The
LookOut is a monthly digest of climate-related issues and events
taking place in Humboldt County.
The
mystery developer wanting to put a 40,000 square foot warehouse in
the McKinleyville area has been revealed as Amazon, according
to reporting from the Redheaded Blackbelt. Needless to say,
many of us have reservations about the prospect. Online shopping
detracts from local economies, but would having a distribution center
here worsen the situation? The case was originally made that
sales tax from the distribution center would help compensate for the
problem. Unfortunately, new information demolished that ironic hope,
according to Supervisor Steve
Madrone. The proposed warehouse would not qualify as a distribution
center even though it’s where goods brought in would be reloaded
into delivery van to go directly to residences. Thus, no sales tax.
This
dodge does not bode well for a future relationship with Amazon. Its
reputation as a harsh, intrusive and not particularly generous
employer bothers a lot of people as well. The application to the
Planning Department is not yet complete, so the fate of the proposal
is far from known. Its proposed location is zoned as an industrial
park, which is appropriate for that type of business. The Planning
Department doesn’t know yet what level of CEQA will be applied to
the project.
If
this distribution center is built, 350 Humboldt thinks it should have
minimal impact on the climate at the very least. To that end we
prescribe solar panels for the building and heat pumps to handle both
heating and cooling. The solar panels can help charge the electric
trucks that should be deployed. Amazon has already begun
electrifying its fleet with Rivian Electric Delivery Vans, so don’t
stick us with anything less. Furthermore, these trucks should be
equipped with tires that aren’t made with 6PPP-quinone, a toxin
that washes into waterways from the road and kills fish. Coho salmon
are particularly susceptible.
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The
rumors have been confirmed. Nordic Aquafarms is broke and no
longer in a position to build a giant land-based aquaculture system
on the site of the old Evergreen pulp mill. Nordic would have cleaned
up that site, including the brownfield, so it’s too bad that won’t
happen. On the other hand it won’t use more electricity than a
couple of our cities put together or feed its fish thousands of tons
of unsustainably produced fish food—much of which was other fish.
To
give Nordic credit, it voluntarily went through CEQA, but the
Environmental Impact Report failed to reassure its critics about
several major environmental impacts. Nevertheless it secured all the
permits it needed. We couldn’t stop it, but bad finances did the
job.
Perhaps
a more sustainable and appropriately scaled project will buy the site
with its attached permits. Perhaps by then offshore wind will be
operating twenty miles out in the ocean and will supply all the clean
energy it will need.
The old pulp mill
Redwood
Coast Energy Authority is offering a 40% discount on
public charging for income-qualified EV drivers. However, it only
lasts for six months, more or less, depending on when “pilot
funding runs out.”
To
qualify you must be an RCEA customer in good standing who is enrolled
in California Alternate Rates for Energy or Family Electric Rate
Assistance or possibly another low income assistance program. You
must own an electric vehicle registered at your service address and
use one of RCEA’s 66 REVNet level-2 public chargers. (See map
here.)
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With
at least 96% of the original redwoods gone, many Humboldt residents
tend to get tetchy about any more of them being felled. So it was a
surprise to people in the Redway area when a property owner
cut down five old growth redwoods. He did not need permission from
the county even though a 1987 ordinance requires it.
Apparently,
a welter of different jurisdictional powers bumped the county from
its permitting role in 2022. Or at least that was its understanding at the time. But this most recent removal of old growth trees
inspired EPIC to issue an Action Alert. The resulting outcry has
motivated the county to reassess its responsibility for protecting
old growth. A newly discovered part of the California Code of
Regulations seems to clearly give the county authority to permit or
prohibit falling old growth. For now the county has reclaimed
that authority.
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EPIC
is also sponsoring a new bill that could transform the mission
of California’s state demonstration forests. Senator McGuire has
introduced SB 2494 with Assembly member Chris Rogers introducing the
assembly version. McGuire has been involved with this issue ever
since public dissatisfaction with Jackson State Demonstration forest
boiled over in 2020. Frequenters of the forest were incensed to see
the state logging the oldest, largest redwoods. Trying to mediate
between protesters and CAL Fire, McGuire wondered out loud what
exactly the state was demonstrating with its demonstration forest. It
looked an awful lot like plain ordinary commercial logging.
