Feb 12 - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News - Brandon Bailey San Jose Mercury News, Calif.

After years of controversy, the San Jose-based Calpine energy company is gearing up to draw geothermal power from a quiet corner of Northern California -- and opponents fear the result will change the character of a remote volcanic area where American Indians have conducted vision quests and prayer ceremonies for centuries.

The two power plants that Calpine has proposed building in Siskiyou County represent a valuable asset for the financially struggling energy producer, at a time when demand for so-called green or renewable electricity is on the rise. They may also be a test of whether competing social interests can coexist.

Nearby resident Howard Wynant said he's glad to see energy companies replacing fossil fuels with alternative sources, including geothermal power, that don't pollute the air or contribute to global warming. Still, he wishes Calpine would abandon its plans for the scenic Medicine Lake highlands, an area long considered sacred for many Indians.

"We all use electricity and, obviously, clean air and clean energy are things we need to look at for our future," said Wynant, a leader of a Shasta Indian group that opposes the projects. "But why go to the most sensitive, controversial place you could find to try to pursue this resource?"

Peaceful protest

It's a question that drew more than 100 opponents to a peaceful protest outside Calpine's Silicon Valley headquarters last month, and one that attorneys will be arguing before a federal appeals court this week. It's also confounding for a company that takes pride in being one of the state's biggest producers of renewable power.

"I don't care how clean or green it is, nobody wants it in their back yard," said Calpine executive Charlene Wardlow.

But after years of local and federal review, officials are expected to give Calpine clearance this spring to proceed with the first of two geothermal plants in the Medicine Lake area. Calpine wants to begin work on a final testing well this summer at a site called Telephone Flat. Company spokesman Kent Robertson said plant construction could begin in 2008.

It may seem strange for Calpine to be pursuing new projects: The formerly high-flying company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December, after racking up billions in debt during a construction spree over the last decade. But executives say they are reorganizing to continue operating power plants and building new ones.

Calpine's plans for the Medicine Lake area are relatively small. It has permits to build two geothermal plants that would use naturally occurring steam, piped from thousands of feet underground, to produce just under 50 megawatts of electricity at each site.

By contrast, the company draws up to 750 megawatts from geothermal plants in Lake and Sonoma counties. Its Metcalf energy plant in South San Jose burns natural gas to produce up to 600 megawatts. One megawatt can power 1,000 homes.

But the Medicine Lake projects are valuable because they have completed the complex permit process that every new power plant must undergo. And utilities, which buy electricity from companies like Calpine, are facing a state deadline to increase their purchases of renewable power.

Study looks at impact

While opponents have raised environmental concerns about the Medicine Lake projects, an official impact study found that geothermal development would have relatively minor effects on local air and water quality. But the study also concluded that the sights and sounds of drilling rigs, cooling towers and transmission lines would unavoidably change the character of the region -- detracting from its "spiritual significance" as a sacred site.

Members of the Pit River, Klamath and Shasta tribes use the lake and the surrounding high country -- which includes thick stands of pine and fir, interspersed with old lava fields and pumice flats -- for ceremonies and solitary rites.

"The opportunities for solitude there are extraordinary," said Michelle Berditschevsky, environmental coordinator for the Pit River Tribe. "The silence. At night, you see every star in the sky because there simply aren't any lights."

Site in national forest

The land is in a national forest, where U.S. officials sold energy rights in the 1980s. Since then, federal officials have seesawed between competing interests in the region.

During the Clinton administration, officials approved Calpine's plans to build one generator at a site called Fourmile Hill, while denying permission at Telephone Flat.

The generator at Telephone Flat would be two miles from the lake, closer than Fourmile Hill, and officials concluded it would be too disruptive to the tribes' activities. But the Bush administration reversed that decision under threat of a lawsuit by Calpine. Officials ordered the company to move a transmission line farther from sacred areas, but said renewable energy has public value that outweighed the impact.

Tribes weigh in

The Pit River Tribe and other groups have filed three lawsuits to block the projects. One case has a hearing scheduled Tuesday before the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

Meanwhile, Calpine officials say they have met with Indian groups and hired tribal members to monitor some of the work. The company says it will take steps to minimize disruptions -- such as painting with non-reflective colors, reducing noise and designing roads and transmission lines to blend with the landscape.

And some say the potential impact has been overblown.

"It's not pristine. The area's already been logged," said Roy Hall Sr., whose family leads a rival Shasta Indian faction that split with Wynant's group in disagreement over the project.

The Medicine Lake area has both old-growth fir and new timber that's grown since it was logged in the last century. There are also more than 30 vacation cabins in the area, and residents run motorboats on the lake -- though it can be reached only by snowmobile in the winter.

Opponents say those incursions are minor compared to the proposed power plants.

Others acknowledged the dilemma. Despite efforts to reduce energy use, the state needs to develop renewable power, said Sheryl Carter of the Natural Resources Defense Council, which does not take positions on individual projects.

"Of course we need to protect special places," she said, "but we also need to understand that if we don't build that particular resource, something else is going to have to be built."

 

Contact Brandon Bailey at bbailey@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5022.