WAPA, Timber Sale and Fisheries Development on the List
By Kristi Shelloner, Two Rivers Tribune
September 28, 2011
The regular meeting of the Hoopa Valley Tribe was held on Wednesday, Sept. 21. Eighteen agenda items were passed with virtually no discussion. These included routine issues such as paying the tribe’s attorneys, approving maintenance and use agreements for Coast Central, approval of sole source agreements for internal audits and motions to receive or pay money for other contracts or services.
From executive session, the council directed the tribal attorney, Mary Jane Risling, to review all tribal Boards and report back on their status: who is on them, whether there are nepotism conflicts and if the individuals and boards are functioning. Risling was also directed to draft an agreement for developers on the reservation to ensure payment of tribal fees.
Motions were passed to approve payments in the total amount of $109,549.90. The council also moved to receive funds in the amount of $489,624 :
Funds Received
$22,506 from the Klamath Basin Tribal Water Quality Group to reimburse the Land Management, special projects fund raising account; $242,118 from the California Department of Education for two contracts; $65,000 from BIA end of year compact funds will add funds to the FY 2011 Fisheries budget, a one time re-programming of funds for water management and pre-development projects and to provide carry-over funds for building improvements to the Fisheries building in FY 2012; $25,000 for technical assistance on the development of an EIS analysis of the Klamath; $115,000 of endangered species add-on funds from the BIA to the Forestry Department; $20,000 from U.S. Fish and Wildlife for a new line item for Forestry.
Cal-Pac Lease
Lease agreement with Pliny McCovey, Jr., (3Mc Enterprise) for use of the Cal-Pac property, to create a scrap metal and recycling yard. Vice – Chairman Byron Nelson reported that the original plan had involved Roger Sanderson and “Mr. Lee,” but no action had been taken so McCovey stepped into the breach to develop not only the scrap metal/junkyard sector, but also an impound lot to replace the current use of Buddy’s Auto in Willow Creek, when tribal members’ cars are impounded.
Councilmember Joe LeMieux said he wanted to see a business plan to know the environmental impacts before a lease was considered. “We need to see it on paper or we will have no way to hold accountable if it goes sideways,” said LeMieux. “If it’s gonna be lucrative, we want our cut.”
The motion was held until the next tribal council meeting where they will look at a business plan and hear Sanderson’s opinions.
Forestry and 2011 Tribal Timber Plan
A motion to direct the Forestry department to complete the 2011 timber sale by Sept. 30, was also tabled.
Councilmember Haley Hutt asked why the 2011 Timber Sale was not ready to go to market. Forestry Director Darin Jarnaghan responded that there were biological assessments that needed to be completed before USFWS would review it for approval.
“Winter logging was taken off the table six years ago,” said Jarnaghan. “Everything is ready to go but we are still waiting for Fish and Wildlife approval. All the cards are in the federal agencies hands. The 2011 timber sale has been mapped out, the roads are in, it’s been cruised and the flags are set and now the spotted owl work is being finished. This has been done under the old Forest Management Plan (FMP.) This would all be easier if we had the new Forest Management Plan approved,” said the forestry director.
Another motion to receive funds from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the amount of $10,000 for the addition of new funds to the Forestry department was also tabled.
HFI and Finished Lumber Production Operations
A motion to authorize approval of us of HFI reserve funds in an amount not to exceed $50,000 to establish a finished lumber production operation was removed from the agenda.
Travel Motions
A travel motion for the purpose of finding funds to allow Chief Judge Richard Blake to travel to the annual NACJA conference in Louisiana was also tabled.
Other travel motions were passed that permitted and funded travel for three staff members for the Hoopa Yurok Vocational and Rehabilitation Program to travel to Florida and another travel motion was passed to allow the chief judge to attend mandatory grant training in Maryland.
Sole Source Agreements
A sole source agreement was approved for Sue Burcell to complete the grant cycle audit for the Hoopa Career and Technical Education Program. The chairman was asked how many sole source agreements the tribe maintained.
“We have several sole source agreements,” said Leonard Masten. “People get comfortable working for certain people who are here and available.”
Fish Weir and Processing Plan
Councilmember Byron Nelson, Jr., asked that “we direct tribal fisheries to form a plan regarding the real costs of the plan and what we would need to do.”
Hutt said, “we are coming up on the deadline (July 30, 2012.) The attraction of the weir is that it would be used. It helps control how many fish come out of the river and how it is distributed,” she said.
Nelson recommended that the council pass a motion to direct the use of remaining Disaster Relief/Fisherman funds towards this effort because “it creates infrastructure for distributing fish,” he said.
WAPA
Council approved the use of McGinnis & Associates, LLC for contractual technical and program research in support of Hoopa Valley Tribe’s negotiation with Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) to provide maximal economic benefit for the use of Hoopa’s WAPA power allotment. The contract will not exceed $40,000.
The water allotment for the Hoopa tribe comes to four-tenths of one cent per kilowatt hour. According to Bryan Preppernau, the conventional rate the PG&E charges are 15 cents to 21 cents per kwh. That means a cost savings to the community of about 98 percent and represents 28 percent of all the power used in the valley. Over a twenty year contract, Preppernau said, it comes to about $14 million for the Tribe.
Getting the power to Hoopa is another story. PG&E will charge 8 cents per kwh to transmit the WAPA allotment over their lines, cutting by almost half the benefits to the tribe. Weaverville, for example, built its own small utility so it didn’t have to pay transmission costs to PG&E. These are matters still to be considered by the tribal council in upcoming meetings.
There are also decisions to be made about how exactly the WAPA allotment would be used to maximize its cost benefits and outcomes. The power could be sole to another user and the tribe could pocket the profit. The low-cost energy could be used to generate a revenue stream by creating a utility here using solar, wind or bio-fuels. Or, the WAPA allotment could just kick in on peak power load days. Lastly, the WAPA energy could be dedicated to light manufacture and agriculture, again to spur economic development. The contract with McGinnis and Associates approved earlier in the meeting would buy their technical assistance to answer some of these questions.
“We expect to have something in place in one year, depending on PG&E and the government,” said Preppernau.
“It’s a valid endeavor,” said LeMieux. “But where is the $40,000 coming from?”
“It will come from indirect funds,” said Masten.
LeMieux responded: “That means it will come out of some program. When do we decide what program to cut?
“Next council meeting,” said the chairman. “The agreement doesn’t start until Jan. 2014 and we still want to re-visit the allotment and attempt to increase the amount.”
Hutt asked that a working meeting be scheduled to hear the eventual McGinnis report.
Sole Source Agreements
A sole source agreement was approved for Sue Burcell to complete the grant cycle audit for the Hoopa Career and Technical Education Program. The chairman was asked how many sole source agreements the tribe maintained.
“We have several sole source agreements,” said Leonard Masten. “People get comfortable working for certain people who are here and available.”
Commissions and Boards
Each council member cast a vote for one member for each of the following boards and commissions: K’ima:w Medical Center, HVPUD, Enrollment and the Gaming Commission.