EcoNews Report

The legislative season has come to a close, so let’s take a look at what was done! Specifically, how will the new raft of laws affect some of the biggest environmental issues we’ve been tracking — including affordable housing, urban design, greenhouse gas emissions and more? We talk about it!  

• Street Story: A Simple Way to Contribute to the Fight for Safe Streets Have you experienced a near-miss, a crash, or know of an hazardous street or intersection? In just a few minutes, you can give CRTP and local government agencies better information about the need for safety improvements.

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Congressman Jared Huffman joins the show to discuss the current happenings in Washington D.C. — Who the heck is Speaker Mike Johnson? Will we pass a continuing budget resolution? Why would any thinking person want to be a United States Representative? — and his legislative priorities. From offshore wind to Eel River dams to nickel mining on the Smith River, Congressman Huffman has a lot to share. Listen in to learn more.

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Tune in for an interview with Sebastian Elrite of AquaRodeo Farms and Humboldt Bay Provisions to learn about Humboldt Bay oysters. Sebastian tells us all about how they are grown, why they're good for you, the importance of water quality, and how ocean acidification has led to a boom in the local oyster "seed" industry. 

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Environmental activists are concerned with the direction of the Humboldt County Climate Action Plan. The Plan, a to-do list of sorts describing what local jurisdictions can do to reach state-mandated greenhouse gas reductions, has been in development for five years and at a recent Board of Supervisors meeting, Planning Director John Ford warned that significant changes to the plan are necessary, delaying adoption of the plan even further.

Caroline Griffith of the Northcoast Environmental Center and Colin Fiske of the Coalition for Responsible Transportation Priorities join host Tom Wheeler of EPIC to discuss what modifications and delay mean for meaningful efforts to address the climate crisis.

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This week, Cal Poly Humboldt Assistant Professor Jennifer Marlow and Graduate Research Assistant Alec Brown join Jen Kalt of Humboldt Waterkeeper to talk about the 44 Feet Project, which is focused on the future risk of climate and coastal hazards to Humboldt Bay's spent nuclear fuel site above the town of King Salmon. The first privately-owned nuclear plant in the U.S, the Humboldt Bay Power Plant produced electricity from 1963 to 1976, leaving 37 tons of spent nuclear fuel to be stored indefinitely 115 feet from the edge of an eroding bluff just 44 feet above current sea level.

Two recent developments will be of particular interest to residents of King Salmon and other Humboldt Bay communities. In June, the Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury made recommendations for improving disaster planning and emergency preparedness in response to "any Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation-related emergencies." In September, the California Public Utilities Commission recently issued a Final Decision in which PG&E agreed to update the tsunami hazard assessment for the spent fuel storage site. 

For more info:

• The climate threat to California’s stored nuclear waste - Yale Climate Connections, Oct. 2023
• Spent nuclear fuel sits on a crumbling California coastline. So what to do? - Boyce Upholt, California Sea Grant News, July 2023.
• Humboldt County Emergency Preparedness: Ready or Not? - Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury Report, June 2023
• 44 Feet Project website

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At the beginning of October, many local elected officials, planners and other community leaders in Humboldt County took on a simple but significant challenge: don’t get behind the wheel of a car for seven days. They were participating in the first National Week Without Driving, which was organized in our region by the Coalition for Responsible Transportation Priorities (CRTP). 

The challenge was designed to give decision-makers personal insights into what life is like for the many people who can’t drive because of disability, age, or because they just can’t afford it. 

Participants included Humboldt County Supervisor Natalie Arroyo, Rio Dell Mayor Debra Garnes, and Eureka City Councilmember Mario Fernandez, all of whom join host Colin Fiske of CRTP to reflect on their experiences.

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On this week’s episode of the EcoNews Report we reflect on the tragic dam failure in Libya last month and discuss why Scott Dam on the Eel River poses similar risks. The PG&E-owned dam sits right on a significant fault line, the Bartlett Spring Fault. Between its unusual engineering and a century’s worth of accumulated sediment, many factors are converging to make even PG&E wary of the risk. That’s why the company made drastic changes to how they manage the dam last spring. And that’s why they are pursuing expedited dam removal right now. 

Tune in to hear Alicia Hamann and Scott Greacen from Friends of the Eel River share their concerns about dam safety and lethal water temperatures for juvenile steelhead, and their hope for dam removal.

For more info, see Alicia Hamann's recent op-ed in the North Coast Journal:

• Bigger Storms, Poor Oversight Put Dams at Risk

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Anyone who’s traveled between Arcata and Eureka lately has seen a whole lot of construction going on. Humboldt County Supervisor and Coastal Commissioner Mike Wilson joins co-hosts Jen Kalt (Humboldt Waterkeeper) and Colin Fiske (Coalition for Responsible Transportation Priorities) to talk about several projects that have been in the works for many years. Once the Indianola Interchange is built, CalTrans will close all the medians, meaning no more left turns across oncoming traffic. The final four miles of Humboldt Bay Trail will be finished by next fall, completing a decades-old goal: a continuous section of California Coast Trail connecting the two largest cities in the County! Other topics include sea level rise, billboard removal, why those Eucalyptus trees had to go, and what’s in store for the former lumber mill at Brainard.

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On this week’s episode, Luis Villa, Director of Latino Outdoors, joins the show to talk about how to make nature a safe, welcoming and inclusive space for all people. Latino Outdoors is a unique Latinx-led organization working to create a national community of leaders in conservation and outdoor education. By providing leadership opportunities and by changing the narrative about who are environmentalists, Latino Outdoors is helping to broaden the tent of environmentalism to make it more diverse and inclusive. 

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Trash: it’s everywhere! From our beaches to our forests. But those plucky do-gooders at the Northcoast Environmental Center are on the job. With this year’s Coastal Cleanup MONTH, dozens of clean ups are planned across the county to make our beaches great again. The NEC is also working with individuals experiencing homelessness to help mitigate issues of trash in encampments. Come learn more from Caroline Griffith and Sable Odry on this week’s episode. Sign up to help keep our coast clean here.

Can’t get enough plastic pollution? Listen to this past episode featuring Jen Savage of the Surfrider Foundation discussing her work to tackle the systemic roots of plastic pollution in our ocean.

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