Carson High School

Carson Middle School

Eagle Valley Middle School

Seeliger Elementary School

Rebates being offered by NV Energy allowed the Carson City School District to purchase $11M worth of solar panels for approximately $975,000. This rebate, combined with a low interest loan and the School District being able to offset approximately 90% of its energy usage with solar energy, will allow the School District to save an estimated $400,000 per year on their utility bills. The $975,000 loan will be paid off in less than three years from the utility savings.

The North Valley Water Line, Indian Hills Spur Project reached Substantial Completion on September 12, 2011. The project, designed by RCI, will allow Indian Hills GID to receive water from the Town of Minden as a part of the Douglas County Regional Water System. Previously, Indian Hills GID relied primarily on existing wells to provide water to its residents. However, the main well had levels of arsenic that were above the Environmental Protection Agency’s Arsenic Rule maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 10 parts per billion.

RCI analyzed three alternatives including construction of an arsenic treatment plant and two alternative routes from the proposed Douglas County Regional Water System. The most cost effective and environmentally sound alternative was determined to be connection to the Douglas County Regional Water System at Heybourne Road, north of the Douglas County Water Treatment Plant, and construction of a new 18-inch diameter water main to the Indian Hills GID Hobo Water Treatment Plant. By participating in the Douglas County Regional Water System, Indian Hills GID is able to provide its residents with clean drinking water without the expense of construction and maintenance of an arsenic treatment plant. The project was funded by a USDA Rural Utilities Service loan and grant and a grant from the State of Nevada through the AB 198 program.

The project went to bid late in 2010 and in January 2011, the construction contract was awarded to Q&D Construction. Due to the extremely wet winter, the start of construction was delayed until April. Construction was substantially complete as of September 12, 2011 with the final revegetation of the disturbed areas to take place later in October 2011. After receiving approval from the State, Indian Hills GID began taking water from the new system on October 3, 2011.

Resource Concepts, Inc. worked closely with Carson City in the design of the river access park, which was completed in the fall of 2009. The river access park has a boat ramp, parking areas, picnic tables, restroom facility, and ADA walking paths. The park is a part of the Carson River Aquatic Trail system, which begins at the Carson River Park near Silver Saddle Ranch and ends at the new Santa Maria Aquatic Park in Dayton.

The Draft Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report (DEIS/EIR) for the Kirkwood Meadows Power Line Reliability Project has been completed and is available for public review and comment. Resource Concepts, Inc. prepared the report. The project proposes to construct, maintain and operate a 28-mile power line that would connect the Kirkwood service area to the regional electric grid at Salt Springs Reservoir.  The line would be owned and operated by Kirkwood Meadows Public Utility District (KMPUD), and dedicated to serve the Kirkwood Community in order to provide a more reliable, cost-stable, and cleaner source of electricity.  The 28-mile project is located within Alpine, Amador, and El Dorado Counties in California.  Approximately 3.1 miles would be built along an existing overhead line between Salt Springs Reservoir and Bear River Reservoir.  The remaining 25 miles would buried within existing roadways and disturbance corridors to Kirkwood.  The power line would be located predominately across Eldorado National Forest land and approximately 15% of the project would cross private land.

The DEIS/EIR is available on RCI’s website, at http://www.rci-nv.com/reports/kirkwood-eis. For more information or to comment on the report, contact:  Susan Rodman at 530-621-5298 or srodman@fs.fed.us.

The full report, at 191 pages, can be found at the bottom of our page about the Meadow Valley Wash project.

RCI developed a series of white papers for the summit regarding pinyon-juniper restoration and biomass utilization. We have created a new page on our website about the summit and the ideas we presented there. The white papers are available for download on that page.

Nevada Pinyon-Juniper Partnership Proposed Demonstration Project

Senator Reid has challenged the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior to establish an interagency Demonstration Project, designating one or more landscape-scale areas of PJ woodland for treatment in rural Nevada.  Identification of the project area will be based on stakeholder input with the focus on areas that are in need of treatment for a myriad of resource values, are accessible, and are supported by key stakeholders.

The Nevada PJ Partnership is holding its inaugural the Pinyon-Juniper Restoration and Utilization Summit in Las Vegas at the Aliante Hotel on December 8 & 9.  The goal is to bring experts, land managers, economic development staff, private and non-profit partners and tribes together to examine the proposed demonstration area and clarify the partnership among them.  The partnership includes the resources and authorities that will be requested of the federal and state land management agencies.  Day Two will share information about other regional projects, environmentally sound approaches, and cutting edge technologies.

John McLain, Principal at RCI has long been an advocate of pinyon-juniper woodland treatment and biomass utilization to benefit rangeland health, wildlife habitat, and provide new economic opportunity in our rural areas.

View the Flyer

Construction for the new Town of Minden 2.5 million gallon water tank is in progress on the east side of the Carson Valley. RCI completed the design and permitting for this key component of the Regional Water System. Once completed, the Regional Water System will connect the Town of Minden, greater Douglas County, Indian Hills GID, and Carson City.

In this photo, V&C Construction, a local contractor, has graded the tank site and prepared the subgrade for NATGUN, the tank company. A unique construction technique will be used to erect the tank; the concrete tank panels are cast in place and tilted in place with a crane and the dome top is cast in place on the walls. The area around the tank will be backfilled and revegetated to decrease the visual impact on the site as much as possible.

RCI has been selected to assist Carson City in EPA’s Brownfield Program for community outreach. Carson City has received $400,000 from the EPA’s Brownfields Program, and the money will help the city find and clean up hazardous contamination that may exist in the city’s redevelopment district. From the Nevada Appeal:

Carson City has received $400,000 in Environmental Protection Agency grants intended to address potential contamination issues within the city’s redevelopment districts.

The Brownfields assessment grants will provide $200,000 for investigating hazardous substances and $200,000 for assessing petroleum contamination on targeted commercial properties within the redevelopment districts, said Marvin Tebeau, a principal in charge of environmental issues with Resource Concepts, Inc.

According to the EPA, brownfields are properties whose “expansion, redevelopment or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant.”

In Carson City’s case, Tebeau estimates initial environmental assessments could be conducted on 15 properties, which might have been contaminated at some point by a commercial enterprise such as a gas station, paint shop or dry cleaners. Vacant buildings could also be studied for contamination from lead-based paint or asbestos, Tebeau said.

(PDF 2MB)

When someone wants to buy or develop a commercial or industrial property, the lending institution usually wants to know what environmental liabilities may be present, he said.

After the initial assessments, Tebeau said there likely will be five sites selected for collecting soil and groundwater samples and lab analyses.

“There won’t be any pressure by government entities,” he said. “There will be a lot of scheduling latitude to remediate the contamination.”

According to the eligibility criteria for the program, “private entities investing private capital are primary beneficiaries of program dollars. However, on a case-by-case basis, funds may be used by a local unit of government if the proposed public project demonstrates economic impact benefiting the community.”

The criteria also stipulates that “proposed projects need to demonstrate the potential for capital investments, facilitate new or retained jobs and increase tax revenues.”

The Carson City Brownfields Grant Program Workplan will be presented to the Redevelopment Authority Citizens Committee at

5:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Sierra Room of the Carson City Community Center, 851 E. William St.

At the kick-off meeting, the EPA Brownfields Grant Program and the locally retained consultants: Geocon Consultants, Inc. and Resource Concepts, Inc. will be introduced. The meeting also will include an introduction to the potential project areas within Carson City.

RCI is providing the outreach and phase 1 work. Brownfields information will be posted on the city’s website at www.carson.org.