Can Cat Creek Energy be Trusted With Anderson Ranch Reservoir Water?

*Yikes! Cat Creek Energy – A Problem, Not a Solution!*

In a document published on Feb. 1, 2016, the Idaho Department of Fish & Game said the following of Cat Creek Energy’s plan to keep a new reservoir on Little Camas Prairie filled and functional with Anderson Ranch Reservoir and South Fork of the Boise River water:

“The rapid dewatering of ARR (Anderson Ranch Reservoir) in late summer/early fall already stall kokanee escapement into the SFBR until the mud flat delta stabilizes. Kokanee are vulnerable to predation and delayed during this time. It is likely a daily 2+ foot fluctuation will exacerbate this problem and potentially strand kokanee.”

Reference: See page 4 from this downloadable pdf document – Idaho Fish and Game on the Cat Creek Energy Project - Feb. 1, 2016

The Future of Camas Prairie With/Without 500-Foot Tall Wind Turbines

*This peak is just west of the Pine-Featherville Road on Camas Prairie.*

The corporation that is planning to build out the Cat Creek Energy project has indicated they want to use the largest land-based wind turbines for their wind farm on Camas Prairie in Elmore County. Those wind tower would be 500-feet tall or just a big as the Seattle Space Needle or a 50 story tall building. Crazy, right?

There have been studies done that prove wind towers built in a scenic corridor will drive tourist away. Let’s face it, Elmore County’s beautiful backcountry could be a prime time tourist mecca and we believe tourism would be a job and economic force multiplier in the coming years if left undisturbed.

“Spanning 3,750 acres along Highway 20 and the Pine-Featherville Road, this energy project will threaten tourism efforts, stifling growth in local jobs and tax revenues.”

International tourism expert Roger Brooks was hired by the Mountain Home City Council and the county commissioners to evaluate tourism possibilities within Elmore County. Mr. Brooks said the corridor from Mountain Home to our mountain community of Pine, Idaho was one of the best drives in Idaho and it should be advertised as such.

Current view of Camas Prairie from just above the Pine-Featherville Road.

Putting it another way, Washington’s Tourism Office wants to promote natural wonders, hiking, and outdoor recreation opportunities throughout their state. However, they went on to say tourism assets become liabilities when energy developments dominate the landscape. This is the type of thinking our local leaders need to be listening to before allowing Cat Creek Energy, LLC to drive a spike into the economic heart of Elmore County.

Reference: http://catcreek-energy.com/wind-turbines-are-bad-for-tourism/

Stop the Cat Creek Energy Project (CCE) – Spread the Word

On October 20 & 21, 2018, we set up an information booth and spent the day at Carl Miller Park in Mountain Home, Idaho talking to the people who attended the 5th Annual Mountain Home Highland Games & World Fair.

Our goal was simple … Raise awareness about the Cat Creek Energy Project and how bad the project is for the residents of Elmore County.

*The Cat Creek Energy Project is bad for Elmore County*

What We Discovered – Many Locals Were Unaware of the CCE Project

A vast majority of the people who stopped by our booth were unaware that a corporation based in Gooding County wants to build a mega-energy project in our mountains just 21 miles from Mountain Home.

While we did talk with a few individuals who were from out-of-state, most of those who were interested in learning more about the ill-conceived project were from the Mountain Home area and knew nothing about the CCE Project. This means we have more work to do.

Video Highlighting Why Cat Creek is Bad for Elmore County

By The Numbers:

Booth Statistics – Number of Adults Interested in the Cat Creek Energy Project (CCE)

# of people who talked to us at the booth about the CCE Project: 104
# Opposed or Strongly Opposed to the CCE Project: 81
# who neither support nor oppose the CCE Project: 18
# who support the CCE Project: 5

Please help us stop the Cat Creek Energy Project. How? You can share a link to this website with your friends, co-workers, and neighbors, “like” our Facebook Page (@SBarRanch) and write to your federal, state and local government leaders. Tell them you are opposed to the entire project.

Get More Info at the Mountain Home Highland Games

Stop by and learn why we oppose the Cat Creek Energy Project

Help Stop the Cat Creek Energy Project

We’ll be at the Mountain Home Highland Games on Oct 20 & 21, 2018 to help answer questions about why we oppose the Cat Creek Energy project.

