Letter Writer Requests Extension of Comment Period from Planning Commissioners for Wind Turbine Project

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wind turbines

Wind Turbines [Photo by Jeff Kubina from Columbia, Maryland via WikiCommons]

Humboldt County Planning Commissioners
Humboldt County Planning Director John Ford
Humboldt Wind Energy Project Planner
County of Humboldt
Planning and Building Department, Planning Division
3015 H Street, Eureka, CA 95501
Sent via email to [email protected]

Dear Director Ford, Project Planner and Commissioners,

For the many CEQA and NEPA environmental impact reports and statements in which our organization, the public interest Californians for Alternatives to Toxics, has participated over the course of 37 years, we have rarely seen the public required to respond to an EIR for a project as complex as the Humboldt Wind Energy Project in just 56 days.

This project actually is two projects in one: the siting and construction of wind turbines on ridges and the construction of new roads/expansion of existing road and new facilities in the Jordan Creek watershed. The issues involved are extremely complex as evidenced by the size of the EIR, which is enormous

Because the public acts as, in many cases, unpaid but interested and invested individuals who donate time to combing through the facts as they are presented in the EIR in ways that very often improve project proposals, often significantly, and because transparent government is important to Californians, especially for complex projects with admitted significant environmental impacts that cannot be mitigated, as in the current EIR, the public deserves sufficient time to study and make comment responses to the EIR.

It is apparent that the size of the project, it’s multiple dimensions, the environmental impacts that would require a statement of over-riding considerations and particularly the size of the document–significantly larger than an average EIR for which a 45 to 60 day comment period is usual–constitute the “unusual circumstances” mentioned but not defined in the CEQA guidelines but clearly present in the current project and which warrant a 90 day comment period.

Currently the comment period is for just 56 days. We propose extension to 90 days, a comment period sufficient for this complex project which will not harm the applicant. Please grant an extension of 34 days more to a total of 90 days, to allow the interested public the time needed to participate in the CEQA process for this project.

Sincerely,

Patty Clary, Executive Director
Californians for Alternatives to Toxics
600 F Street, Ste 3 #911
Arcata, CA 95521
[email protected]
707-834-4833

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Eldon G. Whitehead
Guest
Eldon G. Whitehead
4 years ago

Another bull**** letter from another half-witted person. Why do we have to keep putting up with these half-wit’s? Every time someone wants to build something, these brain dead people come crawling out of the woodwork like cockroaches. They all stay silent until something is proposed, then, they are wide awake and raring to go. I just wish they would all just go and disappear from the face of the earth. They are as worthless as tits on a boar.

Guest
Guest
Guest
4 years ago

And may one sprout up in your front yard and make you a happier person.
It’s nice to get what you want

hmm
Guest
hmm
4 years ago

tell us how you really feel sunshine.

Summer Zervos
Guest
Summer Zervos
4 years ago
Reply to  hmm

Nevermind Eldon, he’s just an angry old Pacific Lumber loser who ran for Fortuna High School Board and came in last place. And now Eldon sends death threats against Congressman Huffman to the Times-Standard (read Eldon’s letter/death threat from their May 25th edition and laugh at Eldon’s blatant buffoonery).

Jaekelopterus
Guest
Jaekelopterus
4 years ago

Fossil fuels aren’t going to last forever. The future is wind and solar (and maybe cold fusion, but that’s a ways off.)

Ullr Rover
Guest
Ullr Rover
4 years ago
Reply to  Jaekelopterus
Taurusballzhoff
Guest
Taurusballzhoff
4 years ago

Goodness! You are a negative Nellie this morning! Take your Neurontin; you’ll feel SO much better…

This project belongs in Humboldt, just like the 15,000 dope farms we have…

The enormous windmills should be located somewhere else, just like the stupid pot farms, and every concerned person should write to the planning commission, to express their, well, concerns! I know I did…

Have a swell day, Eldon!

Jaekelopterus
Guest
Jaekelopterus
4 years ago

Why? Power should be generated close to where it is used.

