Some New Players in the Kern County Wind Farm Business
There are Several New Owners of the Large Windfarms on this Map: Onyx Ranch has been split in half, with the southwest portion below Jawbone Canyon road now owned by the City of Vernon. The Zond Windfarm is now owned by the City of Los Angeles' power department which will also construct a windfarm on the lands between the Enron-Zond site and Onyx Ranch.
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In the far-south end of the Sierra Nevada Mountains lies the Onyx Ranch, a 68,000 acre parcel that has been eyed for preservation by the Audubon Society
(http://ca.audubon.org/pdf/Audubon_California_Strategic_Plan-rev2.pdf)
for some time. In October 2008, the Renewable Resource Group of L.A. bought this land from the longtime owners, the Rudnick family for $48 million, or around $700 an acre.http://www.landreport.com/2008/10/68000-acre-onyx-ranch-in-california-sells-for-48-million/
As the Wall Street Journal reported, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122412852383339755.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
"Oscar Rudnick, whose family had owned Onyx Ranch since early last century and who personally has a minority stake with the new owners, said the group will also consider leasing out water rights. Construction of housing isn't likely to be part of the plan, the new owners said."
Renewable stated that they intended to locate windmills at Onyx Ranch. Two seeks after the purchase was signed, however, Renewable Resources sold the lower half, or 30,000 acres to the City of Vernon, an all-industrial city in the L.A. basin which operates its own electrical utility.
Renewable is keeping the north half, which includes "along the south fork of the Kern River near Lake Isabella."
the staff report mentioning the sale is here:
http://kern.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=748&meta_id=140214
http://www.bakersfield.com/102/story/613681.html
The county supervisors in Kern are supportive of the wind energy proposals, but sound skeptical about a possible transfer of water rights out of their county.
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L.A.'s Power department Buys 12,000 acre former Enron Wind Farm north of Tehachapi
http://www.ladwpnews.com/go/doc/1475/190621/
L.A. City calls the former Enron project "Pine Canyon". It recently also made a deal with the Hansen Family Wilderness Farm for an 8000 acre windfarm called "Pine Tree" between the Enron land and Onyx Ranch.
the EIR's for the Pine Tree Wind farms project are here:
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