VOLUME II FINAL PROGRAM ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT RESPONSE TO COMMENTS SCH # 2008052006 WSMP 2040 WATER SUPPLY MANAGEMENT PROGRAM 2040 EAST BAY MUNICIPAL UTILITY DISTRICT OCTOBER 2009 Table of Contents Volume I 1. Introduction 1.1. Purpose of the Response to Comments Document 1.2. Environmental Review Process 1.3. Report Organization 2. Comments and Responses 2.1. Master Responses 2.1.1 WSMP 2040 2.1.2 Program-level EIR Analysis 2.1.3 Demand Study 2.1.4 Enlarge Pardee Reservoir Component 2.2. Individual Comments and Responses 2.2.1 Federal Agencies 2.2.2 State Agencies 2.2.3 Local Agencies and Utilities 2.2.4 Environmental and Community Organizations 2.2.5 Individuals and Small Businesses Form Letters Volume II 2.2.5 Individuals and Small Businesses (continued) Individual Letters 2.3 Comments from Public Meetings and Responses 2.3.1 Lodi 2.3.2 Sutter Creek 2.3.3 Oakland 2.3.4 Walnut Creek 2.3.5 San Andreas 2.4 Late Comments Submitted After Close of Public Review Period 2.4.1 Federal Agencies 2.4.2 State Agencies 2.4.3 Local Agencies, Utilities and Elected Officials 2.4.4 Environmental and Community Organizations 2.4.5 Individuals and Small Businesses Form Letters Individual Letters EBMUD WSMP 2040 PEIR October 2009 Response to Comments Volume III 2.4.5 Individuals and Small Businesses (continued) Handwritten Letters 2.4.6 Comments from EBMUD Board Workshop 12 3. Revisions to the WSMP 2040 Draft PEIR EBMUD WSMP 2040 PEIR October 2009 Response to Comments 2.2.5 Individuals and Small Businesses EBMUD WSMP 2040 PEIR October 2009 Response to Comments This page intentionally left blank. EBMUD WSMP 2040 PEIR October 2009 Response to Comments Individual Letters EBMUD WSMP 2040 PEIR October 2009 Response to Comments This page intentionally left blank. EBMUD WSMP 2040 PEIR October 2009 Response to Comments From: Friends of the River on behalf of Alexander Gaguine Sent: Tue 3/17/2009 10:13 PM To: Francis, Thomas Subject: Don't raise Pardee Dam Mar 18, 2009 Mr. Thomas Francis 375 11th Street MS 407 Oakland, CA 94607 Dear Mr. Francis, Please do not enlarge the Pardee and Lower Bear reservoirs downing a segment of the Mokelumne River. Highway 49 is one of the most beautiful roads in California. One of its charms - and one of it's most educational aspects - is the many intriguing canyons that the road passes in and out of. And at the bottom of these canyons there always used to be a beautiful river. People from all over the state and the world would slow way down or stop and get out to look at the wonder and beauty of the rivers of the Sierra Nevada flowing out to the valley. It was a free and magnificent gift to people who may never even have given any thought to the geography and hydrology of our home. It was an important way people learned where they lived. One by one those beautiful river crossings have disappeared - the Merced at Bagby, the Stanislaus at Melones, the Tuolumne at Jacksonville. Visitors can come to the foothills and not even know there are such things as rivers. The Mokelumne at Highway 49 would be one more such loss. Please don't take it away. Please revise the Plan to eliminate the Pardee and Lower Bear Reservoir enlargements. The Plan should focus on increased conservation, recycling, and drought year rationing instead. Sincerely, Mr. Alexander Gaguine 220 Laguna St Santa Cruz, CA 95060-6108 Alexander Gaguine (AGag) AGag-1. EBMUD acknowledges the commenter’s opposition to the Enlarge Pardee Reservoir and Enlarge Lower Bear Reservoir components of the WSMP 2040. AGag-2. Impacts on view from State Route 49 are described in Impact 5.2.I-1 of the Draft PEIR and are characterized potentially significant. Visual impacts will be fully examined in a project-level EIR when and if the District decides to move forward with project-level for the Enlarge Pardee Reservoir component. AGag-3. EBMUD recognizes the value of water conservation, recycling and rationing, and has included them as components in the Preferred Portfolio. Please see the Master Response on the WSMP 2040. EBMUD WSMP 2040 PEIR October 2009 Response to Comments From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, April 23, 2009 3:56 PM To: Francis, Thomas Subject: Please drop plans to expand Pardee Reservoir Dear East Bay MUD and local officials: I am grateful that the board and concerned citizens are extensively discussing this important issue of building a new dam. I believe it is critical to exchange ideas and to think outside of the box. We need to examine the much bigger and longer term issue of water usage and future needs. Building another dam would be like applying a band aid to a problem that in the long run will not meet a dramatically rapid growing population. I urge you to drop your plans to build a new Pardee Dam and expand Pardee Reservoir