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1997 Memorandum of Understanding
Shortly thereafter, concerns over the legal adequacy of the 1991 EIR were
presented to the Court by state agencies and environmental groups. In 1994, the
Court ordered the County and LADWP to respond to certain of these issues. After
several years of settlement discussions among all parties, a Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) was executed that resolved the concerns regarding the EIR,
particularly concerns related to the adequacy of mitigation described in the EIR
for impacts due to LADWP's activities related to its water gathering in the
Owens Valley from 1970 to 1990. The MOU was lodged with the court, which in June
1997, discharged its writ ending the litigation between Inyo and LADWP and
freeing the parties to implement the Agreement and the 1991 EIR mitigation
measures. The parties to the MOU are LADWP, the County, California Department of
Fish and Game (CDFG), State Lands Commission (SLC), Sierra Club, the Owens
Valley Committee, and Carla Scheidlinger (hereafter called the "MOU parties").
The MOU included provisions to expand the LORP beyond the description of the
project in the Agreement and in the 1991 EIR and to clarify commitments to
implement the project. The MOU specifies goals for the LORP, a timeframe for the
development and implementation of the project, specific project actions, and
requires that a LORP ecosystem management plan be prepared to guide the
implementation and management of the project. It also provides certain minimum
requirements for the LORP related to flows, locations of facilities, habitat and
species. In May 1999, a draft LORP ecosystem management plan (LORP Plan) was
completed by Ecosystems Sciences and was submitted to the MOU parties.
[LORP Final EIR/EIS 1.0 INTRODUCTION - 1.1.2 Memorandum of Understanding]
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