NEVADA CITY, Calif. April 25, 2017 – In preparation for the Centennial Dam project, the Nevada Irrigation District (NID) has begun acquiring properties within the footprint of the project.
A total of 23 parcels, 17 in Nevada County and 6 in Placer County, have been acquired by NID at a cost of $4,149,881.22 as of April 25, 2017.
Acquisition dates:
December 23, 2014
March 4, 2015
April 22, 2015
September 25, 2015
December 3, 2015
February 17, 2016
February 29, 2016
May 12, 2016
June 1, 2016
June 9, 2016
July 8, 2016
November 3, 2016
November 14, 2016
December 17, 2016
The parcels were acquired from private owners and Hanson Brothers Inc.
(Data obtained through a California Public Records Act request by YubaNet, current as of April 24, 2017.)
The list does not include six parcels currently owned by BLM. Five of the parcels (slightly over 210 acres) are located on the Bear River within the proposed Centennial Dam project and one 367-acre parcel would give NID ownership of the area surrounding Chicago Powerhouse.
NID’s Administrative Practices Committee is still working on a letter to Congressman Doug LaMalfa requesting he bring forward legislation to transfer ownership of six BLM parcels to NID. The landgrab, according to NID, is “necessary for the safe and controlled operations of existing and proposed NID projects and should therefore be under direct management by the NID.”
Centennial Dam Project
The Centennial Dam would create a 110,000-acre-foot reservoir with a 275-foot tall dam on the Bear River.
The estimated cost to plan and build the Centennial Reservoir Project is between $200-300 million, according to NID. Opponents of the project put the cost at up to $1.2 billion.
According to Foothills Water Network (FWN), a coalition of conservation and recreation organizations, NID has spent more than $7 million planning Centennial Dam so far.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, after collecting public comments, is in the process of preparing a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the project. The Draft EIS is expected to be available for public review and comment by January 2018.
See the storymap below for parcel locations.
My dream is that, when this dam project implodes, we can compel NID to turn over all the land they’ve acquired to a land trust and we can actually have a large area of conservation and access to the public commons that waterways truly are. Let them waste their money and time. The Bear River Nature Preserve and Recreation Area is coming together! [thanks, NID].
Still, rate and taxpayers….this is yet another cause for outright revolt.
And, anyone selling out now is a dam fool. You deserve what you get.
Hansen is going to clean up. Starting from selling property to selling aggregate and other services. Classic local money making ploy.
No wonder there’s no funds available for filming and sharing their meetings!! Typical. Sounds like an emergency.