California will fail to meet its ambitious mandates for combating climate change unless the state almost triples its rate of reducing greenhouse gases through 2030, according to a new analysis released last week.
Environment / Natural Resources
Friday, September 6, 2024
Officials Urge Caution After 2 Dogs Die Following Swim By Fernbridge
Posted By Kimberly Wear on Fri, Sep 6, 2024 at 12:41 PM
With two dogs having died shortly after swimming in a small pool of water by the Eel River near Fernbridge on Thursday, environmental health officials are urging the public to keep an eye out for potentially toxic algal blooms in local waterways.
“Warm water and abundant nutrients can cause cyanobacteria, sometimes called blue-green algae, to grow more rapidly than usual causing ‘blooms,’” a county Department of Health and Human Services press release states. “These blooms are termed ‘harmful algal blooms,’ or HABs, and can produce toxins and taste and odors that cause health risks to humans and animals.”
While the blooms can appear as “dark green, blue-green, black, orange or brown water or can occur as mats and sometimes create scum or foam on the riverbed or on the water,” the “toxins produced by HABs may be present without visual indicators,” according to the release.
Warnings about cyanobacteria are a yearly occurrence, generally in late July to early August, “coinciding with low flows and sustained high temperatures in the inland areas, which may contribute to cyanobacteria growth in local rivers and lagoons,” DHHS states.
Over the last two decades, the deaths of 12 dogs have been documented as having occurred shortly after the animals went swimming in Big Lagoon, the South Fork Eel River or the Van Duzen River, with water samples confirming the presence of HAB in each of those cases. A documented July 2021 bloom in the Trinity River east of Willow Creek is also believed to have contributed to another dog’s death, the release states.
In most cases, green algae in local waterways is harmless, but environmental health officials are urging the public to treat all blooms as having “the potential to contain toxins,” noting “it is difficult to test and monitor the many miles of local rivers with conditions that readily change.”
“Warm water and abundant nutrients can cause cyanobacteria, sometimes called blue-green algae, to grow more rapidly than usual causing ‘blooms,’” a county Department of Health and Human Services press release states. “These blooms are termed ‘harmful algal blooms,’ or HABs, and can produce toxins and taste and odors that cause health risks to humans and animals.”
While the blooms can appear as “dark green, blue-green, black, orange or brown water or can occur as mats and sometimes create scum or foam on the riverbed or on the water,” the “toxins produced by HABs may be present without visual indicators,” according to the release.
Warnings about cyanobacteria are a yearly occurrence, generally in late July to early August, “coinciding with low flows and sustained high temperatures in the inland areas, which may contribute to cyanobacteria growth in local rivers and lagoons,” DHHS states.
Over the last two decades, the deaths of 12 dogs have been documented as having occurred shortly after the animals went swimming in Big Lagoon, the South Fork Eel River or the Van Duzen River, with water samples confirming the presence of HAB in each of those cases. A documented July 2021 bloom in the Trinity River east of Willow Creek is also believed to have contributed to another dog’s death, the release states.
In most cases, green algae in local waterways is harmless, but environmental health officials are urging the public to treat all blooms as having “the potential to contain toxins,” noting “it is difficult to test and monitor the many miles of local rivers with conditions that readily change.”
Tuesday, September 3, 2024
Sea Lion Dies in Klopp Lake, Ending Unusual Excursion
Posted By Mark Larson on Tue, Sep 3, 2024 at 4:05 PM
My wife and I enjoy walking the trails at the Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary, looking at and photographing the usual wildlife, but last Sunday, Aug. 25, around 10 a.m. at low tide, we saw something unusual. It appeared to be a stranded dead adult California sea lion lying covered in mud on the tidal flats just south of the Klopp Lake trail, with a large loop of tracks it had created.
I quickly shared a photo and reported the sighting to professor Dawn Goley, who heads the Cal Poly Humboldt Marine Mammal Stranding Program (MMSP), which investigates stranded marine mammals in Northern California.
Goley confirmed what we had seen as a dead-looking stranded male California sea lion, noting how unusual it was to see one this far up in Humboldt Bay. We agreed to meet up at Klopp Lake on Monday morning. But later that evening, my friend Rollie Lamberson posted his own photo of a very much alive sea lion upright on the mud flats around noon and another photo of that sea lion sitting on the Klopp Lake trail amid walkers.