Billy Casomorphin
Guest
Billy Casomorphin
4 years ago
Reply to  Jaekelopterus

I think maybe 600 60 foot tall windmills would be better than the 30(?) super-high ones proposed… I still think they don’t belong where they are proposed to be built, at all…

I think we have wire, to conduct the power, and, a lot of the wiring is already in place.

The biggest problem California has with electricity, is the fact that PG&E should have been under-grounding the wires all along. We got plenty of generation capacity, and more is built, every year, out in the desert, where it should be…

Jaekelopterus
Guest
Jaekelopterus
4 years ago

Why don’t you think they belong there? Why do you think they should be smaller and more numerous?

Power should be generated closer to where it is used. It makes our infrastructure more modular and reliable.

Jokerlopestowardus
Guest
Jokerlopestowardus
4 years ago
Reply to  Jaekelopterus

You’re right. I agree these shouldn’t be built since they’re not close to where the power will be used. Thx for making the point for us😂🤣😂🤣😂

Taurusballzhoff
Guest
Taurusballzhoff
4 years ago
Reply to  Jaekelopterus

Yes. You are right. Always! Just cut down all the trees, and build whatever, wherever. It’s OK with me…

How about a steel mill, a giant brewery. An Air Force Base. Hey, how about 50,000 mobile homes? Some gated communities!

Make Humboldt look just like, Bakersfield. Fairfield. Whittier. Altamont…

Why not…

Just build it. Enjoy.

Big fucking desert out there, just East of, Alturas. Lots of space, no trees, no people, plenty of wind. Run some wires. Easy!

L.A. Water and Power does it… All the way to Washington.

Sid Vicious
Guest
Sid Vicious
4 years ago
Reply to  Jaekelopterus

Then grow all your food here?!

Logistics is a billion dollar industry because someone is making money.

That’s all this is. Corporate profits at the expense of the tax payer .

NoShitSherlock
Guest
NoShitSherlock
4 years ago

What exactly do you personally have to gain from this project?

Jaekelopterus
Guest
Jaekelopterus
4 years ago
Reply to  NoShitSherlock

A more robust utility infrastructure for our community.

Jokerlopsoffredwoods
Guest
Jokerlopsoffredwoods
4 years ago
Reply to  Jaekelopterus

Omg, Jaek, would you give it a rest already? The Terra-Gen lobbyist propaganda isn’t working on anyone who has read the DEIR. FIGHT THE BLIGHT!!!SAVE THE NIGHT FROM WINDMILL LIGHTS!!!

Willie Caos-mayham
Guest
4 years ago

🕯🌳It’s going to happen. It has to happen in the next 15years.

NoShitSherlock
Guest
NoShitSherlock
4 years ago

STFU Willie, you have no credability, I would block you if I could.

NoShitSherlock
Guest
NoShitSherlock
4 years ago

STFU Willie.

Is there any way for me to block Willie’s comments?

Jaekelopterus
Guest
Jaekelopterus
4 years ago
Reply to  NoShitSherlock

No, you’re right. Lets just worry about it AFTER we run out of oil.

Sid Vicious
Guest
Sid Vicious
4 years ago
Reply to  Jaekelopterus

It will never happen in our lifetime. How about telling Car manufacturers to use technology so we can actual get 100mpg instead of this bulls hit 15 to 35mpg we all seem to think is acceptable.
That is because our gas.tax is a another way to squeeze us into making poor decisions based on the corporate robber baron model.

Willie Caos-mayham
Guest
4 years ago

🕯🌳Even if you block me they will still build them. But you can keep on breathing in that carbon if you want but……

Willie Caos-mayham
Guest
4 years ago

🕯🌳👍🏽👍🏽🌞

Tessa
Guest
Tessa
4 years ago

I lived in central Oregon where wind farms are plenty. They co exists with the wheat farms and provide cheap clean energy. The farmers get paid for the windmills on their property and the residents get a kick back annually. My check which arrived on Dec. 12 every year to the tune of 468.00
This is a viable clean energy source. The birds fly around them…bald eagles, golden eagles, osprey and many other species.
Personally, I can’t find any negatives to wind farms. They are clean, they are quiet, and they are safe.

