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Title: Mono County update

Journal Article · · Geotherm. Hot Line; (United States)
OSTI ID:6812620

In May 1987, the Mono County Energy Management Department recommended that a two-year moratorium be placed on geothermal power production projects on private lands within the Mono-Long Valley KGRA. The intent of the proposed moratorium was to allow for the collection and evaluation of hydrologic monitoring data in the Long Valley Caldera. Now, to still achieve this end, the Energy Management Department will suggest that mitigation measures and project-specific monitoring requirements be implemented via the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) documentation and the county use permit process. The monitoring data will provide important information to Mono County decision-makers regarding potential adverse impacts from geothermal production on such local resources as Hot Creek Gorge, the Hot Creek Fish Hatchery, and Hot Creek, itself. The Mammoth/Chance Geothermal Project is the proposed construction and operation of a 10 megawatt, net, geothermal binary-cycle power plant and production- and injection-well field by Bonneville Pacific Corporation. The project is currently under environmental review, pursuant to CEQA requirements. The Mono County Energy Management Director is providing assistance to the Town of Mammoth Lakes on its California Energy Commission (CEC) grant-funded resource assessment project. The grant of $220,000 provides for the drilling of at least two temperature-gradient wells (exploratory wells) within the town limits. If a geothermal resource is detected and found to provide adequate flows at a suitable temperature, the Town of Mammoth Lakes will proceed in the development of a geothermal space-heating system to provide heat to such users as the Centinela Mammoth Hospital, Mammoth elementary and high schools, the Gateway Industrial Park, and future residential development projects.

OSTI ID:
6812620
Journal Information:
Geotherm. Hot Line; (United States), Vol. 17:1
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English