I quickly shared a photo and reported the sighting to professor Dawn Goley, who heads the Cal Poly Humboldt Marine Mammal Stranding Program (MMSP), which investigates stranded marine mammals in Northern California.
Goley confirmed what we had seen as a dead-looking stranded male California sea lion, noting how unusual it was to see one this far up in Humboldt Bay. We agreed to meet up at Klopp Lake on Monday morning. But later that evening, my friend Rollie Lamberson posted his own photo of a very much alive sea lion upright on the mud flats around noon and another photo of that sea lion sitting on the Klopp Lake trail amid walkers.
Wednesday, July 10, 2024
California Approves New Blueprint for Offshore Wind. The Massive Projects Will Cost Billions
Posted By Julie Cart, CalMatters on Wed, Jul 10, 2024 at 12:45 PM
The California Energy Commission today unanimously approved a sweeping plan to develop a massive floating offshore wind industry in ocean waters — a first-of-its-kind undertaking that will require billions in public and private investments and could transform parts of the coast.
The new state plan sets the path for harnessing wind power from hundreds of giant turbines, each as tall as a 70-story building, floating in the ocean about 20 miles off Humboldt Bay and Morro Bay. The untapped energy is expected to become a major power source as California electrifies vehicles and switches to clean energy.
California’s wind farms represent a giant experiment: No other place in the world has floating wind operations in such deep waters — more than a half-mile deep — so far from shore.
The commission’s vote today came after representatives of various industries, environmentalists, community leaders and others mostly expressed support for offshore wind, although some voiced concerns.
State and federal officials use the word “urgency” to describe the frenetic pace needed to lay the groundwork for development of five areas that the federal government has leased to offshore wind companies.
“I feel the urgency to move forward swiftly,’ said energy commissioner Patty Monahan. “The climate crisis is upon us. Offshore wind is a real opportunity for us to move forward with clean energy.”
She added, though, that the plan “is a starting point…There are a lot of uncertainties about environmental impacts. We need to be clear-eyed and engage the right scientific interests and move carefully.”
The five energy companies are now assessing sites within the 583 square miles, which is expected to take five years. That will be followed by about two years of design, construction and environmental and technical reviews.
Friday, June 28, 2024
Supreme Court Gives Cities in California and Beyond More Power to Crack Down on Homeless Camps
Posted By Marisa Kendall/CalMatters on Fri, Jun 28, 2024 at 3:26 PM
The U.S. Supreme Court today granted cities more power to arrest, cite and fine people who sleep outside in public places — overturning six years of legal protections for homeless residents in California and other western states.
In Grants Pass v. Johnson, the court sided with Grants Pass in a 6-3 decision — ruling an ordinance passed by the Oregon city that essentially made it illegal for homeless residents to camp on all public property was not unconstitutional.
The much-anticipated decision overturns a prior influential Ninth Circuit appellate ruling, and means cities no longer are prohibited from punishing unhoused residents for camping if they have nowhere else to go. It will have major ramifications for how California leaders and law enforcement handle homeless encampments.
(Read more about the potential implications for Humboldt's homeless policies here.)
Activists supporting the civil rights of unhoused people decried the ruling, saying it could result in people getting arrested simply for being homeless.
“It will make homelessness worse, in California and Grants pass and across the country,” said Jesse Rabinowitz, spokesperson for the National Homelessness Law Center. “We know that throwing people in jail and giving them thousands of dollars in tickets makes it harder for them to find jobs, harder for them to find housing and harder for them to exit homelessness.”
But groups representing cities, counties, law enforcement organizations and business interests cheered the decision, saying it would finally allow for the removal of unsafe, unsanitary encampments. Even Gov. Gavin Newsom weighed in, filing a “friend of the court” brief in which he wrote: “Hindering cities’ efforts to help their unhoused populations is as inhumane as it is unworkable.”
Tuesday, June 18, 2024
Caltrans Selects Tunnel Option for Last Chance Grade
Posted By Kimberly Wear on Tue, Jun 18, 2024 at 2:44 PM
A resolution to the landslide issues that have plagued the narrow stretch of U.S. Highway 101 in Del Norte County known as Last Chance Grade is inching closer to reality.
