Despite a request from the Shasta County Board of Supervisors, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission refused to postpone the July 14, 2010 public meeting on its Draft Environmental Impact Statement that recommends decommissioning the Kilarc-Cow Creek Hydroelectric Project to give County staff more time to analyze the almost 300 page document.

Supervisor Glenn Hawes wrote to the Commission on June 29, 2010, a week after the DEIS was released on June 22, asking that the public meeting be delayed until mid-August because “key County officials who have been assigned to this matter and who have been working on it closely were on vacation on June 22 and remain presently away on their scheduled vacations.” He added that “We have a small staff and do not have the means to otherwise cover this matter within the short time period FERC has set.” Hawes noted that the County’s ability to fully participate in the meeting is important because “The proposed decommissioning of the Kilarc-Cow Creek Project . . . will irrevocably change features in our community that we have long valued and do not want to lose.”

The FERC responded to Supervisor Hawes’s request on July 2, saying “Regarding the public meeting, all stakeholders have been given notice of the meeting date and have adjusted their schedules accordingly. It would be unfair to other stakeholders to postpone the public meeting.”

The Commission did, however, extend the due date for filing written comments on the DEIS from August 9 to August 25.