The next 9 days have some very important actions that we hope you will participate in. Going chronologically they are:
1. Meeting of Legislative Committee to discuss what bills we would like to convince legislators to carry next term. Feel free to join at 1:00 PM Tuesday the 20th even if it is your first time: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88564442539?pwd=eWpzV1F2dFlYTFZYSmhvaDJrRmxCUT09
2. Thursday the 22nd, 6pm meeting to do final planning for rally and march on Friday the 23rd and to plan our public comments on the Nordic appeal on Wednesday the 28th: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84370554552?pwd=V2phMDBOUlNiS3hLL1BQSHNIVDFTQT09
3. March and Rally at the Arcata Plaza, Friday the 23rd 5pm to 6pm in conjunction with the international organization Fridays for the Future. We will have speeches, live band music, and a parade around the plaza. Bring you own poster and demonstrate your sense of urgency for climate action. A flyer is below.
4. Nordic Hearing in front of the Board of Supervisors Wednesday September 28. 350 Humboldt is one of three organizations that appealed the Planning Commission’s approval of the Nordic aquafarm project. The other groups are the Redwood Region Audubon Society Chapter, and the Humboldt Fishermen’s Marketing Association. To have any chance of stopping or modifying the project we need many people to attend the hearing and comment. The hearing is held at the Courthouse in Eureka in the Board Chambers and starts at 9 am, and if you are going to comment in person you will want to be there to sign up to speak. There will be about an hour of presentations from Nordic and the three appellants and then a chance for the public. You may also comment on Zoom. Instructions will be found on September 26 at https://humboldt.legistar.com
We will send out more detail in the next few days, but here are a few basic reasons we are opposing the project:
a. It will emit massive amounts of greenhouse gases from fish feed, electricity, refrigerants, 1.6 million miles of truck traffic a year, and the “sludge” waste. We estimate the amounts to be between 130,000 and 240,000 metric tons of CO2 annually for at least 30 years.
b. We do not believe Nordic as an organization has the expertise and capital to pull off a project of this size. The “pilot project” they run is 17 times smaller than what they propose for Humboldt and has never made a profit. No aquafarm growing Atlantic Salmon has ever been built close to the size Nordic proposes. The world’s largest is only 40% as big and it has had huge operational problems, shed investors, and lost $121 million in 2021.
c. It threatens the Bay and its ecology and possibly the ocean (where it will send 12 million gallons a day of effluent).
d. It has the potential to affect both the livelihood of Humboldt fishermen and salmon habitat, especially if fish are released in the case of a tsunami or really large earthquake.
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