As the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District advances plans for the proposed Offshore Wind Heavy Lift Marine Terminal slated for the Samoa Peninsula, a growing number of people are raising serious concerns about the scale of the project and what, if any, mitigation measures can be implemented to protect the environment and invaluable tribal cultural resources.At a public scoping meeting for the port development project at the Eureka Veterans Hall on Wednesday night, dozens of residents urged the Harbor District to carefully examine potential impacts to Humboldt Bay and its surrounding communities during the upcoming California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review process. Some suggested a new location for the project, while others asked the district to scrap it entirely.“I’m very glad that you showed this picture so we can see just what an abomination it is to our bay,” said resident Gail Naren, referring to the digital rendering above. “I am just enraged. We live in a precious and unique place with a fragile environment that has already experienced extensive damage and will take generations to ameliorate. Yes, we need more jobs, but this project is overwhelmingly hideous and threatening. We can do better.”A representative of the local Building and Construction Trades Council and a couple of other union members also seemed to be in favor of the project. They advocated for more local jobs for skilled workers and urged the Harbor District to create a project that benefits Humboldt Bay communities as well as the environment.The vast majority of speakers, however, were fiercely opposed to the heavy lift marine terminal. Many people acknowledged the need to shift to renewable energy resources in the face of climate change, but felt the current project could compromise the health of Humboldt Bay.Jennifer Kalt, executive director of the Humboldt Waterkeeper, disputed the claim that the heavy lift marine terminal would be a “sustainable development” and criticized the Harbor District for expanding the project without public input.“Over the past three years, many of the people here today have gone to dozens of meetings to express concerns and request changes to this project to reduce its impacts. Now, instead of responding to those concerns, the project before us is even bigger,” Kalt said. “Instead of a living shoreline, there is now a 10-foot-tall stone wall more than a mile long at the edge of the bay. … No changes to the plan to dredge two massive holes adjacent to Tuluwat to store the turbines as they are built.”“Humboldt Waterkeeper approached this project in hopes that it could be a responsibly designed renewable energy project, because we know we need to get off fossil fuels, but this is not responsible,” she added.Keep Reading
