Post by blackcrowheart on Nov 22, 2006 14:01:53 GMT -5
U.S. court backs tribe in fight over Calpine plant
asia.news.yahoo.com/061107/3/2sg8c.html
<http://asia.news.yahoo.com/061107/3/2sg8c.html> SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 6
(Reuters) - A U.S. federal appeals court backed an Indian tribe on
Monday in a fight in which the bankrupt power producer Calpine Corp had
sought to build a geothermal plant in an area Native Americans consider
sacred. San Jose, California-based Calpine planned to erect a plant on
leased U.S. Forest Service land in the northern Mount Shasta region of
California after more than a decade of planning. The Pit River Tribe
sued in federal court over the plan in 2002, saying the 66-square-mile
Medicine Lake Highlands is sacred ground even if not part of the tribe's
reservation. The tribe lost its initial legal fight, but on Monday the
9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court and ruled
against U.S. government agencies, saying they had improperly extended
the leases to Calpine for the land. "We conclude that the agencies did
not take a 'hard look' at the environmental consequences of the 1998
lease extensions and never adequately considered the no-action
alternative," Judge Clifford Wallace wrote for a three-judge panel.
"The agencies violated their duties...and their fiduciary duties to the
Pit River Tribe by failing to complete an environmental impact statement
before extending Calpine's leases in 1998," he continued. "Hence, both
the five-year lease extensions and the subsequent forty-year extensions
must be undone."
[http://row.bc.yahoo.com/b?P=sNJci8tU0clNW9BERVG3kFN5PgaLDEVRug0AApSO&T=\
143hs6mop%2fX%3d1162983949%2fE%3d91539907%2fR%3dasia_news%2fK%3d5%2fV%3d\
2.1%2fW%3dHR%2fY%3dASIA%2fF%3d3185701678%2fQ%3d-1%2fS%3d1%2fJ%3d62D154CB\
&U=13anun6t0%2fN%3dqubzdctU0U4-%2fC%3d560120.9506480.10234504.3272422%2f\
D%3dLREC%2fB%3d3925274] California, Nevada, Oregon and other Western
U.S. states are seeking to boost geothermal and other renewable
electricity like solar and wind to reduce emissions of heat-trapping
gases linked to global warming. Geothermal developers drill wells into
underground reservoirs to tap steam heated by the earth. The steam spins
turbine generators, producing electricity.
asia.news.yahoo.com/061107/3/2sg8c.html
<http://asia.news.yahoo.com/061107/3/2sg8c.html> SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 6
(Reuters) - A U.S. federal appeals court backed an Indian tribe on
Monday in a fight in which the bankrupt power producer Calpine Corp had
sought to build a geothermal plant in an area Native Americans consider
sacred. San Jose, California-based Calpine planned to erect a plant on
leased U.S. Forest Service land in the northern Mount Shasta region of
California after more than a decade of planning. The Pit River Tribe
sued in federal court over the plan in 2002, saying the 66-square-mile
Medicine Lake Highlands is sacred ground even if not part of the tribe's
reservation. The tribe lost its initial legal fight, but on Monday the
9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court and ruled
against U.S. government agencies, saying they had improperly extended
the leases to Calpine for the land. "We conclude that the agencies did
not take a 'hard look' at the environmental consequences of the 1998
lease extensions and never adequately considered the no-action
alternative," Judge Clifford Wallace wrote for a three-judge panel.
"The agencies violated their duties...and their fiduciary duties to the
Pit River Tribe by failing to complete an environmental impact statement
before extending Calpine's leases in 1998," he continued. "Hence, both
the five-year lease extensions and the subsequent forty-year extensions
must be undone."
[http://row.bc.yahoo.com/b?P=sNJci8tU0clNW9BERVG3kFN5PgaLDEVRug0AApSO&T=\
143hs6mop%2fX%3d1162983949%2fE%3d91539907%2fR%3dasia_news%2fK%3d5%2fV%3d\
2.1%2fW%3dHR%2fY%3dASIA%2fF%3d3185701678%2fQ%3d-1%2fS%3d1%2fJ%3d62D154CB\
&U=13anun6t0%2fN%3dqubzdctU0U4-%2fC%3d560120.9506480.10234504.3272422%2f\
D%3dLREC%2fB%3d3925274] California, Nevada, Oregon and other Western
U.S. states are seeking to boost geothermal and other renewable
electricity like solar and wind to reduce emissions of heat-trapping
gases linked to global warming. Geothermal developers drill wells into
underground reservoirs to tap steam heated by the earth. The steam spins
turbine generators, producing electricity.