Apples to Oranges
Guest
Apples to Oranges
4 years ago
Reply to  Tessa

Birds don’t always fly around them. Look at the stats, then look at bird strike videos. They’re not clean energy considering the damage they’ll do to the diverse and sensitive ecosystem here. The carbon footprint is terrible. These are proposed for steep high altitude ridges in Northern California, not flat farmland in Central Oregon. They’ll increase fire danger, too, so they sure as hell aren’t safe.

Antichrist
Guest
Antichrist
4 years ago
Reply to  Tessa

hardly clean. what is the offset from where or gets its none wind power ? and i mean complete offset. we are not talking large number here, once you figure in the fossil fuels needed to mine smelt machine build transport and maintain the offset is very noniminal.

Willie Caos-mayham
Guest
4 years ago
Reply to  Antichrist

🕯🌳Now your trying to off set nickels to dimes,doesn’t work.

Antichrist
Guest
Antichrist
4 years ago

just think how much power you could be saving if you turned off your internet

Willie Caos-mayham
Guest
4 years ago

🕯🌳So we keep on killing the earth so you can drive your damn Honda,BMW,Cadillac ect,ect,ect. Or while your children grow up with birth defects or why the oceans are growing and the land we live on is shrinking. It’s still coming. In one form or another.

Sid Vicious
Guest
Sid Vicious
4 years ago

That’s why they are performing the soft kill.

No matter your western sensibilities, most of the people in the world are held prisoners in their own minds and bodies.

World Population target 500,000,000.

How exactly do you think they will achieve this?

If they weren’t so concerned about profit and total control on a universal level, we would have the technology revealed for the sake of humanity. Instead it’s one long ponzi /pyramid scheme that we still refuse to accept.

Antichrist
Guest
Antichrist
4 years ago

it has nothing really to do with driving. only 15 percent of a barrel of oil is used for fuel. something like 50 percent of a barrel of oil is used for food production and medicines and the rest is used for plastics and composaites.
natural gas is a by product of oil well drilling and removal of the oil from tje ground so when people use natural gas for anything they are using a by product. diesel is also a by product. diesel being the left overs after they have refined everything else they have a use for from the crude.
people that run around screaming the sky is falling are worth listening to up untill they start asking or demanding your money yet can not or have not provided an alternitive with real numbers. saying wind is better and that we must use wind right now is one thing . however just like with the prius wind power is hardly a better soluation. it does little other than force control of engery from the public sector to the goverment controled ultites.
in somonma napa and lake counties where they are rebuilding from the fires you can witness the power play for control first hand merely by looking at the requirements to rebuild ones own home. they will not grant a building permit unless you have a electric car charger. you can not have wood as primary heat nor any natural gas or propane. and you must have a ” green” engery enginers stamp on your hvac plans. talk about creting a market for some questionable degrees. your spring that you had been getting your water from for decades can no longer be used infact many cases your well cant either unless it is permited and metered. so unless you can readily connect to a water ulitity have several 10s of thousands above what you get from your insurance payment you can not afford to even rebuild a smaller home than you had.
tell me with pge being able to shut power off anytime they feel they might be exposed to extra risk from their lack of maintance on their lines when it is hot just how dependant should people be on electricity alone ?
which brings me to calpine. calpine is the largest geothermal engery producer in the world. yet while they lease 56 square miles of land it is all highly guarded. i find it funny that when you go to enter there are signs warning of poluation that is deadly around there yet it is called clean power. hell the guards are evem instructed to deny access to federal regulators local police and fire unless they have a appointment. tell me. how many people wish they could deny that sort of thing on their property and get away with it.

Guest
Guest
Guest
4 years ago
Reply to  Antichrist

Did you know?
The transportation sector accounts for the largest share of U.S. petroleum consumption.

