| Another feature of this proposed project that the City of Industry wants to exploit is the generation of hydroelectricity by draining water from the middle dam to the lower one during the day, then pumping the water back into the middle dam after dark when electricity rates are lower (known as a “pumped storage plant”), thereby achieving a net gain of electrical energy (Hills for Everyone, 2004, PDF_Files/Summer_2004.pdf). This will leave large scraped slopes as the water drains from one water body to the other (Repository, 2005, dams2/). After the Firestone sale, I spoke with a Scout executive who thought that these reservoirs would allow for new water recreation activities for the scouts. However, with the water level dropping about 70 feet in the middle reservoir during the day to generate power, the dock may be many feet higher than the shoreline which will make for a challenging exit from the reservoir. In addition, those people in Diamond Bar who paid several million dollars for homes with a view of the tree studded canyon will have the pleasure of looking into an ugly landscape of bare rock and soil, especially during the 4-5 year construction period when all the reservoirs would look that way (Save the Missing Middle, 2005, PDFs/industry_plan.pdf)! A claim made by a website that the upper reservoir will be used to hold reclaimed sewage water, which can drain into the second and third reservoirs and thus into the drinking water supply can’t be confirmed by another source, but to my knowledge has not been refuted by Industry who would almost certainly take legal action if such a claim was mere rumor (Repository, 2005, dams2/)! One very big deterrent to building a reservoir in Tonner Canyon is that it lies on the Whittier/Elsinore Fault (which can generate a 7.5 quake), and within close proximity to the San Jose and Chino faults. An earthquake-induced breach of the dams would no doubt cause millions of dollars of damage to the communities downstream, a scenario not lost on Brea, which would be the first community inundated. A major fear is that the reservoir itself may in fact actually cause an earthquake (Repository, 2005, dams2/page2.html). This was explored and documented by the U.S. Geological Survey, which during a study for the feasibility of the Auburn Reservoir in Northern California found that there were 55 cases of reservoir-induced siesmicity, which is “the triggering of earthquakes by the physical processes that accompany the impoundment of large reservoirs (USGS, 1996).” The concern of reservoir-induced quakes that could potentially occur in Oroville from a dam constructed there are said to have been one reason why the dam in Auburn never got built (Save the Missing Middle, 2005, industry.htm). This has alarmed the city of Brea, but oddly enough Diamond Bar, adjacent to the property and at high risk of damage in the event of dam failures supports the project. A candidate for City Council, now elected, is quoted as saying that he would “push for the lake with hydropower generation being proposed on the land sold by the Boy Scouts (Repository, dams2/page2.html)”. This is interesting, because his webpage speaks of his desire for more open space and parks (Bob Zirbes, 2005). 3. The Diamond Bar Factor Diamond Bar’s support of the reservoirs, which may or may not be genuine given the risk that they face in event of dam failures, seems to be an attempt to support Industry in order to get what they really feel that they need, a road through Tonner Canyon to relieve congestion in Diamond Bar. This is yet another of Industry’s proposed plans for the canyon. Diamond Bar has come out saying they would like to see this happen, stating one of their goals for the fiscal year is to “Continue to pursue Tonner Canyon Bypass Road (Diamond Bar, 2005, home/index.asp?page=283)”. A candidate for City Council put in his biography that he favored “construction of an environmentally sensitive bypass road near Tonner Canyon to mitigate our huge traffic problem (Diamond Bar, 2005, docs/dbsmplblt60705.pdf)”. Industry has enough money to do it, claiming a 1.6 billion dollar reserve (Hills for Everyone, 2005, city_of_industry.htm). The main problem with this idea is that the proposed road will link at the 57 freeway near the Tonner Canyon underpass, which is the only place that animals can safely cross from east to west, effectively severing the Corridor (Hills for Everyone, 2004, PDF_Files/Summer_2004 .pdf). The Conservation Biology Institute noted that the proposed road could cut the Chino-Tonner subcore in half, isolating over 20 sq. km of habitat from this large and biologically rich area. The construction needed to complete the road will likely make this underpass non-useable for animals, with a resulting die-off of large mammals (eventually affecting all wildlife) west of this area, the smaller part of the Corridor and completely dependent on the much larger habitats to the east (Spencer, 2005, 38)”. Another interesting point is that the proposed road goes against both Diamond Bar and Chino Hills own General Plans, since it would have to cross Tonner Canyon with its Los Angeles County Significant Ecological Area (SEA)-15 designation and environmentally sensitive habitats ( Repository, tonnernews/newsletter3.htm)! In fact, Diamond Bar raves about SEA-15’s “ecological asset to the community” and that the City will “play a proactive role in the preservation of this resource by assuring that extensive analysis and review precede any changes from its current uses and possibilities” (Diamond Bar, home/index.asp?page=310). Evidently, General Plans are only valid as long as they are convenient for the city. |
| Tonner Canyon and its SIgnificance to the Puente/Chino Hills WIldlifeCorridor |