Ken - I believe most of that land is already publicly owned by either the DWP or the BLM. Real estate brokers in the area say that 97% of the land in the Eastern Sierra is publicly owned, primarily by the BLM, the USFS, the LADWP, the DOD or the USPS.
I have no doubt of that. But my point that the land is NOT owned by LADWP, and would have to be acquired, still stands.
The politics of LADWP acquiring a large amount of land in the Owens Valley would be poisonous, to say the least, would probably take years, and would be fought tooth and nail by the residents of OV, just out of spite.
