The LookOut is a monthly
digest of climate issues and recent developments in our neighborhood.
Humboldt still has a long way to go to
comply with California’s SB 1383. The law
mandates
diverting organic waste from landfills and has been in effect since
2020. The county has negotiated a new deadline—July of 2024. Any
jurisdiction not in compliance after that date could be fined up to
$10,000 per day. Rio Dell, Blue Lake, and Ferndale have
low-population waivers that have been approved by CalRecycle.
Humboldt Waste Management Authority and the Solid Waste Local Task
Force are working to solve the many logistical, administrative, and
financial challenges. [For a detailed overview of Humboldt’s
efforts, click here.]
Compliance
covers three broad areas. Collecting organic food waste from
households and businesses to be turned into a usable product such as
compost or biofuel; procuring a certain amount of these products for
its own use; rescuing at least 20% of edible food from cafeterias,
restaurants, etc. that would go to waste (and the landfill)
otherwise.
To
handle the organic waste stream, the old recycling center on Hawthorn
Street in Eureka will serve as a sorting and processing facility to
screen out contaminants. But there is no money yet for converting the
building, although hopes are high for a CALRecycle grant to arrive in
October. No contractors have responded to HWMA’s Request For
Proposals in April. It will be sent out again next month to
out-of-the-area contractors in addition to local contractors.
And
where the organics will go from Hawthorn Street is still up in the
air. An anaerobic digester at Miranda Dairy may still be a
possibility though it hasn’t yet secured necessary funding and
permits. The most likely destination—at least for now–would be an
out-of-county composting facility since we don’t have one here.
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Eureka’s city council
stood up for affordable infill housing that is good for
the climate. Close to services and public transit, the city dweller
drives less than suburban and rural cousins. Apartments require less
energy for heating. If the housing is affordable for non-wealthy
people, all the better. The council awarded a contract to build on
two city-owned parking lots downtown that are not critical
infrastructure despite what some people say.
Even better, the contract
was awarded to the Dishgamu Humboldt Community Land Trust
whose bid had been scored slightly lower than that of a developer
based in Illinois. Michelle Vassel, the Wiyot Tribal Administrator,
and Ted Hernandez, Tribal Chair, spoke to the city council, arguing
that their professional experience, locality, and history made them
uniquely suited to the job.
Their bid included generous community benefits. 51 of the total 93 units are planned to be
affordable for low-income and very low-income tenants with the rest
available for moderate-income tenants.
Not all hearts were warmed
by the decision. Citizens for a Better Eureka, a coalition
spearheaded by Security National, which is Rob Arkley’s real estate
asset acquisition and management outfit, has filed two suits
against the city of Eureka to stop the city from building on its
parking lots. It is also collecting signatures for a ballot initiative to amend the General Plan with the goal of not only
stopping future affordable housing developments on parking lots but
also stopping the already approved plans
for affordable housing units at the EaRTH Center.
screenshot from Eureka City Council meeting
Humboldt
is preparing for the era of wind power. The Humboldt Bay Harbor
District issued a Notice of Preparation [NOP] for the CEQA
process for a huge Heavy Lift Marine terminal on the Samoa Peninsula
on June 26. The time for public comment extends to August 25. This
terminal is planned for the assembly and repair of wind turbines and
will be the point of their deployment out to sea.
Owing
to its location on a deep water bay with no bridges to get in the way
of 1100 ft tall objects being towed out to sea, this proposed
terminal may well become the manufacturing hub for at least three
different Wind Energy Areas from Morro Bay to central Oregon
including, of course, the 206 square mile WEA that is twenty miles
off Humboldt’s shore. The Harbor District has signed an
exclusive-right-to-negotiate agreement–which is not a lease–with
Crowley, an international corporation that builds and manages ports.
The size of the development on the old pulp mill
site—approximately 650,000 square feet of constructed indoor space
plus the outlying areas of marine and land infrastructure surrounded
by 150 foot tall lights—is mind-boggling, dwarfing anything else in
Humboldt. A coalition of about forty agencies, tribes, and
civic groups have banded together to have as much say as possible in
how this project is developed. Some organizations question the
advisability of evaluating the impacts of the port separately from
that of the entire development, including support activities for the
wind farm itself.
While
sharing in environmental and social concerns 350 Humboldt stresses
the urgency of the climate crisis and recommends an expeditious
timeline that would map out and coordinate the permitting processes
of the involved state and federal agencies.
