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Residents urge Modoc County to demand answers as Ormat moves on exploratory geothermal work
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Summary
Public commenters urged the Modoc County Board of Supervisors to press for local briefings and clarity after Ormat held a town hall and county staff confirmed exploratory well permit applications are in review.
Public comment at the Modoc County Board of Supervisorsmeeting on March 24 centered on community concerns about proposed geothermal work in Surprise Valley and what authority the county retains as state processes proceed.
"They showed up because they care about Surprise Valley," said resident Jonathan Hover, describing attendance at an Ormat town hall in Surprise Valley. Elizabeth Manafort, who cited the McGinnis Hills/ Jersey Valley geothermal project in Nevada, told the board the springs there declined after development and said mitigation planning lagged behind impacts. "The springs still dried up," Manafort said, adding that the technology proposed for Surprise Valley is the same binary-cycle system used at McGinnis Hills.
The matter matters to the county because speakers said Surprise Valley is a closed basin with shallow aquifers tied to surface springs and wells. "The question is who controls what happens here and under what terms," said Shailene Timbs, who also warned that a recent state law broadens a state certification pathway that can supplant local permitting.
County staff responded that exploratory well permit applications from Ormat are in the county under review. "We have received application for exploratory well permits," a county staff member said, adding that the process now is a completeness review followed by consultant environmental studies and, depending on the application, Planning Commission review.
Board members did not take formal action on the project at the meeting. Staff said the standard administrative path is a completeness determination, potential environmental review under CEQA and then further public comment opportunities; staff also said fees and consultant reimbursements are determined in that review.
What comes next: residents asked the board to request a formal briefing from the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board and for the county to convene town-hall-style meetings so the public can ask specific permitting questions before irreversible steps occur. County staff and the board said they will monitor application completeness and the timing of any public review periods.