Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council (2020)

Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council

Post Offick Box 256

Nixon, Nevada 89424

Telephone: (775) 574-1000

Fax (775) 574-1054

PYRAMID LAKE PAIUTE TRIBAL COUNCIL

WATER TEAM MEETING MINUTES

Tribal Chambers

April 15, 2020

Members Present

Anthony Sampson Sr., Tribal Chairman Sherry Ely-Mendes, Vice Chairwoman

Janet Davis, Councilmember William Miller, Councilmember

Judith Davis, Councilmember Irwin Mix, Councilmember

Cassandra Darrough, Councilmember Michele Smith, Councilmember

Carolyn Harry, Councilmember Georgina Wadsworth, Councilmember

Note: Due to COVID-19 Tribal Council meetings are closed to the public to ensure the health and

safety of attendees. Councilmembers attended in person, keeping to 6-foot distancing, and via audio

conferencing.

Chairman Sampson Sr., called the April 15, 2020 Water Team meeting of the Pyramid Lake Paiute

Tribal Council to order at 6:00 p.m.

ROLL CALL

Roll call was taken by Brenda A. Henry, Tribal Secretary. Vice Chairwoman Ely-Mendes and

Councilmembers Harry, Darrough and Janet Davis attended via phone. All Tribal Councilmembers

were present at roll call and a quorum was established for this meeting.

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

No changes to agenda.

Councilmember Judith Davis made a motion to approve the agenda. Councilmember Miller

seconded the motion. Votes were nine (9) for and zero (0) opposed with zero (0) abstentions.

Motion carried.

CONSENT AGENDA

Following items were approved on the consent agenda:

1. Approval Stetson Engineers Inc., February 2020 Invoice#1336-2002 & 1336-01-2002

2. Approval Wolf, Rifkin, Shapiro, Schulman & Rabkin, LLP February 2020 Invoice

Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council

April 15, 2020 WTM

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Councilmember Janet Davis made a motion to approve the consent agenda. Councilmember Judith

Davis seconded the motion. Votes were nine (9) for and zero (0) opposed with zero (0)

abstentions. Motion carried.

NATURAL RESOURCES DEPARTMENT. Donna Noel, Director, Natural Resources (NR) Department

1. Discussion/Update Pyramid Lake Hydropower Energy Storage Project.

Ms. Noel updated the Council on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approval of

the Hydropower Energy Storage Project. The US Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS), Bureau of

Reclamations (BOR), Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), and the Water Team, on behalf of the Tribe,

sent in comments opposing the project. FERCs reason for approving it was only to get them a place

in line and it prevents others from coming in and getting ahead of them on the project. It doesn’t

give them access or permission from the Tribe to do anything including any studies. Without a

letter from the Chairman they can’t do anything on the reservation. Even FERC said they had to

work with the Tribe to get access to the reservation. Councilmember Janet Davis said she’s seen

articles come out regarding this project, she’s wondering from the Tribe’s standpoint if we could

do our own PR on the project. Councilmember Harry said in the article it said the Tribe was in

opposition but in terms of the groundwater what is our basis of defense, the Tribe’s chances of

winning. Ms. Noel said the first issue is any water pumped from the lake will impact the fish (both

LCT and Cui-ui), there’s no roads so access the area, they also want to build a solar array by the

Sweet Water area (which is a bad area anyways) and environmentally it’s not a good idea. Before

they start anything, studies have to be done to prove it’s a viable and feasible project and they

can’t do the studies without accessing the reservation. Councilmember Janet Davis would like to

have the Tribe write a letter to the editor letting membership and public know the Tribe would

not be allowing this project or any project like this. Mr. Mixson said he would help the Chairman

write a letter to the editor of the article, Nevada Independent, responding to the article.

Councilmember Mix stated it’s not just the Cui-ui we’re looking to protect, there is also a nest of

Golden Eagles in Hell’s Kitchen area. Chairman Sampson Sr., said THPOs been using drones to

flying over caves and monitoring at burial sites.

Councilmember Harry asked Ms. Noel about the irrigation for this year. Ms. Noel said according to

Mervin Wright, Environmental Manager, the project is ready, they’re cleaning the ditches and they

will start irrigation on the 30%.

Douglas Williams, Executive Officer, said he will be on leave beginning April 16'* and returning

May 18t will have access to cell phone and email.

WATER TEAM REPORT

Chris Mixson, Wolf, Rifkin, Shapiro, Schulman & Rabkin, LLP. Report submitted

1. Endangered special Act Sec 7. Consultation. Nothing to report.

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April 15, 2020 WTM

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2. Truckee Canal XM Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). There is a deadline to submit

comments on the draft EIS which is the following Monday. The Water Team had requested BOR to

extend and give the Tribe an extension on the deadline for 90 days because of the Coronavirus

shutdown. BOR was supposed to present before Council at the last meeting but because of

Coronavirus they cancelled. When Ms. Noel sent them, a letter requesting an extension they

refused to grant one. The Water Team is working to get comments to BOR on Monday and will let

them know the Tribe’s disappointment in refusing to extend the comment period and they also

haven't had the government to government consultation with the Tribe. On April 9", the City of

Fernley sued BOR over the same thing. He doesn’t think it’s advisable for the Tribe to be joining

this lawsuit with Fernley because the Tribe doesn’t want to be in the same boat as Fernley they

have their own concerns with the EIS. They will be tracking the lawsuit to see if the Court makes

BOR extend the comment period for the City of Fernley.

