|
|
|
About the WCC Directors Our Supporters Donors Volunteers Join Now Current Projects Rippled Cave Windeler Events Photo Gallery Archives Newsletters Financials Minutes Organizational WCC Home |
|
 |
Millerton Lake Caves Update
Jamil Ibrahim, the hydrologist at MWH America (consultants for the storage investigation) contacted the Conservancy in July for further information about the caves. Thanks are due to Dave Bunnell, editor of the NSS News, for providing a color copy of Bob Richards' 1996 map of the main system. Volunteers from the Conservancy will be guiding Mr. Ibrahim and other investigators through the caves as early as this fall. Since the project personnel have no caving experience, we'd like to provide them a safe ratio of experienced cavers to beginners. If interested, please contact the WCC office at mail@westerncaves.org and tell us your experience and availability for the months of October and November. This will be an excellent opportunity to advocate for the caves in person. Not only have our members been heard, there is a positive development in the reservoir investigation. PG&E, unhappy at the prospect of losing the Kerkhoff #2 and other powerhouses in the project area, has proposed several new alternatives that the investigators are now studying. Details have not been released, but Mr. Ibrahim informs us that the new proposals would not threaten the Millerton Lake caves. As a result of this development and in order to respond to public comments made during scoping meetings last spring, the investigation schedule has been pushed back. A scoping report is due out shortly, and the Final Alternatives Report, originally to have been released in June, is now due at the end of October. The draft EIS/EIR will not be completed until fall 2007, more than two years later than originally scheduled. This allows advocates for the caves valuable time to prepare a variety of responses to the threat. Comments continue to be welcomed by the investigation team. Jason Phillips has departed as Project Manager for the Bureau of Reclamation, and comments should now be addressed to the following:
Brian Zewe, Project Manager
 Millerton Lakes Cave Update, Spring, 2004 |
|
Last May, we asked our members to write letters to the Upper San Joaquin River
Basin Storage investigation, expressing the desire that these worldclass granite
caves be preserved from flooding by reservoir projects now under study. The
investigators have informed us that they have received letters from all over
the United States and are now "well aware of the concerns of spelunkers."