as part of the EBMUD 2040 water plan. With the extensive and rapid melting of our glaciers and the consequence of the raising level of our ocean, why not put all this money into a desalination plant right where the water is needed without destroying miles of river. Enforcing conservation and better use of our water would also make a dramatic difference in wasteful habits. There are other creative solutions to this problem. Let's not be short sighted and rush into a plan will not solve the issue in the long run. This Pardee Dam plan will provide relatively little new water, and harm miles of the Mokelumne River. Enlarging Pardee will drown a part of the Mokelumne popular for kayaking and fishing, submerge or require removal of the historic Middle Bar Bridge and river access facilities, inundate important cultural resources, require construction of a new Highway 49 bridge, and seasonally inundate nearly a mile of river proposed for National Wild and Scenic River designation by the Bureau of Land Management. Enlarging Pardee will destroy decades of work and investment by public agencies and local residents to improve recreational use of the Mokelumne River, thwarting local efforts to use the river for economic development. Creating dead-end roads approaching the river will cut off a critical fire evacuation route for residents of Middle Bar and Gwin Mine roads. There is no reason to destroy more miles of a popular river used by locals and visitors alike and its fish habitat. You can avoid the environmental, social and economic cost by using your water supplies, including the new American River water supply, more efficiently. Please leave these miles of the Mokelumne a river for future generations. alice giuliani 2681 mason road Mokelumne Hill, CA 95245 Alice Giuliani (AGiu) AGiu-1. EBMUD acknowledges the commenter’s opposition to the Enlarge Pardee Reservoir component of the WSMP 2040 and general opposition to expanded reservoirs and new dams as a water supply solution. The alternative development process included an in-depth evaluation of over 50 components and a range of portfolios before the Board selected the Preferred Portfolio. Please see the Master Response on the WSMP 2040 for a discussion of the Preferred Portfolio and alternatives. AGiu-2. EBMUD acknowledges the commenter’s support for desalination in the San Francisco Bay Area. EBMUD also supports increased water conservation and has included a high level of conservation in the WSMP 2040. Please see the Master Response on the WSMP 2040 for a discussion of the Preferred Portfolio and alternatives. Please see response Form Letter 2-2. AGiu-3. Please see response Form Letter 3-2. AGiu-4. Please see response Form Letter 3-3. AGiu-5. Please see response Form Letter 2-5. AGiu-6. Please see response Form Letter 2-6. EBMUD WSMP 2040 PEIR October 2009 Response to Comments From: Ann Haruki-Pinedo [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, April 07, 2009 12:04 AM To: Francis, Thomas Subject: We support continuing the current fee structure and not adding to it. 1139 Garden Lane Lafayette, Ca 94549 Ann Haruki-Pinedo (AHa) AHa-1. Comment acknowledged. Please see the response to SCSFB2-17 for a discussion of EBMUD’s rate pricing structure. EBMUD WSMP 2040 PEIR October 2009 Response to Comments From: Addie Jacobson [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, March 17, 2009 9:28 AM To: Dianne and Ron Cc: Francis, Thomas; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; Alice Trinkl; Bunny Firebaugh; John Trinkl; Susan Robinson; Susan Shoaff Subject: Re: PARDEE RESEVOIR ENLARGEMENT Thanks, Ron. Great letter. By the way, I attended the public meeting in Sutter Creek last night. Pretty powerful. Many participants asked for a public meeting in Calaveras and promised there would be a huge turnout. So-- if that happens -- I hope we can help produce that big turnout. Addie On Mon, Mar 16, 2009 at 2:39 PM, Dianne and Ron <[email protected]> wrote: March 16, 2009 EBMUD Water Supply Improvements Division Oakland, CA 94607 Dear Mr. Francis: I oppose the Pardee Reservoir enlargement proposed in EBMUD's Water Supply Management Plan and Programmatic Environmental Impact Report. The justification for increasing Pardee’s water storage capacity is specious, shortsighted and, in the broad perspective, not cost effective. Natural resources are not limitless, even if they are renewable. The Mokelumne River’s capacity to provide water must be determined relevant to all of its users and subsequent ramifications. The era of dam building and/or expansion is archaic, especially when taking into consideration the total dollar cost, the cost to the environment, ecosystem, the cost to the local economy, the cost of destroying river usage, the cost of destroying historical/cultural heritage, to name a few.