Recently, a letter regarding the location of a bio mass plant near the landfill raised some points that need clarification.
The need for the 7.6 acre land acquisition was to satisfy the need for test wells to monitor groundwater effluents from the landfill. That need still exists. The proposal for the County to sell the property never included the County's abandonment of the test wells. The proposal was that the County would retain the right of access to the wells. However, a lease arrangement instead of sale could accomplish the same results perhaps, if the lease arrangements pencil out for the bio mass operation. It seems the County paid a fair market price to the previous owner(s) to obtain the land. Either a sale or lease would allow the County to recover it's investment in the land that it needed for test well monitoring, without losing access to the wells. What's wrong with allowing our County government to recover its investment?
My understanding is that the access to the proposed bio mass location would be the encroachment from highway 49 to the landfill. The point regarding the lack of northbound left turn lanes for both the landfill and the nearby industrial park is well taken. That is a current existing problem and needs attention from Cal Trans, with or without a bio mass plant. Especially if the County intends to grow the Mariposa Yosemite Airport, which will increase traffic on 49 north.
PG&E is mandated by the California State Energy commission to purchase a certain percentage of its energy from alternative energy suppliers. If they don't buy it from a Mariposa bio mass plant, they will buy it from somewhere else. Having a sustainable, green energy producing plant here would be Mariposa's gain, economically and wild fire mitigation wise. Year around jobs will be created and wild fire fuel reduction will occur. And, potentially, the County could realize some revenue from the bio mass facility's existence, with no financial investment or cost to the County.
Locating the bio mass plant near an electric utility substation is important to minimize the cost of creating and maintaining transmission lines from the bio mass plant to the grid. The County is loaded with dead trees in almost every direction. But dead trees will not be the only fuel stock needed to support the bio mass plant. A sustainable fuel stock analysis was performed for the bio mass project by professional consultants that was based on vegetation and fuel loads in the County, besides the current tree mortality problem. There is a serious need throughout the County for forest and wild land (public and private) vegetation thinning to reduce the risk of a catastrophic wild fire event, the likes of which we have seen in other counties. Any location within Mariposa County would require hauling through the town of Mariposa to some degree, since it is the road hub connecting most parts of the County. There is no location any better located, near a major highway, near a substation and near an industrial zone, than the 7.6 acre property owned by the County.
Gary Francisco,
Midpines
