Accord Ends Bitter Owens Valley Dispute--but Will Dust Settle?

It is by all accounts an uneasy alliance. But this morning, standing together on a barren lake bed, leaders from the Owens Valley and Los Angeles will celebrate the signing of a historic plan to end giant dust storms that have plagued the valley for most of the century.

After decades of conflict, today’s scheduled signing by a top official of the federal Environmental Protection Agency marks passage of the final hurdle for the Owens Lake recovery plan.

The plan is expected to cost Los Angeles more than $100 million and use large quantities of water. The first phase will start in 2001, when 10 square miles of the lake bed will be flooded with several inches of water. Under the plan, Los Angeles has promised to do whatever it takes by 2006 to control the dust storms that have plagued people near the lake.

Its river diverted by a Los Angeles-bound aqueduct built in 1913, Owens Lake has sent immense, whirling clouds of fine dust into Inyo County and Ridgecrest on windy days for about 70 years.

A single windstorm can whip up 11 tons of salty crust tainted with arsenic, cadmium and other toxic compounds. The storms cause asthma attacks and other respiratory problems and endanger about 40,000 people, including the Bishop Indian Tribes and military personnel and families at the China Lake Naval Air Station.

Where all the water will come from remains unresolved: The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power hopes to persuade Inyo County officials to give up some local ground water so the city won’t have to divert water from its aqueduct. That issue remains a major point of contention between the Owens Valley and Los Angeles, which have waged a bitter battle over water rights for the past century.

The DWP and the Great Basin air pollution agency struggled for almost two decades to come up with a dust-control plan.

“This is the final step,” said Ellen Hardebeck, air pollution control officer for the Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District. “We’re satisfied with the agreement and we’re hopeful that this will all work out. But we’re not complacent, either.”

DWP project manager Pete Westdal called the final plan “a very large step forward in what has been a very long process.” He said the DWP will pick a contractor by July, and construction of the shallow-flooding system will begin late next year.

Los Angeles has made “a clear commitment” that will ensure that the Owens Valley, which suffers the worst particle pollution in the nation, finally has healthful air, said EPA regional administrator Felicia Marcus.

Marcus called the long-running Owens Lake battle a classic David versus Goliath struggle, saying the “real heroes” are officials of the tiny Great Basin pollution agency who took on Los Angeles to protect Owens Valley residents from the dangerous, lung-clogging dust.

“The thing that’s exciting is that L.A. is finally doing the right thing,” Marcus said. “Before, they were just trying to see what they could get away with. L.A. has now taken responsibility, showing that it’s a mature city, not just a bunch of whiners.”

Not everyone is so bullish on the deal. Leaders of the Lone Pine Shoshone-Paiute Tribe considered suing to block the plan because they fear it is not aggressive enough in guaranteeing clean air for the region. “It’s a celebration in the sense that we have a federally enforced order, but it doesn’t mean we like the order all that well,” said Dorothy Alther, an attorney with California Indian Legal Services.

“This isn’t over yet, not by a longshot,” she added.

Flowing fresh from the Sierra Nevada, water from the Owens Valley is worth hundreds of millions of dollars to thirsty, arid Los Angeles. The city has fought vigorously to retain all of it. Over the years, however, the city has been forced under environmental laws to return water to Mono Lake, the Owens River and now, Owens Lake.

The project is considered a compromise. Originally, the Great Basin agency sought a plan that would have forced the city to restore 35 square miles of the lake in 2001. Los Angeles officials said that plan was exorbitant and a violation of the city’s water rights, and they threatened a lawsuit.

According to those familiar with negotiations over the plan, the situation changed after S. David Freeman was hired as general manager of the DWP and decided that the agency should comply with the Clean Air Act rather than fight in court. The state’s Air Resources Board also pushed both sides to negotiate a compromise, which was reached a year ago.

Under the terms of the agreement, the DWP must cover 10 square miles of the dry lake with water, gravel or vegetation by the end of 2001, then another 3.5 square miles in 2002 and three more square miles in 2003. A new plan will be developed in 2003, but in case more conflict erupts, the city has already agreed to keep treating two square miles a year until enough dust is eliminated to meet federal health standards.

Hardebeck said the DWP and the Owens Valley pollution agency now have a “grudging respect for each other. I think we can reestablish a peaceful relationship at least until 2003.”

Westdal said the DWP hopes to use vegetation to control dust on some sections of the lake because that will use less water than flooding. The DWP also will experiment with fences. The initial 10 square miles will be flooded, however, because vegetation takes too long to grow.

The flooding will use about 25,000 acre-feet of water every year--enough to serve 50,000 households. The entire project may take 40,000 acre-feet a year in perpetuity.

An experimental project will flood one square mile perhaps in a few months, as soon as various permits are approved, Westdal said.

Freeman has said the cost can probably be absorbed in current water rates.