2494
would focus the priorities of California’s demonstration
forests—85,000 acres in all—on ecological restoration and carbon
sequestration. It would also lay the groundwork for co-management
with local Tribes and recognize indigenous forest stewardship. This
move from California would be a welcome counteraction to the federal
push to log more forests. It would also help California achieve its
pledge to conserve and protect 30% of its land and coastal waters by
2030.
350 Humboldt
Happenings
Our
general meeting will be on March 4 at 6PM.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82415260158?pwd=SHY0dENuZ3o5MXFSRExLd3kxeE9iQT09
We’re throwing a
party at Septentrio for two reasons. 1) to celebrate the Regional
Transportation Plan update that enviros asked for. 2) to honor Dan
Chandler for his many years of dedication to the climate cause. No,
he’s not retiring. We just want to thank him! 3PM on Friday the 9th
at 650 6th in Arcata. This date was not confirmed by press time. You will get an email if it changes.
The letter writing
group meets every Sunday night at 7PM. Everyone welcome.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84177018986?pwd=eiP6sJ9eENmfh2ozYDOZSjPpbZngGK.1
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After
protest from local environmental groups, HCAOG [Humboldt County
Association of Governments] agreed to restore three features of the
Regional Transportation Plan that its newest version had taken
out. One was simply a matter of wording—the term “climate crisis”
had been changed to “climate change” throughout the document. Now
it’s a crisis again.
The
HCAOG board also agreed to restore the previous deadline for an
important goal of 80% of new housing being located within easy access
to jobs, shopping, and recreation without needing a car. The last
dropped goal of the RTP was reinstated at the last meeting on Feb.
19. This was the Funding Consistency Analysis—a pledge to fund
future projects based on their consistency with the targets of the
RTP. In other words, put their money where their mouth is.
At
the same February meeting another issue came up for board discussion.
The new RTP identifies fourteen new transit stops that can be legally
defined as “major transit stops.” This designation means that
jurisdictions can’t impose minimum parking requirements for
developments that occur within half of a mile within major transit
stops, or collect extra traffic impact revenues from the developers.
Infill projects are fine for these areas, but not all towns are
interested. Arcata and Eureka agreed to the extra major stops, making
21 major transit stops all together. The only other affected jurisdiction, Fortuna, needs more
time to decide.
Much
depends on the Regional Transportation Plan—public transit, roads,
trails, and even where new housing is located. All of these things
affect the climate and environment. HCAOG does not have control over
all of these aspects, but it wields considerable clout by disbursing
state and federal transportation funds.
To
protect Humboldt’s coastal waters from future offshore oil drilling
proposed by the Trump administration, the harbor district commission
has come up with an idea. It has no power over federal waters
where oil drilling could take place, but a new ordinance could make
the bay and harbor district property on the Samoa peninsula off
limits for storing, handling and staging oil or gas produced by
offshore drilling. This lack of support would seriously hinder the
viability of any effort to drill off the north coast. However, the
ordinance would be written in such a way as to not apply to current
activities in the bay that involve petroleum.
The
worst case of irony ever would be for the federal government to come
along after a state-of-the-art heavy-lift terminal has been built to
support an offshore wind industry and use it for oil drilling
support.
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When
the California Coastal Commission agreed to concur with federal lease
sales necessary for offshore wind, it made a list of conditions. One
was a promise to the fishing interests, including Tribal, of Humboldt
county and Morro Bay. Any impacts to fishing would be avoided,
minimized, and mitigated according to a strategy mapped out
beforehand.. A diverse group of
stakeholders–developers, offshore wind specialists, representatives
from tribes and the fishing industry, and coastal commission staff-
took two years of many meetings
to hammer out the details. It culminated in February in a 422-page
report outlining the strategy to be used. Here it is. You’re
welcome!
The
list of potential conflicts and impacts to fishing is exhaustively
detailed right down to the amount of time spent at all the meetings
that produced the report itself. Many of the strategies to avoid and
minimize those impacts sound very promising, but are marred by too
many mays and not enough shalls as one smart fisherman put it. Some
of the vagueness is unavoidable since many details about the future
operations are yet unknown. Here are suggestions from our
offshore wind committee (composed of members of both Climate Action
California and 350 Humboldt) for how to improve the strategy. The CCC
will review the strategy report again at the April 15 – 17 meeting.