3. Swan Lake/Lemmon Valley. Nothing to report.

4, Washoe County/Truckee meadows Federal Lands Legislation. Nothing to report on the

Federal Lands Bill, Washoe County is going to review since they were getting so much opposition.

5. Ormat - San Emidio II Geothermal Project Proposal. Last month he reported the Tribe’s

comments to BLM. With the USFWS’s comments which said the Geothermal Expansion project

would impact the Tribe’s water resources. They also learned the BIA submitted comments which

were strong and told BLM they needed to consult with the Tribe because of the potential impacts

on the Tribe’s water resources. He thinks it’s going to be hard for BLM to approve Ormat project

without an Environmental Assessment (EA) with all the comments piled on. The will monitor it.

6. Federal Reserved Groundwater. Nothing to report.

Councilmember Janet Davis said she was glad the Tribe is not filing a lawsuit with the City of

Fernley because we want to be our own voice.

Allan Richards, Stetson Engineers Inc. Report submitted.

Mr. Richards said his report covers the month of March 2020.

US Fish and Wildlife Service Application No. 89372. USFWS filed back in December 2019

requesting to change or transfer over 2400-acre feet of irrigation water from the Fallon Naval Air

Station to the Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge wetlands. They filed a protest with the Nevada

Division of Resources in early March on several grounds. Primarily on that if water were

permanently transferred it would work to the detriment of the endangered Cui-ui and Lahontan

Cutthroat Trout (LCT) in Pyramid Lake and Public Law 101-618 requires the unused Navy water

be managed primarily for the benefit of the fish and wildlife in the lower river. Permanently

transferring water to Stillwater would be contrary to Public Law 101-618. He hasn't yet received a

response from Stillwater, USFWS or the State Engineer.

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April 15, 2020 WTM

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2. BOR’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Truckee Canal Extraordinary

Maintenance (XM) Project (Truckee Canal XM-EIS). They are preparing comments that are due

the following Monday, in the comments letter they will make known the Tribe’s disappointment

with BOR and the process of the fact they denied the request for an extension of time during the

Coronavirus. The EIS after public workshops and various analysis it comes down to 5 outlining

alternative options. Since 2016 they've attended various public comments and put together

comments to BOR and they’ve never been addressed. The comments they're submitting on

Monday, they're going to attach all the comments they previously done and ask they be properly

addressed.

3. TROA Meetings and Scheduling. Stetson hosed and prepared discussion materials for the

monthly TROA-MOA conference call on March 19, 2020. The group coordinated operations and

received updates on the flows, storage and lake levels, weather outlook, and fish facilities’

operations. The Tribe’s monthly TROA Scheduling request form required by the Federal Water

Master was prepared and submitted in March.

4, Lower Truckee River and Pyramid Lake. Figure 1 shows the updated Truckee River flows at

Nixon for the last 14 months. Flows in the Truckee River averaged about 340 cubic feet per second

(cfs) during the month of March 2020. Figure 2 shows Pyramid Lake water elevation at the end of

February was about 3807.5 feet. Table 1 shows Truckee River flows into Pyramid Lake in Water

Years 2016-2020. At the end of February there was 21,239-acre feet of water that flowed into

Pyramid Lake at the Nixon Gauge.

The first phase of the Truckee Canal Fish Screen Project at Derby Dam was completed in early

March and the Truckee Canal Irrigation District (TCID) began filling the Derby pool and diverting

water into the Truckee Canal during the week of March 9, 2020. Initially they ramped up the

diversion to nearly 450 cubic feet per second at the head of the Canal and a new seep was

discovered in the Derby Reach of the Canal that TCID is currently investigating.

5. Other Work (Numana Dam Fish Passage Project). Under a separation project (contract)

Stetson is working with the Tribe’s Natural Resources Director and the Lahontan National Fish

Hatchery Complex (Tim Loux) on the Numana Dam Fish Passage Project. A kick-off meeting was

held in Nixon on February 27, 2020 followed by a conference call on March 9, 2020 to discuss two

fish passage design concepts; a roughened ramp and a by-pass channel. As a result of the March 9

meeting, Stetson was requested to commence with plans for a roughened ramp fish passage

design.

EXECUTIVE SESSION

Councilmember Janet Davis made a motion to move into Executive Session. Councilmember Harry

seconded the motion. Votes were nine (9) for and zero (0) opposed with zero (0) abstentions.

Motion carried. Tribal Council moved into Executive Session at 6:38 p.m.

Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council

April 15, 2020 WTM

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Councilmember Judith Davis made a motion to move out of Executive Session. Councilmember

Smith seconded the motion. Votes were nine (9) for and zero (0) opposed with zero (0)

abstentions. Motion carried. Tribal Council moved out of Executive Session at 7:30 p.m.

ADJOURNMENT

With no further business before the Tribal Council, Councilmember Smith made a motion to

adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Judith Davis. Votes taken were

all in favor, motion carried.

The meeting adjourned at 7:31 p.m.

Submitted by,

uM Ac

Tribal Secretary

CERTIFICATION

The foregoing minutes were adopted by the Pyramid Lake Tribal Council, governing body of the

Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, at a meeting duly held on the 17 day of June 2020, having seven (7)

members present, constituting a quorum, by the vote of six (6) FOR and zero (0) OPPOSED with

zero (0) ABSTENTIONS. An.

Minutes attested and concurred by:

Anthony Sampson Sr, Tribal Chairman

Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council

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