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SATURDAY December 20, 2003 - Subscribe - Contact Us Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels State DEQ declines to take stand By Vickie Aldous Ashland Daily Tidings The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is staying out of the latest round of debate over expanding the Mt. Ashland Ski Area. The DEQ did not submit a comment on the U.S. Forest Service's Draft Environmental Impact Statement analyzing expansion alternatives. After internal discussions, DEQ officials decided against submitting a comment on the controversial issue, according to Bill Meyers, Rogue Basin coordinator in the agency's Medford office. He declined to elaborate on that decision. The DEQ instead will work to ensure the Ashland Watershed is not harmed through a standard permitting process that will be required if expansion is approved, he said. "We haven't commented on this go round � . We're waiting until the decision's been made on what alternative to implement," Meyers said. "At that point, the Forest Service and Mt. Ashland are going to have to obtain a stormwater permit. That requires an erosion control and sedimentation control plan for construction." The plan would outline measures to minimize the movement of sediment off disturbed sites, he said. The DEQ had submitted a comment on a 2000 DEIS. That earlier DEIS was withdrawn by the Forest Service and replaced by the DEIS released this summer. In a 2000 letter, DEQ officials said they were satisfied implementing a full expansion as envisioned by the Mt. Ashland Association would not have significant adverse impacts on the water quality of Ashland Creek or Reeder Reservoir. The DEQ is the state agency with primary responsibility for above-ground water quality in Oregon, according to agency officials. Meanwhile, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also has decided against preparing a new comment on the current DEIS. That agency issued an opinion on environmental effects in 1999 when the previous DEIS was being prepared. That opinion will stand unless there are increased environmental impacts between expansion alternatives analyzed in the 2000 DEIS and alternatives explored in the current DEIS, according to Dave Clayton, a fish and wildlife biologist and Rogue Basin consultation representative based in the agency's Roseburg office. "I'm working with their forest biologist to see if any changes are significant," Clayton said. After 2000, the Mt. Ashland Association altered its expansion plan to further reduce environmental impacts. The current DEIS analyzes that plan as well as four scaled-back expansion options and a no-expansion alternative. In the 1999 opinion, U.S. Fish and Wildlife said that expansion would remove a small amount of habitat for the spotted owl and lynx, but the agency did not anticipate that the proposed project would lead to the deaths of any individual spotted owls or lynx or jeopardize the continued existence of those species. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Road Cams