In a decision years in the making, Caltrans recently announced the agency will pursue what’s been called Alternative F, which entails realigning the highway and constructing a mile-long tunnel to sidestep the problem area.
"After many generations of Del Norte County citizens traversing this fabled, continuously failing section of our state highway system, we have reached the conclusion to construct a tunnel with broad agreement among regional stakeholders,” Del Norte County Supervisor Chris Howard in a news release. “Del Norte County is grateful to our community, tribal, environmental and agency partners that have dedicated many years to finding a path forward."
The other option on the table — narrowed down from an original six, each with their own set of complicating factors — was continuing efforts to stabilize the 3-mile-long section of highway, an endeavor that has cost tens of millions in recent decades to maintain the vital artery that connects California's northernmost reaches to the rest of the state.
A catastrophic failure on the cliffside route that has seen regular closures for as long as it's been open could leave businesses in Humboldt and Del Norte cut off from their suppliers and customers, children separated from their schools and sever the only viable link between Del Norte County's southern residents and their seat of government.
The only other option is a 320-mile, seven-hour detour via U.S. Highway 199 to Interstate 5 to State Route 299.
Even with that milestone of selecting an alternative reached after extensive reviews and the collaborative effort of tribes, environmental groups, lawmakers and other stakeholders, the road ahead remains long.
In a decision years in the making, Caltrans recently announced the agency will pursue what’s been called Alternative F, which entails realigning the highway and constructing a mile-long tunnel to sidestep the problem area.
"After many generations of Del Norte County citizens traversing this fabled, continuously failing section of our state highway system, we have reached the conclusion to construct a tunnel with broad agreement among regional stakeholders,” Del Norte County Supervisor Chris Howard in a news release. “Del Norte County is grateful to our community, tribal, environmental and agency partners that have dedicated many years to finding a path forward."
The other option on the table — narrowed down from an original six, each with their own set of complicating factors — was continuing efforts to stabilize the 3-mile-long section of highway, an endeavor that has cost tens of millions in recent decades to maintain the vital artery that connects California's northernmost reaches to the rest of the state.
The only other option is a 320-mile, seven-hour detour via U.S. Highway 199 to Interstate 5 to State Route 299.
Even with that milestone of selecting an alternative reached after extensive reviews and the collaborative effort of tribes, environmental groups, lawmakers and other stakeholders, the road ahead remains long.
Monday, April 15, 2024
California Salmon Fishing Banned for Second Year in Row
Posted By Rachel Becker/CalMatters on Mon, Apr 15, 2024 at 11:27 AM
In a devastating blow to California’s fishing industry, federal fishery managers unanimously voted to cancel all commercial and recreational salmon fishing off the coast of California for the second year in a row.
The April 10 decision is designed to protect California’s dwindling salmon populations after drought and water diversions left river flows too warm and sluggish for the state’s iconic Chinook salmon to thrive.
Salmon abundance forecasts for the year “are just too low,” Marci Yaremko, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s appointee to the Pacific Fishery Management Council, said last week. “While the rainfall and the snowpacks have improved, the stocks and their habitats just need another year to recover.”
State and federal agencies are now expected to implement the closures for ocean fishing. Had the season not been in question again this year, recreational boats would likely already be fishing off the coast of California, while the commercial season typically runs from May through October.
In addition, the California Fish and Game Commission will decide next month whether to cancel inland salmon fishing in California rivers this summer and fall.
The closure means that California restaurants and consumers will have to look elsewhere for salmon, in a major blow to an industry estimated in previous years to be worth roughly half a billion dollars.
“It’s catastrophic,” said Tommy “TF” Graham, a commercial fisherman based in Bodega Bay who now drives a truck delivering frozen and farmed salmon and other fish. “It means another summer of being forced to do something you don’t want to do, instead of doing something you love.
Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Huffman, Haaland to Visit Humboldt Bay Amid Growing Tribal Offshore Wind Opposition
Posted By Thadeus Greenson on Tue, Mar 26, 2024 at 1:21 PM
Amid an upwelling of Native opposition to plans to build offshore wind farms, including one off the coast of Eureka, United States Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and North Coast Congressmember Jared Huffman will be visiting Humboldt Bay later this week, in part to meet with local tribes and hear their concerns.
