Riordan Opposes Plan to Protect DWP Land

A proposal to permanently protect more than 300,000 acres of Owens Valley land owned by the Department of Water and Power has run into opposition from some city leaders--including Mayor Richard Riordan--who question the benefits for Los Angeles.

In interviews and at a meeting Tuesday, members of the city’s Board of Water and Power Commissioners--who must approve the plan--expressed both enthusiasm and disdain for the idea. And the mayor’s office is signaling displeasure with the plan and the way it has been handled.

Drafted by a conservation group and DWP General Manager S. David Freeman, the proposal took many city officials by surprise.

“The mayor has been rather frustrated on this,” said Peter Hidalgo, Riordan’s press secretary. He said the mayor was displeased that Freeman “did not have the courtesy” to inform Riordan of his talks with the conservancy group before the proposal became public.

Some DWP board members were angry that they had not been consulted by Freeman. “I think it’s wrong . . . that the board reads about something like this in the Los Angeles Times,” Commissioner Rick Caruso said at Tuesday’s meeting.

Freeman said he apologized “if I offended anyone” but said he hoped that would not influence the board’s handling of the matter.

He described the proposal as a simple idea that would be a fitting new chapter in the city’s often bitter relationship with the Owens Valley.

Under the plan, the department would sell a $25-million “conservation easement” for its sprawling holdings in the Eastern Sierra, giving up rights to develop the property but retaining ownership and water rights.

The DWP bought up the Owens Valley early in the last century and shipped the region’s water south, drying up its ranches but keeping the high desert and mountain land undeveloped during a century of booming growth in California.

The municipal power company has not expressed any interest in selling the property for development, but conservationists have cited the current shaky financial state of Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison as evidence that nothing should be taken for granted--including preservation of the DWP’s vast Owens Valley acreage.

The easement plan was developed by the Yucaipa-based Wildlands Conservancy and Freeman. It has the backing of the executive director of the state Wildlife Conservation Board, which would contribute half of the $25-million easement payment. The other half would come from private funds raised by the wildlands group.

More than 20 people showed up at Tuesday’s board meeting to speak about the deal and most declared their support.

But the board appeared split in its initial reaction, referring the proposal to a committee, which is to devise a discussion timetable.

Caruso voiced the strongest criticism. In an interview Monday, he blasted the idea as “silly, silly” and complained that an easement agreement would add another layer of bureaucracy to management of the Owens Valley.

Caruso, a commercial real estate developer, ridiculed the $25-million figure as absurdly low.

At the meeting, Commissioner Dominick Rubalcava questioned the need for such an easement.

But Commissioner Michael Keston called it “a grand idea. It has a lot of merit.”

And commission Vice President Judy Miller said Monday that a conservation deal “sounds interesting and worthy of further discussion.”

Riordan was not so receptive. “At first glance, the mayor does not believe it is something that would be in the best interests of the city,” Hidalgo said.