The copy of this letter sent earlier has an incorrect email address for the Planning Commissioners. Please use: [email protected]
Or you can send snailmail to: the Humboldt County Department of Planning and Building, 3015 H Street, Eureka, CA, 95501.
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Dear {{ FirstName | commonize | default: ‘Friend’ }},
Humboldt County badly needs new local sources of renewable energy. While our electricity company, Redwood Coast Energy Authority (RCEA), can purchase renewable energy from outside the county, the electric line on which it is transmitted is not close to being able to handle our peak demands. In partial response, RCEA has signed contracts for six 1 megawatt solar arrays. The Hatchery Road Solar Project in Blue Lake will provide an additional 4 megawatts of solar energy.
The project needs to be approved by the Humboldt County Planning Commission. The county planning department has recommended approval. But the Planning Commission needs to hear from every person who supports solar power. 350 Humboldt is asking you to please write a letter of support to the Planning Commission. The deadline if February 26, but we urge you to take a few minutes and do it right now!
Your email should be addressed to: [email protected] As “subject” use Hatchery Road Solar Project.
Below is a project description from the Planning Department’s environmental review document. [Available at: https://humboldtgov.org/DocumentCenter/View/92179/RPCA-Hatchery-Road-CEQA-Initial-Study_011121-PDF ]
The project description is followed by a number of talking points, some of which you may want to include in your letter. Thanks to Mary Sanger for compiling these.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION: The project will include a small-scale commercial energy generating facility that would construct a 4 megawatt (MW) solar facility on approximately 25.70 acres. The proposed project includes approximately of 13,664 solar photovoltaic (PV) module arrays, 32 string inverters, and associated electrical conductors and equipment needed to convert sun energy into usable AC power. The project will enhance electrical reliability for the existing Pacific Gas & Electric’s (PG&E’s) grid system. A small drainage though the middle of the property will be avoided by a 150’ setback leaving the remainder of the land area covered by the solar arrays, which will be mounted on a racking system attached to steel piles driven into the ground. Single axis tracking technology will be utilized to allow the modules to efficiently track the sun throughout the day and maximize the efficiency of solar collection. The project proposes ongoing agricultural uses on the property, including but not limited to sheep grazing or the keeping of honey bees, on a rotational basis whereby pasture areas would be occupied for variable periods, allowing pasture rest periods to promote optimal vegetation quality management and maintenance of the project’s pollinator habitat.
HATCHERY ROAD SOLAR: REASONS TO APPROVE THE PROJECT
1. We appreciate that Humboldt County is taking the climate crisis seriously. It is a threat that is global but the solutions often come down to local decisions like promoting renewable energy installations.
2. This project will reduce our dependence on the natural gas fired power plant on Humboldt Bay, reducing the county’s greenhouse gas emissions. The power the project provides will help mitigate the fact that Humboldt County peak power utilization exceeds the capacity of the transmission lines into the County.
3. It will be a move in the right direction to enable the county to achieve the 100% renewable electricity by 2025 that they have committed to. If approved, the project can be operational by July of this year!
4. The general plan designation for the parcels is agricultural and it specifies that renewable electricity installations are allowed. The property will not be converted out of agricultural. The proposal to use the property for bee habitat and or grazing have been used successfully at other solar installations around the world. The Planning Department document (link above) evaluates use of agricultural land for solar in great detail. The decision to approve this project is clearly based on significant and careful consideration. It should be noted that the underlying land, soil condition, or land use are not changed permanently, as they might be with other land use.
5. Most of the jobs in this project are in the construction phase. It would be an economic benefit to the County if those jobs would go to local, living wage contractors.
6. Some comments have suggested aesthetics is a problem. But aesthetics are time-bound and culturally specific. As the Planning Department document says: “Viewer response may be negative for viewers who place a high value on open space, or positive for viewers who place a high value on renewable energy. The limited expanse of the project feature and the limited importance of the affected viewpoints result in the impacts being less than significant.”
7. Under CEQA, possible impacts are significant or not. This project has very few significant impacts and the County agrees that all of them can be mitigated to insignificance. As the Planning Department document summarizes: “The project will not degrade the quality of the environmental, substantially reduce the habitat of a fish or wildlife species, cause a fish or wildlife population to drop below self-sustaining levels, threaten to eliminate a plant or animal community, reduce the number or restrict the range of a rare or endangered plant or animal. Although no special status species were observed on the project site, potential biological impacts related to special status bird species would be reduced to less than significant levels… In the event archaeological artifacts are found [mitigation measures] would reduce potential impacts to less than significant levels… Therefore, impacts would be considered less than significant with mitigation incorporated.“
8. We suggest to the developers that they consider offering a community benefit. For example, the community wants to put in a trail from downtown Blue Lake out to the hatchery and a financial contribution could make that a reality.