Sonoma County supervisors take over decision on geothermal project

<p>A last-minute change by Sonoma County officials has shifted oversight of Calpine Corp.'s proposal for a new pair of geothermal power plants at The Geysers to the Board of Supervisors.</p><p>The $700 million project, one of the largest land-use projects in the county in decades, was headed toward a possible decision by the county's zoning board last Thursday concerning permit applications for the two power plants.</p><p>But Supervisor Mike McGuire, who represents northeastern Sonoma County where the geothermal fields are located, intervened and asked supervisors to take the project under their review.</p><p>On Tuesday, supervisors approved his request and are to take up the project at a Nov. 8 hearing.</p><p>The swift change came after the board invoked a protocol known as “original jurisdiction,” a move usually reserved for larger ventures over which supervisors may want the first and final say.</p><p>McGuire said if Calpine's plans had been approved by the zoning board, the project might never have been brought before supervisors because it has drawn no known opposition, and might not have been appealed.</p><p>The plan includes steam wells, pipelines, roads, transmission lines and towers, and is slated for 6,200 acres north of Calpine's existing complex at The Geysers.</p><p>A county report said it will affect air quality, wildlife habitat, earthquake activity and noise, but concluded the impacts were not significant.</p><p>McGuire said the supervisors' action was not to fast-track the project and that no request for the move had been made to him by Calpine officials.</p><p>“If the project had stayed at the Board of Zoning Adjustments, hypothetically it could have been approved last week,” he said.</p><p>The Board of Supervisors should decide a project of that size, McGuire said.</p><p>By dollar value alone it would be the largest construction project in the county since the building of Warm Springs Dam to create Lake Sonoma in the early 1980s.</p><p>Nearly 200 workers will be needed to build the plants and 19 workers will operate and maintain them, according to Calpine.</p><p>At full capacity, the new plants would generate enough electricity to power 70,000 homes. The first unit could start producing in 2014.</p><p>“The magnitude of this project and the benefits — the impact on the job market, the local economy, the power it will produce — they're huge for Sonoma County,” McGuire said. “This is the type of project I believe the Board of Supervisors should be addressing head on.”</p>