'Very Troubled' 

Editor:

I am writing in response to the March 28 article "Military Transport Ships Eying Port in Humboldt Bay." I am very troubled by the prospect of having "two — and possibly three — 800-foot-long ships in the Humboldt Bay." 

I do not find this proposition "exciting," as Leroy Zerlang, is quoted as saying. It feels wrong to have 800-foot war ships docked in Humboldt Bay. Even with the distinction that these "aren't actually war ships in the classic sense, but cargo ships used to transport military personnel and equipment to strategic locations," harboring vessels whose express intention is to expedite war is not something that Humboldt should readily welcome. 

I am also troubled by this project because it appears to be emerging from behind closed doors. Rep. Jared Huffman was not aware of it until the Journal reached out for its article. Likewise, Eureka City Manager Miles Slattery said he was unaware of the effort when the Journal contacted him, and online searches on the topic only yielded one result: the Journal's recent article. However, Zerlang says he has "personally been working to recruit the Maritime Administration to Humboldt Bay for three years."

Zerlang also says that he "doesn't see it as much different than a ship loaded with wood chips for export." This, in itself, is also disturbing. War does not equal woodchips. To reduce the loads to such indicates a gross desensitization to the emotional, environmental, and economic impacts war and war-adjacent items have on people and place. 

Furthermore, I don't want our local economy to be funded by the anticipation of war. Part of the reason war exists is because we commodify it and ignore the emotional strain it has on people and society. Let us not be people who let this happen to us or our place.  

Heather Quarles, Arcata