed from the REGPA, although 2nd District Supervisor Jeff Griffiths suggested that room should be allowed in the document for wording that takes into account new technology that eliminates concerns over birds and bats flying into the blades of wind turbines. Wind-generated power also is “taxable” and provides a revenue stream for the County, unlike the solar projects, which have been exempted from paying taxes.

The feelings of most of the public at the meeting were best summed up by Bishop resident Harry Williams, who said, “You gave me hope. I got to see democracy at its best here in Inyo.”

And from Death Valley National Park…

Recent rains have brought Death Valley into full bloom. Photo courtesy Death Valley National Park.

Rainfall in the higher elevations in Death Valley National Park, especially in the Panamint Mountains, is allowing a late spring bloom, and it may only get better as the temperatures warm, according to DVNP contact Cheryl Chapman. Some spring bloom highlights:

• South of Badwater, on the west side of Salsberry Pass are carpets of yellow Desert Dandelion, Wooly Daisy and Gold Poppy.
• Along Highway 190, between Emigrant Campground and Towne Pass are orange Globemallow, yellow White-Stemmed Blazing Star, white Gravel Ghost, pale purple and yellow Mojave Aster and vine-like Death Valley Phacelia.
• In lower Emigrant Canyon the bloom is about to peak. Hillsides are covered with Golden Evening Primrose, white Pebble Pincushion, and lavender Fremont Phacelia and Broad-flowered Gilia.
• On the north end of Greenwater Valley you can find fields of Desert Dandelion, Fremont Phacelia, Tickseed and Coreopsis.
• At Eureka Dunes the rare white (fading to pink) Eureka Dune Evening Primrose is just starting to bloom and will have an exceptional flowering season with huge plants already in place. The large flowered Yellow Evening Primrose and Desert Marigold are now the show.
• The canyons on the east side of the Panamint Mountains that were flooded out last summer are thick with yellow Brittlebush this spring. The roads in the washes are still a mess, but worth walking into from the canyon mouths.

For more information, call Cheryl Chipman at (760) 786-3207, or visit the Death Valley National Park Website at www.nps.gov/deva.