Other
recommendations addressing the energy needed to build and operate the
terminal before electricity from the wind farm is available. To
compensate for increased natural gas and biomass carbon emissions,
24/7 Renewable Energy Credits
could be bought. Purchased biofuels could supply some of the needed
energy. Another possibility is hydrogen from the fueling station
slated for next year at the Humboldt Transit Authority facility in
Eureka. Curtailed energy from the wind turbines in the future can
produce hydrogen. Read the entire draft comment from 350 Humboldt here.
The
heavy lift terminal is a big push for Humboldt and a boon for the
climate much in need of clean energy. Offshore wind energy is one of
the most feasible technologies that can deliver it on a large enough
scale to replace fossil fuels.
graphic courtesy of Lost Coast Outpost
Most foresters
agree
(but not all) that
much of California’s vast forestlands need thinning in order to
reduce fuel loads. Most forests have been logged and not properly
restored. Dense, even-aged monocultures
are particularly susceptible to wildfire
after
years of drought. How to finance the work needed to set these forests
on the path to greater health and safety?
Biomass
utilization strategies attempt to finance the cleanup with the wood
of crowded, spindly trees, piles of slash left behind by previous
logging, and other woody debris. Biomass can be used for a variety of
applications, including lumber products, soil amendments, and fuels.
But it’s often difficult to make handling and transporting woody
debris financially worthwhile. It
can also be difficult to ensure that the biomass is appropriately
sourced and not the result of opportunistic logging that is bad for
the climate.
The
North Coast Resource Partnership and the Watershed Research and
Training Center have put together an initiative to help
finance forest health projects with appropriately
sourced biomass
utilization.
This organizational stage is funded by the Governor’s Office of
Planning and Research. Various
public entities, utilities, non-profit organizations and tribes that
manage forested lands are eligible to participate by coordinating
fuel reduction projects and aggregating the woody debris. Up to three
pilot partnerships will be selected within the North Coast region.
Each will be eligible for $60,000 in grant funds.
The big
question is how will the resulting biomass be used? The leadership of
NCRP and WRTC emphasize that the possibilities of an improved
feedstock supply could lead to high-skilled jobs and innovative
businesses that would be good for the environment. However, they are
officially “technology agnostic,” meaning that the pathway of the
aggregated biomass is beyond their control. Nothing is off the table,
including incineration at old-fashioned biomass electricity plants.
Technologies
to make a wide variety of liquid fuels and gases are being
researched, developed, and supported by California’s Low Carbon
Fuels Standard. These options aren’t widely available yet. (here is an interesting article about producing hydrogen from biomass.)
Considering the huge scale of biomass that will soon be flowing out
of forests all over California and probably other western states for
years to come, these technologies and others are crucial for the
climate.
Local
350 Humboldt Activities
The
biomass committee petition drive needs you!
Help us collect signatures telling RCEA to stop funding biomass
electricity. We particularly need someone for Wildwood Days in Rio
Dell on August 4. Contact Wendy at [email protected]
for a ride. Gatherers are also needed for Blue Lake Farmers Mkt on
any Sunday, or the Eureka co-op anytime.
For
the next Bus Adventure participants will meet on the morning of
August 10 at Humboldt Transit Authority at 133 V St in Eureka for a
lesson on how to load bikes on buses. Contact Cathy at [email protected]
to find out the exact time. Afterwards, those interested can
take a leisurely one-hour group ride on the Eureka Bay Trail.
Come
be part of a sentence. People standing in a row alongside
State Road 255 will each hold a sign with a few words that will
together spell out this message for passing motorists. WITH CLIMATE
CHANGE SEA LEVEL RISES IN 30 YEARS THIS ROAD WILL BE UNDER WATER.
Meet at 4:30 at the Mad River Slough on August 14. Contact Jenifer at
[email protected]
The
350 Humboldt Book Club
will discuss I
Want A Better Catastrophe
by Andrew Boyd at 7 PM on August 28th. People who haven’t finished
it or read it at all are still welcome to attend. Zoomlink is
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87104876080?pwd=Q1Z2Z0d3K3V0UE9EN2Z0TlFweTZndz09
Bonus
Good
News (mostly)
What
does it take to “whup a petrochemical giant?”
Listen to Wendy Ring’s Cool Solutions
about “two women taking on a giant.”
Shocker:
oil companies paying big bucks to kill California’s SB 253.
Mature
forests
need only one thing to be perfect—time.
Great
idea
for what to do with those big old wind turbine blades.
If
you must have cows,
let them graze in the shade beneath solar panels.