U.S. petroleum consumption by sector and share of total in 2017

Transportation—14.02 million barrels per day (b/d)—71%
Industrial—4.76 million b/d—24%
Residential—0.52 million b/d—3%
Commercial—0.47 million b/d—2%
Electric power—0.10 million b/d—1%

https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/index.php?page=oil_use

Antichrist
Guest
Antichrist
4 years ago
Reply to  Guest

Great now look up what crude oil barrels are used for. Let’s not forget that Transportation isn’t merely cars and light trucks but also covers all other uses for petroleum as it must be transported

Guest
Guest
Guest
4 years ago
Reply to  Antichrist

https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/index.php?page=us_energy_transportation

Estimates for the shares of total U.S. transportation energy use by types or modes of transportation in 2017

Light-duty vehicles (cars, small trucks, vans, sport utility vehicles, and motorcycles)—55%
Commercial and freight trucks—23%
Jets, planes, and other aircraft—9%
Boat, ships, and other watercraft—5%
Trains and buses—3%
The military, all modes—2%
Pipelines—2%
Lubricants—less than 1%

As to the uses of a crude oil , that was the graphic in the above post.

Gardener
Guest
Gardener
4 years ago

The same investors that bought TerraGen also got CalPine. They are in debt for 19 Billion Dollars. It says so on their website. The windmills get them tax credits and subsidies, plus they have like 25 miles of clear cut timber to sell. There’s no such thing as a free lunch.

Road Weary
Guest
Road Weary
4 years ago

The Letter requesting an extension of the public comment period was reasonable given the size of this project, nothing more. Sheath your swords.

Willie Caos-mayham
Guest
4 years ago
Reply to  Road Weary

🕯🌳👍🏽

World guy
Guest
World guy
4 years ago

Short wind machines are a horrible idea. They are much more expensive per size, much more noisy, kill lots of birds because the blades soon so fast and are closer to the ground. If the tower has guy wires, they injure lots of wildlife as they don’t see it, the energy in the wind ,close to the ground doesn’t have the energy that the laminar flow does higher up.

These are just some of the reasons why big wind works better and is safer for the environment than small, short machines.

Guest
Guest
Guest
4 years ago
Reply to  World guy

https://www.audubon.org/news/will-wind-turbines-ever-be-safe-birds

It’s not safer for large birds. “There is one easy way wind companies can avoid bird deaths: Put wind farms in places where birds are unlikely to fly in the first place.”

Close to a very major river system- A Survey of the Birds and Bats at a Proposed … – … nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentVersionID=41929- “Certainly, in terms of daytime use by birds, the raptor/vulture group as a whole faces a considerable
potential risk of negative impact from the pending installation of a wind energy facility.”

Central HumCo
Guest
4 years ago

Patty Clary,

Thank you for keeping this clusterphukk in the forefront for us. EIR arguments seem to have a way of dragging on forever. The Richardson Grove EIR debate has been going on for what? 15 years? Periodically we go into an Administration room and hear two attorneys go at it for the better part of an afternoon about the EIR. Weeks later the fact finder rules that CalTrans’ EIR is faulty –and on we go to the next hearing.

From my point of view, and simpler stance, begin at the beginning, draw the line in the sand –Question authority. Who are these persons and from where do they assume their delegated authority to express our power? Are we looking at cartoons in a cartoon graveyard, and not demanding credentials? Oath? Bond, to cover their lie-ability for wrong decisions, filed into the public records? I think we focus much too much on documents produced (without our knowledge or consent), by the purveyors of nonsense, who have no evidence for their claim (of office), in the first place. I MEAM, look at what John Ford, up from San Diego 3 ½ years, has done to the original Mom and Pop growers –pulverized and turned them into mincemeat. Aiding and abetting a foreign (to land jurisdiction), enemy at every turn (BRITISH Accreditation Registry), State union BAR members.

When you say Transparent government, I go right to WHERE’S 2017-2018 ANNUAL FINANCIAL RECORDS? Two more weeks and we’ll start another fiscal year. This is basic – the VERY LEAST these public serpents could produce are financial records – sheesh! How can any one of us put any faith whatsoever in a utility take-over by those who don’t have LAST YEAR’S financial foundation in place?

What most people are looking at, is a foreign corporation stealing the rights and wealth of the people, what they’re delusionally seeing is government.