Reached this morning to ask about growing tribal opposition to federal plans to build a floating, deep water wind farm 21 miles west of Humboldt Bay — the latest of which came from the Trinidad Rancheria — Huffman said he remains committed to both pushing offshore wind forward but addressing tribal concerns, believing the two are not mutually exclusive.
“I don’t support a project that runs roughshod over tribes, the environment or any of our other values,” Huffman told the Journal. “The reason I support this offshore wind project is because it can be done in a way that I think supports those values and, really, enhances them. I think this is more a conversation about how to do this project rather than whether to do this project.”
Huffman’s comments came a day after the Trinidad Rancheria issued a press release announcing its tribal council had approved a resolution officially opposing offshore wind, making it the third local tribe to do so, along with the Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria and the Yurok Tribe. In the release, the Trinidad Rancheria also expressed support for the resolution passed by the National Congress of American Indians in February calling on the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to halt all scoping and permitting activities for offshore wind until completion of a transparent process “adequately protecting tribal environments and sovereign interests” is developed and implemented.
Reached this morning to ask about growing tribal opposition to federal plans to build a floating, deep water wind farm 21 miles west of Humboldt Bay — the latest of which came from the Trinidad Rancheria — Huffman said he remains committed to both pushing offshore wind forward but addressing tribal concerns, believing the two are not mutually exclusive.
“I don’t support a project that runs roughshod over tribes, the environment or any of our other values,” Huffman told the Journal. “The reason I support this offshore wind project is because it can be done in a way that I think supports those values and, really, enhances them. I think this is more a conversation about how to do this project rather than whether to do this project.”
Huffman’s comments came a day after the Trinidad Rancheria issued a press release announcing its tribal council had approved a resolution officially opposing offshore wind, making it the third local tribe to do so, along with the Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria and the Yurok Tribe. In the release, the Trinidad Rancheria also expressed support for the resolution passed by the National Congress of American Indians in February calling on the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to halt all scoping and permitting activities for offshore wind until completion of a transparent process “adequately protecting tribal environments and sovereign interests” is developed and implemented.
Thursday, March 21, 2024
UPDATE: Humboldt Community Services District Lifts Boil Advisory
Posted By Thadeus Greenson on Thu, Mar 21, 2024 at 4:43 PM
UPDATE:
The Humboldt Community Services District has lifted the boil advisory issued yesterday in several local areas due to a burst main.
“The Humboldt Community Services District Public Water System in conjunction with the State Water Resources Control Board has determined that, through abatement of the health hazard and comprehensive testing of the water, your water is safe to drink,” reads an cancellation notice sent this afternoon. “It is no longer necessary to boil your tap water or for you to consume bottled water.”
See the full notice at the bottom of our original post.
PREVIOUSLY:
The Humboldt Community Services District is advising customers in the areas of Mitchell Road, Myrtletown, Ryan Slough and Freshwater that they should use boiled or bottled water for drinking and cooking until further notice.
The problem stems from a transmission main break near Indianola and Old Arcata roads in the city of Eureka’s system, which supplies some water to the community services district, on the evening of March 20. After the transmission line failure, the district was notified around 1 p.m. today that “some cloud water” may have been delivered into its system and that it could possibly contain mineral deposits and soil from the area where the breakage occurred.
As a result, the community services district has issued a boil advisory “out of an abundance of caution” to ensure the “health and wellbeing” of the community, according to its notice.
“We have been testing our water quality and flushing the affected areas,” the district’s notice states. “We have found no evidence of contaminated water within our system. We will continue to monitor and test our water quality for the next three days. If we discover any contamination, we will be reaching out to notify you. If we do not encounter any contaminated water, we will be reaching out to lift the Boil Water Advisory.”
Until further notice, residents in affected areas are advised that before drinking water from the system or using it for cooking they should first bring it to a rolling boil, let it boil for one minute, then let it cool before use. Alternatively, they can use bottled water.
The district anticipates the issue to be resolved within three days.
The Humboldt Community Services District has lifted the boil advisory issued yesterday in several local areas due to a burst main.
