What Happened At Lake Berryessa? A Condensed Political History 1958 - 2018 by Peter Kilkus Version 1/2/18 Table Of Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 1 Lake Berryessa History Timeline .......................................................................................................................................................... 2 How It All Began: The Origins of the “Big Lie” ............................................................................................................................... 10 Will History Repeat Itself In Reverse? What Happened in 1975? ......................................................................................... 16 Notice of Intent: Solano Project--Lake Berryessa; Napa, California ..................................................................................... 18 The “Big Lie” Continues: Task Force 7 Protests Reclamation’s Unjustified Negative Propaganda ........................ 20 The Facts Fight Back: What You Need to Know About the Battle for Berryessa ............................................................ 21 Local Businesses Fight Back: Chamber of Commerce Critique of Draft Environmental Impact Statement ....... 23 Residents Fight Back: More Than 900 Unleash Scorn on Reclamation Plan .................................................................... 24 The Perversion of Public Law 96-375: Demolition Hardball by the Bureau of Reclamation .................................... 27 Reclamation Defends Unjust Requirement to Demolish ALL Existing Facilities At Lake Berryessa ..................... 33 The Pensus Years: The Lake Berryessa News View .................................................................................................................... 34 Pensus: The Short Story That Was Actually A Fantasy ......................................................................................... 34 Pensus Signs Berryessa Contract – Begins Facilities Development – Announces Resort Openings ..................... 35 They’re Off Like a Herd of Turtles! Bureaucracy at Berryessa ............................................................................. 38 Lake Berryessa: When Do Past Memories Actually Become “HISTORY”? ........................................................ 41 Goodbye 2011: Another Year of Process Without Progress! Will 2012 Be Any Better? ...................................... 45 A Lake Berryessa Midsummer Night’s Dream (With Apologies to William Shakespeare) .................................. 47 Applehood and Mother Pie! What’s Right, What’s Wrong, and Why ................................................................... 50 Catch-22: The Bureaucratic Double Bind Theory in Practice ................................................................................ 57 Seasons, Cycles, and Radical Change: Chaos Theory - Lake Berryessa Style ...................................................... 59 Floundering About at Lake Berryessa (This is not a fishing story.) ....................................................................... 61 SNAFU, FUBAR and BOHICA: Deciphering Berryessa’s Ancient Rock Sculpture at Steele Park ..................... 64 Feds Final Folly: The Destruction of Steele Park - Public Law 96-375’s Unintended Consequence .................... 66 A Modest Radical Proposal: Transfer Management of Lake Berryessa to Napa County ...................................... 68 A Path Forward To Revitalize Lake Berryessa: Fire The Feds! ............................................................................. 74 Open Letter to the Federal Government: Get Out of Lake Berryessa! ................................................................... 76 Napa County and the Bureau of Reclamation: Working Together to Rebuild Lake Berryessa? ........................... 78 Will 2017 Be Lake Berryessa's Lucky Year? ......................................................................................................... 80 Milestone Achieved! A Positive Report on the Potential Future Rebirth of Lake Berryessa! ............................... 82 The Future of Lake Berryessa Looks Brighter, But The Sun Also Rises A Bit Slowly ......................................... 84 Napa County Releases Lake Berryessa Request For Information & Interest ......................................................... 86 Lake Berryessa History Through Napa Register Editorials ..................................................................................................... 88 Stop resort owners from polluting lake: February 27, 2001 ................................................................................... 88 1 You can help chart future of Lake Berryessa: July 22, 2003 ................................................................................. 88 Berryessa: Put it back in public hands: February 23, 2006 .................................................................................... 89 Berryessa's future brightens: June 15, 2006 ........................................................................................................... 90 Clock ticking at Lake Berryessa: April 12, 2009 ................................................................................................... 90 The local’s view of fiasco at the lake: April 15, 2009 ............................................................................................ 91 Restoring trust at Berryessa: April 17, 2009 .......................................................................................................... 92 Bureau hopes to return Berryessa to its heyday: April 10, 2011 ............................................................................ 93 Inching forward at Lake Berryessa: March 16, 2013 ............................................................................................. 94 Lake Berryessa History Through Napa Register Articles ......................................................................................................... 96 Reclamation considers revamping Berryessa shoreline: February 25, 2001 .......................................................... 96 Officials plan makeover for Lake Berryessa: August 12, 2003 ........................................................................... 100 Lake Berryessa public hearings begin: November 13, 2003 ................................................................................ 101 Report says Berryessa better off without trailers: November 9, 2003 .................................................................. 102 Battle over Berryessa: Lake's history full of federal-local tensions: December 11, 2003 .................................... 103 Battle over Berryessa: Trailer owners offer own blueprint for future: December 11, 2003 ................................ 106 Crowd tells feds not to move Berryessa trailers: January 22, 2004 ..................................................................... 107 Residents debate Berryessa's future: January 11, 2004 ........................................................................................ 108 Lake Berryessa trailer owners hire lobbyists: July 26, 2004 ................................................................................ 109 Mobile home park residents challenge feds over lake economy: December 12, 2004 ......................................... 111 Berryessa trailers must go: June 6, 2006 .............................................................................................................. 116 Rancho Monticello, a resort with eye toward the future: June 12, 2006 .............................................................. 117 Trailers ousted from lake: June 7, 2006 ............................................................................................................... 118 On the edge at Lake Berryessa: March 18, 2007 .................................................................................................. 121 Bidding heats up on control of resorts: December 6, 2007 .................................................................................. 122 Feds identify likely winners to run Berryessa resorts: April 2, 2008 ................................................................... 123 At Berryessa, resorts begin to close, owners angry, future uncertain: June 10, 2008 .......................................... 124 Big changes at Berryessa: July 27, 2008 .............................................................................................................. 126 Remake at the lake: January 1, 2009 .................................................................................................................... 128 Salvaging summer at the lake: March 23, 2009 ................................................................................................... 128 Bureau names top bidder for Berryessa resorts: January 14, 2010 ...................................................................... 132 Deal signed for six Berryessa resorts: April 29, 2010 .......................................................................................... 133 Feds terminate Pensus resort contract: December 7, 2012 ................................................................................... 135 Dueling Napa Register Letters To The Editor ............................................................................................................................