The LookOut is a monthly digest of climate issues and recent
developments in our neighborhood.
October 19 was International Day of Action on Big Biomass. Activities that took place on six continents were a mixture of
social media, other messaging, and in person demonstrations such as
the protests held in front of Barclays banks in various cities.
Barclays funds the Drax energy plant that is notorious for
deforestation and pollution associated with burning biomass for
electricity.
This organized day of action on big biomass has been happening since
2017 when it was called “big bad bioenergy”. The timing sends a
message to the COP climate summits usually held sometime in November.
In Dubai this year the Global Renewable Energy Target will be an
important topic as it always is. The message from biomass opponents
is that forest biomass should not be included in the GRET because
it’s not a step towards climate rescue but a big step in the
opposite direction.
Small victories include Australia outlawing last year the use of
native forests as a feedstock for biomass electricity, and in Denmark
firewood sellers are not allowed to say that burning wood is
environmentally friendly. A large defeat occurred last year when the
European Union voted to keep wood classified as renewable
energy. The EU swears that natural forests are protected and the
government doesn’t subsidize burning whole trees, but there is no
commitment to monitoring or enforcing these standards.
California’s forests are now endangered by the proposal
of two giant wood pellet manufacturing plants in Tuolomne and Lassen
counties. The project’s annual
output of a million tons would be shipped to Europe and Asia. Heavily
portrayed in terms of forest resiliency, fuel load reduction, and
utilization of waste wood, this project suffers from a huge lack of
trust (in addition to its other problems.)
The criteria for feedstock outlined by the Notice of Preparation for
its draft EIR doesn’t explicitly exclude commercial harvesting.
According to the Partnership for Policy Integrity,
“Board memoranda” reveals
that logging in California’s national forests would provide
feedstock for the pellets. The possibility that this refers to
harvesting trees expressly for that purpose is all too plausible.
Three state agencies, Rural County Representatives of California,
Golden State Finance Authority, and Golden State Natural Resources
are driving the proposed project. The first two agencies have loaned
millions of dollars to GSNR for startup costs. GSFA is also the lead
agency on the Environmental Impact Report for the project it has
invested in. Humboldt county Supervisor Rex Bohn serves on all three
boards.

Andrew Goff 7/13/22
Nordic Aquafarms has bagged two more of the permits it needs
to set up a Recirculating Aquaculture System facility on the Samoa
peninsula.
Back in April of this year it
decided to raise Yellowtail Kingfish–which was approved by California Fish and Wildlife this summer–instead of its original
pick, Atlantic Salmon. The change entails a welcome though not
game-changing decrease of energy use, but considering that many
aspects of the operation
have changed
from what was
detailed in the Environmental Impact Report, 350 Humboldt has taken
the position that a new EIR should be provided.
The county evidently disagreed and
sent the Regional Water Board a Substantial Conformance letter. The
RWB subsequently issued a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination
System order that is necessary for wastewater discharge. According to
the Times-Standard, the board seemed reluctant at first. Hours of debate produced several important changes,
including daily monitoring near the discharge site that Humboldt
Waterkeeper has recommended from the beginning.
Next hurdle is the California Coastal Commission hearing that will
probably happen in November. At that time it will consider 350
Humboldt’s appeal of the Coastal Development Permit that the county
granted Nordic. Redwood Region Audubon Society, Salmonid Restoration
Federation, Alison Willy, and Scott Frazer have also appealed.
If Nordic gets all of its permits lined up, Phase 1 of the project
may begin in 2025. So far the company is faring better here than in
Belfast, Maine, where it lost access to more of the land where
it planned to build a RAS facility. Despite that severe blow, it has
not yet conceded defeat there.
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Suspicious rumors about the Planning Department’s intentions
in rewriting the Climate Action Plan have been more or less quelled.
Addressing the Board of Supervisors on October 19, Director John Ford stated that there would be no taking credit for the greenhouse gas
reductions of the early 90s when pulp mills and other polluters shut
down. He reiterated the ambition to make genuine and credible GHG
reductions that are needed to curb the worst effects of climate
change.
In order for the draft CAP to serve that purpose, Ford said it
must be reworked, and he made two proposals to the Board: to
hire Rincon Consultants to do the job; and to pay them with grant
money intended for facilitating the Environmental Impact Review of
the 2022 plan. Conducting an EIR of the draft CAP was the job Rincon
was originally hired to do, but the company also has extensive
experience with writing climate action plans. An important part of
its new job will be to update the GHG inventory that the draft CAP
uses for its calculations. The one currently used is from 2015. It
will be updated to 2020. New funds will have to be found for the EIR
for the new draft.
The timeline for getting this done is March of 2024 for the new draft
to be completed; the draft EIR will be ready by September; public
review will take place in October; the final EIR ready in December;
and public hearings will take place in January of 2025.
It’s been a long strange trip since 2018.
Ford acknowledged that a good CAP isn’t the only thing the county
would need to achieve its climate goals. We’ll need dedicated staff
for one thing. A Climate Resiliency Officer could leverage federal
funds from the Inflation Reduction Act and other sources and also
help various jurisdictions collaborate.
Supervisor Wilson nearly had the last word before the Board voted to
accept both of the Planning Department’s proposals. Referring to
the Humboldt’s “cadre of local environmental groups” as a pool
of expertise and help, he urged the Planning Department to reach out
for inspiration. Wilson said the CAP should be regarded as “an
opportunity maker, not just an obligation.”
It remains to be seen how much Rincon Consultants will engage with
the community to write the new draft. Supervisor Arroyo’s
suggestion of forming an ad hoc committee of two supervisors will be
voted on at a future meeting.
Here is an interesting Eco-News Report discussion about the
recent history and road forward to a new CAP.

screenshot from Board of Supervisors meeting
Widespread Distributed Solar [WDS] refers to maximized solar
energy on the already built infrastructure everywhere it is possible.
That means roofs of already existing buildings plus parking lots and
other spaces. Filling our energy needs in this way strikes Ken
Miller, director of Siskiyou Land Conservancy, as an important but
underutilized approach, so he and his associates have written a grant proposal to procure funds for a study of the WDS potential in
Humboldt county.
The study would assess the potentially available infrastructure,
solar capacity and effective siting factors, economic benefits and
costs, sources of funding, jobs, networked microgrids and storage,
and other aspects. The proposal has been shared so far with Redwood
Region RISE, an agency that promotes sustainable jobs in our
area.
Distributed solar energy is Humboldt County’s middle name.
Supervisor Wilson brought this up at a recent board meeting when he
reminded everyone that back in the ‘80s southern Humboldt and
northern Mendocino installed more solar panels than anyone in the US,
except for the military. The tradition continues, according to Jim
Zoellik of Schatz Energy Research Center, who notes that Humboldt has
installed about three times more solar per capita than the rest of
the state. Not bad for a locale that gets a third less sun.
350 Humboldt’s advocacy for utility-scale clean and renewable
energy leaves plenty of room for distributed solar–the more, the
better. The Department of Energy estimates that more than one
terawatt (that’s a lot) of potential solar capacity could be
installed on rooftops alone in the US.
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Bonus Reading
World’s largest offshore wind farm has started to produce.
An inspirational idea for the Gateway Area—Leave the Barrel
District roadless.
Feasible plan to lock up a whole lot of carbon is not rocket
science. Ask redwoods.
Who pays attention to California’s efforts to de-carbonize?
How a heat pump water heater can charge your car.