When local politics nixed Terra-Gen’s wind farm energy project near Rio Dell in 2019, regional electricity aggregator Redwood Coast Energy Authority (RCEA) turned to a solar project hundreds of miles away to meet its renewable energy goals. Now, world politics have botched up that second choice, according to Jaclyn Harr, client specialist manager with an […]
carbon
Posted inNews
Where’s the CAP?
If an irresistible force meets an immovable object, one possible outcome is a stalled Climate Action Plan. Caught between the realities of an ever-warming climate and a culture that is embedded in fossil fuels, city, state and county planners have been trying for years to come up with some acceptable and realistic ways of staving […]
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As UN Tackles Twin Climate Threats, California Struggles with Them, Too
Nations around the globe this month have pledged to tackle two thorny and critical threats to Earth’s climate: methane, which is the most potent planet-warming pollutant, and widespread destruction of forests. Both of these are major contributors to climate change that California has tried — yet struggled — to address. More than 100 countries inched […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
End of the Spell
Societies all over the world are caught in a terrible dilemma. Taking refuge in our houses and socially distancing are the only ways we know to protect ourselves and each other from Covid-19. Factories are shuttered, schools and stores are closed. So far, we’re lucky here in Humboldt where the death toll is zero. In […]
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County Vets Ideas to Fund Green Energy Projects
The county of Humboldt is weighing whether to place a bond or carbon tax measure on the November ballot to fund projects aimed at reducing the county’s greenhouse gas emissions in the face of a global climate crisis. Like other communities throughout the world, Humboldt County is wrestling with how to transition to clean, renewable […]
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County Climate Action Plan Plods Forward
In the aftermath of the Board of Supervisors voting down the Terra-Gen wind project amid dire global climate forecasts, many have been asking what Humboldt County can do to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow climate change. Well, local governments are working on it and residents have lots of ideas. The state is requiring every […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Terra-Gen Electrified the Conversation. What Now?
Terra-Gen’s Humboldt Wind Project was flawed but it would have offered this: a large and sudden pulse of low-carbon energy, enough to fill approximately 56 percent of Humboldt’s total electricity needs. With its demise, our odds at reaching our global climate goals become more distant while our challenge to achieve 100 percent clean, renewable energy […]
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Why the Supes Denied Terra-Gen’s Wind Project, Despite a Series of 11th Hour Concessions from the Company
With Humboldt County supervisors Rex Bohn and Virginia Bass having indicated they would support controversial plans to erect a wind farm on Monument and Bear River ridges south of Rio Dell, and supervisors Steve Madrone and Estelle Fennell having indicated they would not, Supervisor Mike Wilson was left as the swing vote. Obviously deeply conflicted […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Willie’s Wagon and Carbon Footprints
OK, Humboldt, please take a breath. We are pleased to announce that rumors of Willie Nelson’s sobriety have been greatly exaggerated. The weed world (at least the portion of it that has reached a certain age) lost its collective mind earlier this month when everyone’s favorite stoner — you know, the guy who once sparked […]
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Overflow Crowd Again Turns Out for Public Hearing on Controversial Wind Farm Proposal
The debate over the proposed Terra-Gen wind energy project seemed no closer to resolution after a second heated five-and-a-half-hour public hearing at the County Planning Commission on Thursday. Once again, the Supervisors Chamber was packed with people standing in the aisles. About 40 people who could not fit into the crowded room stood outside in […]
Posted inNews
Green Versus Green
Two public forums held earlier this month on the proposed Terra-Gen Wind Generation Project covered the same topics but the moods were radically different. The first meeting, a Nov. 6 panel discussion sponsored by the Schatz Energy Research Center at Humboldt State University, was calm and rational in tone, attracting nearly a thousand people to […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Biomass: A Local andRenewable Source of Irony
Despite its official pledge to supply Humboldt county with 100 percent clean and renewable energy by 2025, Redwood Coast Energy Authority has doubled down on biomass energy. Nearly a quarter of our electricity now comes from burning wood. In fact, according to its latest Comprehensive Action Plan for Energy [CAPE], RCEA plans to keep buying […]