Rincon Group / Our Blogs / Water / Local Lawsuits / Lawsuit re. Big Canyon "Motion to Intervene"  / . . .

The motion/lawsuit can be opened here (67 pages)   

For backgroud info -- see this article from EarthJustice "Conservationists Intervene..."

INTRODUCTION

On June 2, 2020, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued a notice of acceptance of Pumped Hydro Storage, LLC’s (“Pumped Hydro”) application for a preliminary permit for the Big Canyon Pumped Storage Project (the “Big Canyon Project”) (Project No. 15024-000)

Pursuant to Rule 214 of the Commission’s Rules of Practice and Procedure...

Save the Colorado, Grand Canyon Trust, Living Rivers & Colorado Riverkeeper, National Parks Conservation Association, Sierra Club, Waterkeeper Alliance, Inc., and WildEarth Guardians -- (collectively, the “Conservation Coalition”) -- hereby move to intervene in the preliminary permit proceeding and oppose the requested permit. See 18 C.F.R. § 385.214.

This motion to intervene is timely because it is filed within the 60-day window initiated by the Commission’s notice of acceptance dated June 2, 2020. See id. §§ 385.210(b), 385.2007(a)(2).

This proceeding involves the third pumped storage project that Pumped Hydro has recently proposed in the vicinity of the lower Little Colorado River.

All three projects would be located near one another on the Navajo Nation, just miles outside Grand Canyon National Park.

Previously, Pumped Hydro proposed two projects that would dam the Little Colorado River.

These two projects drew strong opposition from tribes, environmental groups, and members of the public because constructing dams on this stretch of the Little Colorado River would very likely eliminate the humpback chub’s most important critical habitat in the Grand Canyon

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Rincon Group / Our Blogs / Water / Local Lawsuits / Lawsuit re. Big Canyon "Motion to Intervene"  / . . .