When: Oct 20 & 21, 2018

Where: Mountain Home’s Carl Miller Park

Address: 350 N 10th E St, Mountain Home, ID 83647

Map Link: https://goo.gl/maps/PY92WVAufTR2

Time: 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.

Please stop by our booth, sign our petition, watch a video, learn about this ill-conceived project and maybe throw a few Frisbees around.

More About the Highland Games: http://www.mountain-home.us/event/5th-annual-mountain-home-highland-games-and-light-weight-world-championship

The 5 Conditional Use Permits (CUP) of the Cat Creek Energy Project

In 2017, the Elmore County Commissioners approved five different conditional use permits as part of a mega-energy project slated to be built in Elmore County. Cat Creek Energy has always told the residents that all five parts of the project needed to be approved to make it financially feasible. The commissioners approved those five CUPs with that verbal stipulation.

However, that is not the case anymore. Cat Creek Energy and Elmore County have separated the CUP and the project might be able to move ahead in a piecemeal progression. That was not the way it was sold to the residents and taxpayers of Elmore County.

A Conditional Use Permit: Elmore County has specific uses which are allowed only after review by the Planning & Zoning Commission. These uses require a Conditional Use Permit (CUP). The allowable uses for each zone are listed in the County Zoning Ordinance.
Note … The Elmore County Planning and Zoning Commission denied all 5 Cat Creek Energy CUPs in 2015. The County Commissioners overruled P & Z in 2017.

Here is a brief explanation of these very complex and seemingly ever-changing permits.

Meeting/Hearing Date: 6/15/2016 — Date Report Compiled: 6/8/2016

CUP-2015-03: Conditional Use Permit for transmission lines in the Agriculture and Area of Critical Concern Overlay Zones. Case Number: CUP-2015-03. The site is located in portions of Sections 26 and 35, Township 1N, Range 9E, B.M., Sections 2, 3, 10, and 11, Township 1S, Range 9E, B.M.

CUP-2015-04: Conditional Use Permit for pump storage hydro electrical generating facility in the Agriculture and Area of Critical Concern Overlay Zones. Case Number: CUP-2015-04. The site is located in portions of Sections 26, 27, 35, and 36, Township 1N, Range 9E, B.M and portions of sections of 1 and 2, Township 1S, Range 9E, B.M.

CUP-2015-05: Conditional Use Permit for a PV solar electrical generating facility in the Agriculture Zone. Case Number: CUP-2015-05. The site is located in portions of Sections 2, 3, 10, and 11, Township 1S, Range 10E, B.M.

CUP-2015-06: Conditional Use Permit for a wind turbine electrical generating facility in the Agriculture and Area of Critical Concern Overlay Zones. Case Number: CUP-2015-06. The site is located in portions of Sections 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, 18, 21, 22, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, and 33, Township 1S, Range 10E, B.M., Sections 19, 20, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, and 33, Township 1N, Range 10E, B.M., Sections 25, 26, 27, 35, and 36, Township 1N, Range 9E, B.M., Sections 1 2, 3, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 22, 23, and 24, Township 1S, Range 9E, B.M.

CUP-2015-07: Conditional Use Permit for a substation in the Agriculture Zone. Case Number: CUP-2015-07. The site is located in portions of Sections 2 and 11, Township 1S, Range 9E, B.M.

Applicant:
Cat Creek Energy, LLC
1989 South 1875 East
Gooding, ID 83330

Case Number(s):

CUP-2015-03 (Transmission Lines)
CUP-2015-04 (Pump Storage Hydro- Electrical Generating Facility)
CUP-2015-05 (Solar- Electrical Generating Facility)
CUP-2015-06 (Wind- Electrical Generating Facility)
CUP-2015-07 (Substation)

Location: A common way of locating the property for all the CUP’s is from Mountain Home travel US 20 north for 25.4 miles to Wood Creek Road. Center of projects is approximately 3.2 miles north on Wood Creek Road.

