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Comments for EIR
Responding with Questions/Comments for the EIR
The following is the list of environmental factors that would
be potentially affected by this
project (just the Drilling Project at this time), and will be evaluated
in the EIR Environmental
Impact Report.
Please send a letter voicing your concerns/questions to be addressed in
the EIR no later than
January 24th, to: Linda Campion, Associate Oil & Gas Engineer;
Division of Oil, Gas &
Geothermal Resources; 801 K Street, 20th Floor, MS 20-20, Sacramento, CA
95814-3530.
Telephone (916) 324-1268.
We have provided a sample attached letter
which you can send in as-is with your signature, but it is best
that you ask ANY and ALL questions that you would like to have looked at
in the report. By law,
they must answer any and all valid questions. Questions can be as simple
as:
What is the effect on drilling noise on birds, wildlife and fish?
How will you evacuate people/boaters in the case of an emergency?
Will the drilling cause an increase in seismic activity?
Please feel free to view some of the comments/questions that others have
come up with on the following document - and please add some of your own for
a master list!
Factors to be Evaluated:
Aesthetics; Agriculatural Resources; Air Quality; Biological Resources;
Cultural Resources;
Geology/Soils; Hazards and Hazardous Materials; Hydrology/Water Quality;
Land Use/Planning;
Noise; Public Services; Transportation/Traffic; Utilities/Service Systems;
Mandatory Findings of
Significance.
Factors Not to Be Evaluated. (Please note, if you feel these categories
should be evaluated, then
say so!):
Mineral Resources; Population/Housing; Recreation.
Below is an overview of what will be covered in each category.
Aesthetics: The EIR will analyze the visibility of the project and
impacts on the visual
environment, including lighting.
Agricultural Resources: Impacts to existing agricultural uses including
temporary or permanent
loss of agricultural uses.
Air Quality: Types and Quantities of Emissions that would be generated
on a temporary basis due
to project construction, drilling and testing. The emissions evaluation
will include both criteria
pollutants and air toxics.
Biological Resources: Assess both direct and indirect impacts to
habitat including protected,
special status and sensitive species and habitats
Cultural Resources: Assess whether the proposed project would have
a significant impact on
cultural resources, including historic sites and resources, archaeological
sites and resources, and
uses by Native Americans.
Geology and Soils: Evaluate geological hazards including potential
for unstable slopes, erosion
and seismic effects. The EIR will assess effects on soil resources and limitations
of soils on the
proposed facilities.
Hazards and Hazardous Materials: The EIR will discuss historic site
uses, and analyze whether
there are sources of hazardous materials, soil and ground water contamination,
or contamination
associated with drilling materials. The EIR will discuss the public, human,
health hazards
associated with drilling at the Superfund site. The EIR will discuss the
adequacy of the proposed
controls systems for hazardous materials. The EIR will discuss the transport,
storage, handling
and use of hazardous materials for the proposed project.
Hydrology and Water Quality: The EIR will include evaluations of impacts
on surface and
ground water resources including beneficial uses, volumes and quality. The
EIR will address
both regular construction and operation impacts as well as upset conditions.
Impacts on storm
water runoff, water wells, in the project vicinity, and aquifers will be
analyzed.
Land Use and Planning: The EIR will discuss the consistency of the
project with surrounding
land uses and the Lake County General Plan and other policy documents
Mineral Resources: The project would be located within an abandoned
mine that is currently a
Superfund site. There are no plans to conduct further mining at the site
or in the immediate
vicinity of the proposed drilling pads. Therefrore, the project would not
result in the loss of
availability of a known mineral resource that would be of value to the region
and the residents of
the state. Similarly, the project is not located in a locally important
mineral resource recovery site
delineated on the General Plan or any local land use plan. Therefore, the
project would not
impact any important mineral, oil or natural gas resources. This impact
will not be evaluated in
the EIR.
Noise: The project would induce a change in the ambient noise. The
EIR will identify nearby
sensitive receptors and assess the potential of the project to generate
noise related to drilling,
grading, testing and abandonment.
Population and Housing: The project would require a small workforce
including about five
construction workers for access road and drilling pad construction, six
to 12 workers during
drilling, and two to five workers during testing. Because of the small work
force requirements
and the general availability of the required workers in the area, the project
would not induce
substantial population growth in the area. The project would not require
removing or displacing
any housing or businesses. This impact will not be evaluated in the EIR.
Public Services: The EIR will assess impacts on public services for
protection and response by
fire department and sheriff’s department staff. The EIR will assess the
extent to which the
provision of the services would reulst in the need for new or altered governmental
facilities, the
construction of which could result in significant environmental impacts.
Because the required
work force is minor and likely to draw on the existing labor pool in Lake
County, the potential to
increase the need for new or expanded schools, libraries, hospitals, parks
and other public
services is deemed minimal; these impacts will not be evaluated in the EIR.
Recreation: The proposed drilling pads No. 1, A and B would be located
in a Superfund site that
excludes public access and provides no recreational facilities or opportunities.
Proposed drilling
pad sites C, D and E are not located within any designated park or area
identified for special
recreational use. Because of the small required labor force for the project,
it would not indirectly
induce the use of existing neighborhood and regional parks or other recreational
facilities. The
project includes no recreational facilities. Therefore, the project would
have no impact on
recreation. The is impact will not be evaluated in the EIR
Transportation and Traffic: The EIR will include an evaluation of traffic
impacts for bringing in
of construction and drilling equipment and workers. The EIR will discuss
new access roads,
routes of travel, road hazards and potential impacts to roadways.
Utilities and Service Systems: The EIR will have an evaluation of
impacts to public utilities and
services including water supply, wastewater system. Water sources for the
project will be
identified and the impacts on those sources will be evaluated. The project’s
potential generation
of solid waste and hazardous waste will be assessed in the EIR.
Mandatory Findings of Significance: The EIR will assess whether the
project has the potential to
degrade the quality of the environment. The EIR will assess the project’s
contribution to
cumulative environmental impacts. The EIR will include an evaluation of
the potential of the
project to have substantial, adverse, direct and/or indirect environmental
effects on human
beings.
Further Information:
For additional information, you can contact the project's planning consultant
under contract with Recurrent Resources - Eliot Allen at 503-224-8606 X1,
or email eliot@crit.com.
The entire documents on the drilling portion of the project can be obtained
in PDF format online at: ftp://ftp.consrv.ca.gov/pub/oil/CEQA/geoth/
- please be aware these take quite a while to download.
For info about our group, or to pass on any comments/concerns, you
can email us at rtnc@sonic.net or contact
Kris Stempe at 998-4391.