In association with Kern County Animal Control Services and the office of District 2 Supervisor, Zach Schrivner, Southern Kern Vet Hospital is offering a voucher to spay and neuter your pets. You must bring an ID (and proof of address if address is different than what is on the ID) and pick up the voucher in person at the times listed below, at the Rosamond Fire Station. Limit 4 vouchers per household.
August 14: Recurrent Energy has rescinded their application for a Conditional Use Permit and Zoning change for the 262 acre Yakima solar project west of Sierra Highway. This means that Recurrent is no longer trying to put a solar project on that site. Recurrent may pursue sites elsewhere in Mojave, but according to Recurrent: “We will explore this in accordance with the needs and wishes of the community”.
The Mojave Foundation is an avid supporter of solar energy in Mojave, but we were greatly concerned about the project’s proposed location, and and the potential for dust and respiratory diseases. We consider this development a huge “win” for Mojave, and the health and safety of our residents; and we look forward to helping companies invest in Mojave while working in harmony with the community. We will no longer be organizing rides to Bakersfield on August 19th.
On Tuesday August 19th the Board of Supervisors will decide whether to issue Recurrent Energy a conditional use permit and zoning change to install a massive 262 acre solar project just west of Hwy-14 and north of Camelot Blvd. The community of Mojave is universally opposed to this project due to the dust and corresponding health risks, since the project is only 1,400 feet upwind of a densely populated area of Mojave Gardens and downtown Mojave.
Residents and property owners are encouraged to go to the hearing in Bakersfield on the 19th at 2pm. There will be a video teleconference set up at the Vets hall on O St in Mojave, and there will also be rides to transport people to Bakersfield to demonstrate their concern over this issue. Residents interested in going to Bakersfield in person will meet at the Vets hall at 12:00 on the 19th, departing promptly at 12:30.
Mojave is supportive of renewable energy, but residents and civic organizations and businesses are united in their position that this is the wrong location for this project. We cannot risk the health and safety of our children and elderly, and the thousands of long-term jobs that have been created in Mojave in the last several years.
February 8: The Kern County Planning Department is revising its previous recommendation to approve the Aquahelio Fremont Valley water/solar project that would extract 114,000 acre feet of water per year (37 billion gallons per year) within 8 years. The Planning Commission approved the Aquahelio project by a vote of 3:2 on January 23rd amid much concerns from local water departments and communities. The planning department is now recommending that the Board of Supervisors refer the project “back to staff to revise and recirculate the Environmental Impact Report (EIR)”, according to a Feb 7 memo issued by the Planning Department. Although this does not permanently kill the project, it does raise questions about whether Aquahelio will continue to pursue an application process that has taken years. Click here for the memo from the Planning Department.
The decision by the Planning Department comes amid a “water emergency” issued by Governor Brown, and recent revelations that the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) is likely the reduce this year’s allocation of water to zero. Since a cornerstone of the Aquahelio project relied on “water banking” (temporarily storing some water from the LADWP Aqueduct in the Fremont Valley aquifer) to recharge the ground water extracted by Aquahelio, the Governor’s decision to restrict water allocations “calls into question the sufficiency of the project”, said Planning Director Lorelei Oviatt in an interview with the Bakersfield Californian. Since water banking typically requires depositors leave 10 percent of the water they store in the bank, the Planning Department took that 10 percent into account when reviewing Aquahelio’s EIR, Oviatt explained. Click here for the full article.
Locals estimate the Fremont Valley Aquifer’s natural “recharge rate” is historically 15,000 acre feet per year, but nobody knows what the aquifer’s actual rate of recharge or depletion has been since the drought which has lasted in east Kern County for over four years. The Board of Supervisors will hear the case and the Planning Department’s recommendation on February 25th at their normal meeting place at 1115 Truxton Ave in Bakersfield.
The Mojave Foundation 