Aramis Project Hearing Rescheduled to February 2021 |
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The Alameda County Planning Department announced that the Board of Supervisor hearing on the Aramis industrial solar plant has been rescheduled from January 12, 2021 to February 2021. A new hearing date has not yet been set.
Local environmental organizations Friends of Livermore and Friends of Open Space & Vineyards have joined Save North Livermore Valley in filing appeals to the Board of Supervisors from the East County Board of Zoning Adjustments decision approving the Aramis project. All three groups sought a rescheduling of the appeal hearing date.
In response to the county's decision to reschedule hearing, Chris O’Brien on behalf of Save North Livermore Valley issued the following statement:
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“We are pleased that Intersect Power will no longer be allowed to rush the review of its massive Aramis industrial solar power plant proposed for the scenic North Livermore Valley, an area specifically designated by voters for the preservation of agriculture and open space.
We also support Supervisor-elect David Haubert’s common sense approach to solar in East County. Supervisor-elect Haubert called for “a moratorium on the review of new solar plants on agricultural land until the County completes a comprehensive study and mapping project on the appropriate siting, scale, and operation of solar power plants, if any, on agricultural land, and incorporates this work in a solar ordinance and General Plan Amendment.” Haubert’s position helps ensure that we do not destroy the environment in our effort to save it.
Furthermore, Haubert’s stance protects the will of Alameda County voters. Converting eastern Alameda County’s agricultural lands into industrial zones for the electricity generation – as Intersect desires – clearly violates voter-approved initiative Measure D. We look forward to working with Supervisor-elect Haubert and his colleagues on the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to defend Measure D’s environmental protections.”
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Intersect Power, the company behind the Aramis Project, has also filed an appeal. Intersect Power seeks to reverse the setbacks required to partially mitigate the project's significant negative visual impact. |
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Public Agencies & Environmental Organizations Critical of Aramis Project and/or Alameda County Planning Process |
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"The [Draft Environmental Impact Report] acknowledges that the site provides upland habitat for both California red-legged frog and California tiger salamander but does not analyze the permanent and temporary impacts associated with the Project and concludes, incorrectly, on p. 4.4-50 and throughout the document, that because grassland would be “preserved” on site under the panels that no compensatory mitigation is necessary." Link
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Before moving forward with this utility-scale solar power project, the County’s draft solar policy matrix should be finalized to allow for a comprehensive analysis of biologic and aesthetic impacts. . .
In summary, the Park District finds that the [Draft Environmental Impact Report] did not adequately assess project impacts to biological resources, and therefore the identified mitigation measures are insufficient. In particular, direct mortality of birds and bats was not sufficiently analyzed." Link
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"The project will result in a significant and unavoidable loss of the views and rural character of North Livermore which cannot be mitigated as acknowledged in the [Final Environmental Impact Report]. Environmental values should not be sacrificed for a commercial operation in North Livermore." Link
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"This solar installation will essentially permanently alter over 500 acres of critical habitat that includes ephemeral wetlands, vernal pools, and critical stream and creek bank biodiversity along Cayetano Creek. Over 90% of the valley’s wetlands are permanently removed or damaged. Not only is the project site critical to the ten avian species of special concern, it threatens to permanently harm precious wetlands in a valley that cannot sustain more loss of wetlands." Link
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"Given the permanent loss and conversion of CTS (California tiger salamander) and CRLF (California red-legged frog) upland habitat that the Project would cause and the mitigation ratios recommended for projects within the East Alameda County Conservation Strategy Study Area, Save Mount Diablo strongly recommends that the Applicant propose compensatory habitat mitigation in an appropriate amount and location in order to reduce the impacts the Project would have on biological resources to a less than significant level." Link
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"Members of the public, local organizations, and the City of Livermore requested that the County refrain from approving any solar projects until a policy could be established which takes into account the appropriate sites for solar projects. Approving a project as massive as this Aramis project before a county wide policy is enacted places political decisions ahead of proper planning." Link
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"It is inexcusable to move forward on approving these types of projects without a policy . . .
The dry agriculture that has been in place for generations here is congruent with the special environmental needs related to sustaining what’s left of the rare alkali sink wetlands. Looking beyond the requisite North Livermore Valley’s soils, hydrology and climate, specific plants and animals perform an on-going tenuous dance to survive here." Link
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San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Board |
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The Board found that most of the field work at the Aramis site was conducted in the dry season and thus the environmental impact report for the Aramis project was deficient.
"Furthermore, the suggestion that special status species surveys can be used as a substitute for wetland delineations is inappropriate. Therefore, we continue to encourage the Project proponent to conduct additional field work for wetland delineation late in the 2020 through 2021 wet season, and to design the field work to accurately assess the full extent of wetlands at the 410-acre site." Link
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August 27, 2020: "We urge Alameda County to develop solar policies that carefully balance development of renewable, utility-scale solar facilities with crucial City and County shared open space and agriculture preservation policies and objectives (including Measure D and City’s North Livermore Urban Growth Boundary Initiative)." Link.
November 23, 2020: "Again, we ask that Alameda County expeditiously develop and adopt comprehensive solar plans and policies through an open public process, and that this comprehensive set of policies be adopted prior to the County taking action on any utility scale-solar facilities." Link.
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"The County has a responsibility to ensure sufficient guiding policies are adopted before approving any projects, to minimize potential impacts and guarantee the public voice is heard. . . .We ask for the City [of Livermore] to request that the County of Alameda complete the Solar Mapping Project and adopt a comprehensive Solar Policy for the rural part of the County." Link.
