Advocacy: Support, Encouragement, Backing

by Robin Huffman, BEC Advocacy Director

Butte Environmental Council is tracking many issues in addition to the stories in this edition of the Environmental News. Pamela Posey reports on large development projects that could happen in and around Butte Creek Canyon, including a proposed expansion of Paradise Irrigation District. Allen Harthorn writes about the endangered salmon run in Butte Creek, the last best run in the State. John Scott contributes an article on air quality rules which details the voting record of elected officials. Rich Meyers writes about the expensive debacle at New Era Mine, allowed by the poor judgment of three Butte County Supervisors. Noelle Ferdon reports on the proposed water bond that voters will decide in November. The cover story by Carol Perkins on Natural Flows shows the importance of understanding the interaction of surface and groundwater. Of course, BEC is very pleased to report that we won the Drought Water Bank lawsuit. When the formal “final” judgment is issued, there will be a sixty day period in which an appeal might be filed, so “it’s not over until it’s over”. Winning the March 15 decision is a victory for environmental review being done for water transfers, in accordance with the law. Follow all the issues in this Spring/Summer edition; I haven’t named them all.

First and foremost of other issues BEC is tracking is the Butte County General Plan 2030. The Draft Environmental Impact Report for the Draft General Plan 2030 is due to be released on April 8 and will have a 60-day public review and comment period. The New Zoning Ordinance for the General Plan will be released for public review mid-May, and there will be a public workshop on June 23 at the Southside Community Center in Oroville from 5:00-8:00 pm. There will also be a series of Butte County Planning Commission meetings, from July to November, to review aspects of the zoning ordinance and related documentation. Stay tuned by visiting www.buttegeneralplan.net, and engage in this process to support environmentally sensitive planning and zoning.

A parallel process is the Butte County Association of Government’s development of the county’s Regional Conservation Plan (a.k.a. HCP/ NCCP). The conservation and cost strategies for implementation will make or break this Habitat Conservation Plan / Natural Community Conservation Plan. Public stakeholder meetings happen on the first Wednesday of each month. Participation is encouraged, and more information is readily available online at http://www.buttehcp. com. Basically, the idea of the HCP is to coordinate and consolidate areas for conservation required by environmental laws to protect species. HCPs actually facilitate development. They attempt a win-win coordinated strategy for the environment and for developers. The HCP must be in-line with the general plan of the county as well as of the municipalities.

BEC will do its best to track city general plans as they develop. The City of Chico is going through a general plan update. (See http://chicogeneralplan. com/.) At issue are potential areas for development in Chico’s sphere of influence, where the city and county may not see eye-to-eye. BEC will continue to speak up for the environment in this planning process too.

With water there are several big issues in the mix at this time. Paul Gosselin, Director of the Butte County Water and Resource Conservation department is taking note of Bay Delta Conservation Plan and has gotten approval from the Board of Supervisors to formally participate in the BDCP process. The plan involves use of water from the North Valley, so it seems reasonable that the BDCP steering committee in the Bay Area would take input from a Northern Sacramento Valley Advisory Group. Gosselin assures me this group, when established, is to include environmental views.

The WRC has contracted $1.6 million for a new Tuscan study (the last one BEC stopped because there was no environmental review), the Tuscan Aquifer Project, which should bring additional science to help understand the Tuscan aquifer system. This is not a comprehensive study, but will add some knowledge here and there. The scope of the work will necessitate some kind of environmental document, yet to be released. The project is to use existing wells and to install some monitoring wells. Water pumped for testing is to stay in the area and will not involve mass quantities of water, according to Gosselin. Stay tuned.

Butte County has also contracted for the formation of a Northern Sacramento Valley Integrated Regional Water Management Planning group, to include Butte, Glenn, Colusa, Tehama, Sutter, and possibly Shasta counties. The governance structure for this is yet to be determined; the contractor will propose three different structures to the boards of supervisors. It is important that the North Valley coordinate toward keeping a healthy water system. BEC expects to be part of this integrated planning, to speak up for the environment along with others from the environmental community.

The water bottling issue is not limited to Orland, where an approved water bottling plant is being challenged in the courts for failing to proceed with environmental review. In Butte County one landowner proposed to truck spring water from the foothills to a water bottling plant in some undisclosed location (Nestle in Sacramento perhaps?). Fortunately on March 30, the Board of Supervisors skirted the issue for now by confirming that a spring water collection operation is not a permitted use within lands in a Timber Preserve Zone (in a 4-1 vote, with Supervisor Yamaguchi in favor of the property owner exporting spring water). Butte County should strengthen our water regulations and standards, considering the high demand for water.

Land, Air, and Water, these three resources are great, and the greatest are the species that depend on them, including our own. May we manage these resources well, letting nature do most of the work.

Send BEC your e-mail address to staff@becnet.org and you will receive periodic newsletters and action alerts. BEC also has a Facebook page where you can become a friend. See you at the Endangered Species Faire on May 1.

If you support, encourage, and back environmental issues in your neighborhood, you’re an advocate, and we appreciate you.

From the Spring 2010 issue of the Environmental News.