Range of Light Group Letters from the Chair

Letter from the Chair

The Range of Light Group is part of the Toiyabe Chapter of the Sierra Club, serving the Eastern Sierra and Death Valley areas of California.

April 2006

Well, here I am, trying to follow Wilma Wheeler. Not an easy task.

We are considering what our new team should do to further the environment in the Eastern Sierra. As Wilma said last month, we and our allies have been successful on a number of issues. Here's a few:

The Lower Owens River Project seems to be almost ready to happen, although some other mitigation issues are unresolved.

The Mammoth Airport project has been cut back to use small airplanes, not even regional jets but turboprops that can use the short runway. That's were we were in 1995. Nothing like rapid progress!

Air travel has never been a big success at Mammoth because it's just too easy to drive from L.A. The white hope is Las Vegas, but it's just as easy to drive from there. What's 320 miles to a Nevadan?

The June Lake Advocates, aided by California water law, have about succeeded in driving Intrawest out of June Lake. There isn't enough water for their large project. It's sad that the community couldn't derive some benefit from reasonable development.

In Mammoth, the Advocates for Mammoth, aided by sensible citizens and common sense, have delayed approval of some ill-conceived features of the General Plan Update, the object of contention for about four years. It seems that not everybody was willing to give the Town away to the developers, or pay taxes for unneeded "amenities." The delays brought us into the cooling real-estate market. Two attempts at writing a response EIR have failed (there were 900 critical comments on the last try!)Speculators don't like uncertainty.

In the future, we will need to defend against urban sprawl as a result of a sell-off of public land, which will impact wildlife, air quality, and traffic. Our Executive Committee is preparing for more environmental challenges. Contact any member if you have ideas or questions.

Note that we have an email alert list. Check our home page for the link to sign up for these alerts.

Owen Maloy
Chair, Range of Light Group

Home Page		Letter from the Chair The Range of Light Group is part of the Toiyabe Chapter of the Sierra Club, serving the Eastern Sierra and Death Valley areas of California. April 2006 Well, here I am, trying to follow Wilma Wheeler. Not an easy task. We are considering what our new team should do to further the environment in the Eastern Sierra. As Wilma said last month, we and our allies have been successful on a number of issues. Here's a few: The Lower Owens River Project seems to be almost ready to happen, although some other mitigation issues are unresolved. The Mammoth Airport project has been cut back to use small airplanes, not even regional jets but turboprops that can use the short runway. That's were we were in 1995. Nothing like rapid progress! Air travel has never been a big success at Mammoth because it's just too easy to drive from L.A. The white hope is Las Vegas, but it's just as easy to drive from there. What's 320 miles to a Nevadan? The June Lake Advocates, aided by California water law, have about succeeded in driving Intrawest out of June Lake. There isn't enough water for their large project. It's sad that the community couldn't derive some benefit from reasonable development. In Mammoth, the Advocates for Mammoth, aided by sensible citizens and common sense, have delayed approval of some ill-conceived features of the General Plan Update, the object of contention for about four years. It seems that not everybody was willing to give the Town away to the developers, or pay taxes for unneeded "amenities." The delays brought us into the cooling real-estate market. Two attempts at writing a response EIR have failed (there were 900 critical comments on the last try!)Speculators don't like uncertainty. In the future, we will need to defend against urban sprawl as a result of a sell-off of public land, which will impact wildlife, air quality, and traffic. Our Executive Committee is preparing for more environmental challenges. Contact any member if you have ideas or questions. Note that we have an email alert list. Check our home page for the link to sign up for these alerts. Owen Maloy Chair, Range of Light Group
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