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Solar Subcommittee of the Alameda County Agricultural Advisory Committee |
"Utility-scale solar projects are in conflict with East County Area Plan policies for North Livermore, preservation and enhancement of agriculture, and preservation of natural resource and open space. There are no county-wide solar energy policies on which to base approval of solar projects." Link. |
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Contact County Officials Today |
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Please click the green button above to contact new Supervisor David Haubert, the other supervisors and Alameda County staff. Please add a subject line, such as Reject the Aramis Solar Power Plant, and your name and city of residence to the end of your message.
Here is suggested text you can cut and paste into your email message:
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Dear Board of Supervisors and County Officials:
The scenic beauty, natural habitat and open space of North Livermore Valley belong to all of us and must be preserved for future generations. I respectfully request that you reject the Aramis solar project for the following reasons:
1) The Aramis project will destroy North Livermore Valley's scenic beauty by permanently altering the visual character of the area from open farm and ranchland to a massive utility-scale solar power plant. No method exists to hide or obscure the visual assault on the valley from the Aramis project's 320,000 nine-foot tall solar panels, new electrical substation, scores of lithium-ion battery stations, and overhead electrical transmission lines on towers, some reaching ten stories high.
These facts are not in dispute. The Final Environmental Impact Report found that the Aramis project will have “a substantial adverse effect on a scenic vista." Even with landscaping, the report concluded that the adverse aesthetic impact remains “significant and unavoidable.”
2) The Aramis project will obliterate habitat for numerous special status species including the California tiger salamander, California red-legged frog and Western burrowing owl. The agricultural land also serves as a wildlife corridor important to maintaining the biodiversity of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties.
3) The Aramis project violates Measure D. Under voter-approved Measure D, the agricultural lands of Alameda County, including North Livermore, are to be preserved, enhanced and protected from “excessive, badly located and harmful development.” Commercial electricity power generation does not exist today in North Livermore Valley and solar power plants are not an agricultural use of the land.
4) The Aramis project will not uniquely bring more renewable energy to Alameda County residents. Seventy-five percent of the power from the Aramis project is under contract to San Francisco. Alameda County can generate greater renewable energy and preserve scarce, environmentally important agricultural land through the installation of solar panels on rooftops of home and businesses, over parking lots and next to freeways.
5) Alameda County should first deliver on its commitment to produce a comprehensive solar policy. At a minimum, Alameda County should complete a solar mapping project and study to determine what areas pose the least conflict with wildlife habitat, open space and agricultural land before authorizing any industrial solar power plants in its rural areas.
In conclusion, North Livermore Valley is designated as an agricultural district and should remain one. Please reject the application of the Aramis solar power plant and lithium-ion battery station.
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Save North Livermore Valley in the News |
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"The core of the opponent’s argument is that the project violates both Measure D, the 1980 “Save Agriculture and Open Space Lands Initiative,” as well as the county’s general plan, which designates the stretch of North Livermore Avenue a “Scenic Rural-Recreation Route.”
Alameda County Measure D allows wind farms, like the one on Altamont Pass, but doesn’t specifically allow solar installations. County planning staff contends that two previous solar projects, one in 2008 in Mountain House and one along the Altamont Pass in 2011, established precedent allowing solar installations.
At the hearing, Livermore resident John Burke said the project would violate the will of the voters. “Twenty years ago, we voted that we didn’t want this place to be built over,” he said “We like our open space. We would like it to stay this way.”
In an interview, Chris O’Brien (in the photo), who owns about 50 acres abutting the site, said that he moved to North Livermore in 2000 largely because of the assurance that Measure D would protect the valley from development. While he has cattle and horses on his property, he said he regularly sees spotted owls, salamanders, bald eagles, Peregrine falcons, bobcats, deer, coyotes and foxes on his land.
“It’s really a wildlife preserve, in a sense,” he said. “It’s the last valley in the Bay Area that is not developed with housing. And that is because of Measure D.”"
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The Aramis project will convert a significant portion of agricultural land in North Livermore Valley into an industrial zone.
North Livermore Valley is one of the few unspoiled scenic corridors and agricultural areas remaining in Alameda County. The valley has been zoned for agricultural and rural residential uses since the 1950s. For nearly the same period Alameda County has recognized North Livermore Avenue in its General Plan as a scenic corridor and sought to preserve the area’s outstanding scenic quality.
No solar power plant of the magnitude of the Aramis project exists in the San Francisco Bay Area. Over 320,000, nine-foot-tall solar panels will spread across 400 acres of agricultural land on a total project area of 700 acres. Miles of new internal access roads, security fences, and overhead transmission lines, some on towers 10 stories high, will be constructed. On five acres, the land will be excavated and concrete will be poured to serve as the foundation for a new electrical substation, water tanks and scores of trailer-truck size lithium-ion battery stations.
The project area is larger (in red in the photo with the adjacent Sunwalker project in orange) is than Livermore Municipal Airport or the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory campus.
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Just a short drive or bike ride from the City of Livermore and north of Highway 580, the North Livermore Valley has been zoned for agricultural and rural residential uses since the 1950s.
For nearly the same period Alameda County has recognized North Livermore Avenue in its General Plan as a scenic corridor and sought to preserve the area’s outstanding scenic quality.
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About Save North Livermore Valley
We started as a group of farm and ranch families and other members of the North Livermore Valley Rural Community. We have been joined by over 250 concerned residents in the City of Livermore and Tri-Valley area united for the purpose of preserving the open space, agricultural land and wildlife habitat of North Livermore Valley for future generations.
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