Action Alert

Nordic AquaFarms’ proposed aquaculture facility in Samoa would be the largest project in Humboldt County in decades. At full build-out, It would use 21% of the county’s energy supplies – as much as the cities of Eureka and Fortuna combined. And yet the draft EIR concludes there would be no significant impacts from greenhouse gas emissions, truck traffic, bay intakes that will draw 10,000,000 gallons and an ocean discharge of 12,000,000 gallons of treated wastewater a day.

Comments are due February 18th on Humboldt County’s draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for the Nordic Aquafarms project. Numerous significant impacts have not been fully assessed and mitigated in the DEIR, specifically concerning increased electricity demands, greenhouse gas emissions, and the ocean discharge. We believe reasonable changes to reduce these impacts are achievable. To make sure Nordic commits to these changes, we are requesting the following required mitigations:

  1. An explicit requirement in the EIR that the project will, from day one of operations, be powered solely through renewable energy.
  2. The project shall maximize its feasible onsite renewable energy production through more aggressive utilization of solar, including over parking areas.
  3. The project shall use refrigerants with a global warming potential of under 150.
  4. The food fed to the salmon shall be certified to have the lowest greenhouse gas footprint commercially available.
  5. Modeling of ambient water quality shall use data from the mixing zone near the RMT II diffuser, instead of the data taken from Humboldt Bay (approximately 3.5 miles south-southeast of the discharge point).
  6. Baseline monitoring and continuous monitoring of the effluent shall be performed by experts and compared to an established threshold which would trigger protective actions.

This project would be the largest of its kind, unprecedented and could greatly impact our community, coastal areas, and Humboldt Bay; it has very large greenhouse gas implications. As environmentalists, climate activists, and stakeholders we support actions to reduce emission of greenhouse gasses as quickly as we can while preserving as much of our natural world as we can. Please join 350 Humboldt, Humboldt Baykeeper, EPIC, Humboldt Surfrider Foundation, Coalition for Responsible Transportation Priorities and the Northcoast Environmental Center in calling for these reasonable mitigations to the Nordic Aquafarms project.

The DEIR is available for public review at the Planning and Building Department as well as online via the department’s website. For more information, you can contact Cade McNamara, Planner II, by email at [email protected] or by phone at (707) 268-3777.

Make your voice heard by simply sharing this email with others and by sending your own comments to   [email protected]   by Feb. 18, 2022. Below we present a 350 Humboldt summary of our analysis of the DEIR that you can draw on in writing your  comments.

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Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Electric Power

The Nordic facility will require an enormous amount of electricity, an estimated 195 GWhs annually. To put that into perspective, when added to the 791 GWhs the County used in 2019, it is 21% of the resulting total as shown below, which is equal to Eureka and Fortuna together. The correct label for the graph below should be: “Annual electric use at full build out circa 2020 as a fraction of 2019 County load plus the Nordic load.” From another perspective: the Nordic 195 GWhs is is 25% of the 2019 total County electric use, which is equivalent to 45% of all non-residential, or 54% of all residential utilization.

 

The DEIR finds that supplying this electrical demand will not result in significant new generation of greenhouse gasses even though most of our electricity is still supplied by fossil fuels. To reach this mind-boggling conclusion the DEIR uses inappropriate standards and data. Which PG&E carbon intensity data did the DEIR use? Yes, the data shown by the red arrow.

Our joint response to the DEIR has pointed out these errors in detail. Consequently, absent changes to the project, greenhouse gas emissions associated with increased power demand in Humboldt constitute a significant impact that requires mitigation under the law. Below we lay out three measures that could reduce this impact if offshore wind is developed.

Electricity Mitigation Measure 1: Use of 100% Renewable Power

Nordic has committed informally that it will power the project through 100% renewable energy. We appreciate that commitment and believe that it is necessary for this project and all large projects moving forward. That commitment, however, is not found within the draft EIR. We would like to see that commitment written into the final EIR as a required mitigation measure and project design feature. This would incorporate the commitment through CEQA, and it could not then be removed by the Planning Commission or the Board of Supervisors.

Electricity Mitigation Measure 2: Maximize On-Site Solar

Included in the project design is a photovoltaic array capable of an estimated 4.845 MW of power. This represents approximately 3% of the project’s total annual energy use. We appreciate the inclusion of solar into the project design and ask that Nordic go further, at least doubling the solar power. While the project cannot meet all its needs by on-site production of solar energy, we ask that the company develop the maximum feasible power onsite through incorporation of solar panels on all buildings and over parking areas.

Electricity Mitigation Measure 3: Make the approval of the project contingent on assurance that the offshore wind project will go through

Humboldt County’s capacity for renewable energy is very limited at present and will need offshore wind or on-shore wind as well as other local renewable energy projects in order to meet our climate goals.

If offshore wind does not go through, there will not even be enough renewable energy for existing Humboldt residences and businesses to electrify, as the state is requiring by 2045, much less adding the aquaculture facility’s 25% of power. So the project only is feasible if the offshore wind project and new transmission lines go through. We should know within two years whether that is the case. Approval of the project should be conditioned on the availability of offshore wind for most of the project’s 30 year life.

Greenhouse Gas: Fish Food

The Nordic aquaculture factory will produce 25,000 – 27,000 metric tons of Atlantic salmon a year. It takes a lot of fish food to grow a salmon to market size over two years. Fish food (as well as electric power) is the source to which the IPCC and scientists who study aquaculture attribute almost all greenhouse gasses. The DEIR does not recognize, nor does Nordic acknowledge, the climate impact of the fish food.

We want the DEIR to follow the science and tell us the likely greenhouse gas emissions attributable annually to producing and consuming fish food. As a mitigation measure we want Nordic to be required to use the commercial fish food with the lowest certified carbon footprint.

Greenhouse Gas: Refrigerants

Per ton, HFC refrigerants warm the earth hundreds to several thousand times more than CO2. That is why over 185 nations have agreed to phase them out over 15 years – including the United States.

The DEIR recognizes the danger of refrigerants. It also shows a graph stating that 25% of electrical use will be for “chilling.” But it does not require Nordic to use one of the several very low global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants available. Using refrigerants with less than 150 GWP should be a required mitigation measure.

Transportation: Vehicle Mile Traveled

All new developments should at this point be evaluated as to whether they reduce greenhouse emissions from transportation (the largest source of greenhouse gasses in Humboldt County). Nordic plans, echoed in the DEIR, incentivize driving rather than other forms of transit. Mitigation measures should include reducing parking and vanpools for employees.

Transportation: Safety

The DEIR significantly undercounts the amount of truck traffic the project will generate. The DEIR must more accurately analyze additional truck traffic and its impact as an incompatible use with people walking and biking along the only available routes for trucks to travel to and from the project site and must mitigate impacts through bicycle and pedestrian safety improvements.

Water Quality: Accurate Baseline Data

In a number of ways the DEIR is deficient in its treatment of water quality. Most notably it uses measurements from inside Humboldt Bay to conclude that effects at the discharge pipe 3.5 miles away will be insignificant. These are serious deficiencies that need to be addressed prior to developing the final EIR.

Water Quality: Professional Monitoring of Effluent

Baseline monitoring and continuous monitoring of the effluent shall be performed by experts and compared to an established threshold which would trigger protective actions.