Editor:
In a complex world, it’s often tempting to boil things down to two sides: right or wrong, for or against (The “Bring It On” letter, Mailbox, Feb. 10). It’s much easier than taking the time to study an issue closely before forming an opinion. From an environmental activist’s perspective, there are three types of projects. There’s the “totally unacceptable,” like the proposed coal train (these are the issues that most often make news headlines). There are “bring it on” projects, like the plan to build the Eureka Regional Transit and Housing Center (aka EaRTH Center) on an Old Town parking lot. Then there are projects that could be done without harm to the environment if done right — but if done poorly, they could have major impacts. Nordic Aquafarms’ proposed fish farm at the former pulp mill is an example of this type of project. There are potential benefits, including the jobs Ms. Aguiar hopes for, along with the cleanup of a major contaminated industrial site. Humboldt Baykeeper staff, volunteers, interns and our colleagues at EPIC, CRTP, 350 Humboldt, Surfrider and NEC have spent countless hours over the past three years poring over technical documents, meeting with Nordic and its experts to understand the project, asking questions and suggesting improvements. Some changes have been made, while others have not. We still think the project can be done with fewer impacts but still needs quite a bit of improvement. We’ll keep working on it.
Jennifer Kalt, McKinleyville
This article appears in Unmasked.
Thank you Jennifer, EPIC, CRTP, 350 Humboldt, Surfrider and NEC!
Too often “bring it on” just means “cash it in” for the deepest pockets…leaving our bay surrounded in Brownfields, (the single largest local barrier to job creation); clear-cut logging destroyed the salmon fishery; continuing sprawl produced deadly streets and overwhelmed wastewater systems devastating the crab fishery with algae blooms from nitrogen pollution.
Approval of countless tenements destroyed the possibility of a “Victorian village” like Astoria.
Nothing says “Bring it on” better than Eureka’s saturation in poverty wage national big box retailers, hotels and fast food chains, subsidized by huge increases in welfare and social service needs, undermining scores of small business competitors…empty, blighted buildings, vacant parking lots and abandoned firetrap motels.
With Eureka’s history in plain view, can we please make sure this massive industry won’t be contributing to this short-sighted, self-destructive, legacy driving our local youths away?
If there were a running railway Redding your carbon footprint to go there would be less than 25% of driving there in a gas or diesel fueled vehicle though. Imagine if you could catch a train to a hub and travel by train up and down the coast instead of flying how much smaller your own carbon footprint would be. The is a nice graph this week on that subject at Visual Capitalist.
IMHO the idea of a railroad to the east is a boondoggle:
https://www.northcoastjournal.com/humboldt…
Even India has narrow gauge rail service for its people.