Reference: The 5 Condition Use Permits of the Cat Creek Energy Project – http://catcreek-energy.com/download/670/

Who Doesn’t Want Cat Creek Energy to get Rights to Anderson Ranch Reservoir Water?

In May 2017, Cat Creek Energy, LLC applied to draw 101,000 acre-feet of water from the South Fork of the Boise River water basin. This water would actually be pumped up to a new reservoir on Little Camas Prairie from Anderson Ranch Reservoir via a series of penstocks located across the lake from Evans Creek Campground.

This proposed new reservoir, Cat Creek Reservoir, is scheduled to be built just one mile or so north of Little Camas Reservoir and very close to three possible greater sage grouse nesting grounds, called a “lek.”

September 24, 2018, marked the deadline for individuals, groups and even other government agencies to file a protest against Cat Creek Energy’s water permit with the Idaho Department of Water Resources (IDWR). By that deadline, 19 protests were filed against that water permit application.

Who Are Those 19 Protesters?

Here are just some of the names:

The Boise office of the Bureau of Reclamation (https://www.usbr.gov/).
The Idaho Conservation League (https://www.idahoconservation.org/).
The Boise Project Board of Control (www.boiseproject.net/index.php?pg=about).
SUEZ Water Idaho, Inc. (https://www.mysuezwater.com/idaho/about-us).
The Idaho Department of Fish and Game (https://idfg.idaho.gov/).
The City of Boise City (https://www.cityofboise.org/).
A consortium of water related companies and irrigation districts that include: Ballentyne Ditch Company, Boise Valley Irrigation Ditch Company, Canyon County Water Company, Eureka Water Company, Farmers’ Co-operative Ditch Company, Middleton Mill Ditch Company, Middleton Irrigation Association, Inc., Nampa & Meridian Irrigation District, New Dry Creek Ditch Company, Pioneer Ditch Company, Pioneer Irrigation District, Settlers Irrigation District, South Boise Water Company, and Thurman Mill Ditch Company.
S Bar Ranch (Facebook @SBarRanch or https://www.facebook.com/SBarRanch/)

Again this is just eight of the 19 entities that filed a protest for many different and various legal/practical reasons.

These 19 protest letters filed with the Idaho Department of Water Resources tells us that the Cat Creek Energy pumped-storage hydroelectric facility is an ill-conceived plan.

“IDFG is concerned that the requested water diversion and associated hydroelectric project could adversely affect important public fisheries and Endangered Species Act protected bull trout populations within affected river and reservoir reaches of the Boise River system.” ~ Idaho Department of Fish and Game

Reference: Water-Permit-Protests-CatCreekEnergyOct2018.pdf at http://catcreek-energy.com/download/658/

Results From the Oct. 5, 2018 Cat Creek Energy Public Hearing

*If the Cat Creek Energy project gets approved, this is what you can expect to see on Little Camas Prairie.*

A public hearing regarding the Cat Creek Energy and Elmore County Development Agreement was held on Friday, October 5, 2018. However, Cat Creek Energy lawyers and the county commissioners could not come to a satisfactory agreement over water issues and Cat Creek bowed out of this public hearing that they requested in September 2018.

With Cat Creek Energy withdrawing their draft amendment to the development agreement, the Elmore County Commissioners decided there was no reason to take public testimony on the issue. Chairman Wes Wootan and Commissioner Corbus voted to close out the public hearing immediately following a quick briefing by Buzz Grant, the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) legal counsel.

Mr. Grant indicated that Cat Creek Energy is aware that the incomplete Development Agreement needs to be finalized by December 31, 2018, or the conditional use permit for at least one portion of the mega-project will expire and be null and void.

The county fully expects Cat Creek Energy representatives will come back to the negotiating table in the future. Concerned citizens, the S Bar Ranch, and many others are closely monitoring all the shenanigans and legal maneuvering of Cat Creek Energy, LLC and will continue to post updates both on this website and on our Facebook page at @SbarRanch / https://www.facebook.com/SBarRanch/

Please help us get the word out by sharing this blog and/or Facebook posts.

Cat Creek Energy – A Problem, Not A Solution!

Camas Prairie, Elmore County, Idaho

All posts by Tim Bondy