Residents, boaters, anglers and river lovers had their first say on the overall relicensing applicaiton for Southern California Edison’s power plant above Kernville and they uniformly demanded more water be put back into the upper Kern River.
Commenters to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission urged it to reject Edison’s proposed minimum stream flows in its draft license application and adopt a proposal by the Kern River Boaters that uses an analysis of the Kern River done by the California Environmental Flows Framework (CEFF) at University of California, Davis.
It’s time, commenters wrote, for regulators to give back enough water for the Kern River to support native cold-water trout, wash down sediment and provide for more consistent public recreation.
In another article, Lois Henry from the San Joaquin Valley SJV Water news site writes that a Kern River Valley tribe may have river rights that give it a big dog in the Edison power plant relicensing fight. Construction of KR3 began in 1919 and was completed in 1921. A documented, pre-existing water right that wasn’t somehow terminated or legally obtained, could prove to be an interesting wrinkle in how water is apportioned on the North Fork of the Kern River.
The Tübatulabal, or Pakanapul, tribe has been working to reassert its place in the Kern River Valley and recently acquired 1,200 ancestral acres on Fay Creek above the South Fork of the Kern River. Tribal members have also rededicated one of its historic cemeteries and is working to keep is language, unique among California tribes, alive through mentoring programs.