“The Humboldt Community Services District Public Water System in conjunction with the State Water Resources Control Board has determined that, through abatement of the health hazard and comprehensive testing of the water, your water is safe to drink,” reads an cancellation notice sent this afternoon. “It is no longer necessary to boil your tap water or for you to consume bottled water.”
See the full notice at the bottom of our original post.
PREVIOUSLY:
The Humboldt Community Services District is advising customers in the areas of Mitchell Road, Myrtletown, Ryan Slough and Freshwater that they should use boiled or bottled water for drinking and cooking until further notice.
The problem stems from a transmission main break near Indianola and Old Arcata roads in the city of Eureka’s system, which supplies some water to the community services district, on the evening of March 20. After the transmission line failure, the district was notified around 1 p.m. today that “some cloud water” may have been delivered into its system and that it could possibly contain mineral deposits and soil from the area where the breakage occurred.
As a result, the community services district has issued a boil advisory “out of an abundance of caution” to ensure the “health and wellbeing” of the community, according to its notice.
“We have been testing our water quality and flushing the affected areas,” the district’s notice states. “We have found no evidence of contaminated water within our system. We will continue to monitor and test our water quality for the next three days. If we discover any contamination, we will be reaching out to notify you. If we do not encounter any contaminated water, we will be reaching out to lift the Boil Water Advisory.”
Until further notice, residents in affected areas are advised that before drinking water from the system or using it for cooking they should first bring it to a rolling boil, let it boil for one minute, then let it cool before use. Alternatively, they can use bottled water.
The district anticipates the issue to be resolved within three days.
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
California is not Close to Meeting its Climate Change Mandates
Posted By Alejandro Lazo/CalMatters on Tue, Mar 19, 2024 at 10:05 AM
After dropping during the pandemic, California’s emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and other climate-warming gases increased 3.4 percent in 2021, when the economy rebounded.
The increase puts California further away from reaching a target mandated under state law: emitting 40 percent less in 2030 than in 1990 — a feat that will become more expensive and more difficult as time passes, the report’s authors told CalMatters.
“The fact that they need to increase the speed of reduction at about three times faster than they’re actually doing — that does not bode well,” said Stafford Nichols, a researcher at Beacon Economics, a Los Angeles-based economics research firm, and a co-author of the annual California Green Innovation Index released today.
“As we get closer to that 2030 goal, the fact that we’re further off just means that we have to decrease faster each year.”
Friday, March 8, 2024
The Klamath River Salmon Die-off Was Tragic. Was it Predictable?
Posted By Rachel Becker/CalMatters on Fri, Mar 8, 2024 at 8:32 AM
A recent large die-off of young salmon released into the Klamath River shocked and dismayed state biologists, reinforcing that human efforts to restore nature and undo damage can be unpredictable and difficult to control.
The tiny Chinook salmon turned up dead downriver just two days after they were released from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s brand new Fall Creek Fish Hatchery, built to supply the Klamath River as it undergoes the largest dam removal in history.
The $35 million state hatchery, on a tributary just upstream of Iron Gate dam in Siskiyou County, was constructed to help the river’s threatened coho and dwindling fall-run chinook salmon, a mainstay of commercial and recreational fishing and tribal food supplies.
The hatchery’s first release ended with an unknown number of the 830,000 young Chinook salmon found dead, their eyes bulging, in a federal sampling trap about 9 miles below the dam.
State officials called it “a large mortality,” but said there’s no official count yet and released no additional details about the size of the die-off.
California’s fish and wildlife officials said they suspect “gas bubble disease,” a condition similar to decompression sickness in scuba divers, is to blame — likely caused when the salmon traveled through a 9-foot-wide tunnel out of Iron Gate dam to reconnect with the Klamath downriver.
Gas bubble disease in fish is caused by “environmental or physical trauma often associated with severe pressure change,” officials said.
Jason Roberts, inland fisheries program manager with the state agency, said it’s an outcome that state, federal, and tribal scientists involved in the decision didn’t anticipate.
“The basin co-managers made the best decision they could with the information that they had, and unfortunately, it did not go well,” Roberts said. “I don’t think anyone thought water going through this tunnel would cause gas bubble disease, or we obviously wouldn’t have done it.”
