Let's Continue the Conversation Kern River (CA)
Paddlers are invited to join American Whitewater and the National Park Service for a Zoom discussion to share an update on American Whitewater’s participation in the relicensing process for the Southern California Edison KR3 Hydroelectric Project, which encompasses the Wild and Scenic North Fork of the Kern River from Fairview Dam to Riverside Park.
In September, SCE filed a Notice of Intent and a Pre-Application Document to officially start the process to relicense this project. In December, paddlers and other stakeholders made verbal comments to FERC in a Public Scoping Meeting. As part of the Integrated Licensing Process (ILP), additional written comments and written Study Requests are due to FERC by January 20th, 2022. This step in the relicensing process provides opportunities for stakeholders to request specific studies be incorporated into the final Study Plan for the KR3 water project, investigating cultural recreational and ecological resources on the Kern River.
American Whitewater and the National Park Service will outline planned written comments on the KR3 project, and planned Study Requests in advance of the 20 January deadline to submit both. Following this discussion, we invite listeners to provide brief comments on the proposed Study Plan, as well as inquire about the structure, format, and process to provide their own Study Plan requests. Kern River Paddlers can join us on Thursday January 13th at 6:30pm to listen in and engage. Participants will be capped at 40 to facilitate a good working group so register soon here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZckdOmopjMjGtXuAxZLw4CdhEcwwuyPd7zF
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. AW looks forward to continuing discussion on priorities for the Kern River soon!
Photo by Ian Buckley