Environmentalists and activists have been fighting projects proposed for the former Eagle Mountain mining area, south of Joshua Tree National Park, for decades. Just when it seemed the land was safe from a garbage dump, the National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management have stepped in to transfer the property to the National Park Service, while allowing a private company to build a hydroelectric dam on the site. Managing editor Tami Roleff has more…
A hydroelectric power project is proposed for the Eagle Mountain area on the southern border of Joshua Tree National Park. The Bureau of Land Management released an environmental assessment last month, and the public comment period for the EA ends Sunday, November 6. The hydroelectric project would generate energy by pumping water from the Chuckwalla aquifer to a retention pond up on the mountain. Water in the pond would then flow downhill to a hydroelectric pump to create energy. The land for the hydroelectric project is owned by Eagle Crest Energy Corporation, but in a deal agreed to by the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and Eagle Crest Corporation, the land is expected to be turned over to Joshua Tree National Park, which would allow the project to continue. The Park Service also expects to phase out all recreational mining in the area in the next five to 10 years. The Park Service is expected to issue its finding in December.
The environmental assessment:
https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/eplanning/planAndProjectSite.do?methodName=renderDefaultPlanOrProjectSite&projectId=66002
Submit comments on the environmental assessment to:
Bureau of Land Management, California Desert District,
22835 Calle San Juan de Los Lagos,
Moreno Valley, CA 92553;
via Email: [email protected];
via FAX: (951) 697-5299.
