Today, US Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, CEQ Chair Mallory Looked at Possible Offshore Wind Developments off Humboldt Bay

Deb Haaland

Deb Haaland

Press release from the US Department of the Interior:

Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Brenda Mallory were in Eureka, Calif., today with U.S. Representative Jared Huffman, California Energy Commissioner Karen Douglas, Tribal leaders and community officials to discuss offshore wind opportunities that will create jobs and strengthen the local economy.

Secretary Haaland and the group toured the Port of Humboldt Bay, the largest deepwater port between San Francisco and Coos Bay, Ore., which is being upgraded and retrofitted to meet anticipated needs of future floating offshore wind projects. The port is adjacent to an area under active evaluation by the Interior Department for future offshore wind leasing activity.

“Offshore wind will play a key role in transitioning to an equitable clean energy future. With rapid technological advances, falling costs and tremendous economic potential, offshore wind will be instrumental in the fight to combat climate change and create good-paying union jobs,” said Secretary Haaland. “Today’s visit offered a great opportunity to learn about the state’s leadership in investing in the offshore wind industry and the domestic supply chain, and the ongoing local collaboration and community partnership here in Humboldt County.”

“President Biden is taking bold action to build America’s clean energy future, and Secretary Haaland is leading the way forward on offshore wind,” said Chair Mallory. “Groundbreaking renewable energy projects like those here in Humboldt County will not only power American homes with affordable energy, but will create good-paying union jobs. While this is a step in the right direction, there is still much more work to be done to tackle the climate crisis, which is why it is so important to move forward with President Biden’s Build Back Better Agenda and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal.”

The leaders discussed the needs of California’s offshore wind industry, planned port upgrades, workforce training and community and Tribal engagement.

Open-air port terminal space and high lift capacities will be necessary for the staging, construction and deployment of floating offshore wind turbines off California’s north coast. Ports such as Humboldt Bay, and others throughout the United States, will help attract the offshore wind supply chain, create good-paying jobs and attract economic development in the local area.

Today’s event reflects the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to develop 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind energy by 2030, which will create an estimated 80,000 jobs. It also builds on the May 2021 agreement by the Departments of the Interior, Defense and the State of California to accelerate wind energy offshore the central and northern coasts of California. It comes as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s recent report found that climate change is impacting the planet in unprecedented ways, with a call for urgent action across the globe.

In July 2021, DOI’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced the designation of the Humboldt Wind Energy Area (WEA), a nearly 132,369-acre (206 square mile) area and is now undertaking environmental analysis for future leasing and site assessment activities. BOEM is also moving forward with government-to-government Tribal consultation.

The Humboldt WEA is approximately 275 miles north of San Francisco and begins at 21 miles offshore the City of Eureka, extending seaward out to 35 miles offshore. The WEA can support generation of 1.6 GW of offshore wind energy, enough to power more than 500,000 homes. Additional information on the Humboldt WEA can be found on BOEM’s California Activities website.

Press release from Redwood Coast Energy Authority:

Plans to bring offshore wind energy to Humboldt County have been picking up speed in recent months after years of local discussions. What started as small meetings in 2018 with local tribes, fishermen, and environmental groups about the challenges and benefits for our community has blown into being a priority for both the Biden Administration and the State of California. Most of the world is now united by the desire to dodge a global climate crisis and transition to a clean energy future.

On May 25, the Biden Administration announced that it will focus on what would be the first U.S. commercial-scale wind projects off the Pacific Coast, including Humboldt County. Today U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Brenda Mallory met with local leaders on Woodley Island to discuss a range of issues, including the need to “build out a clean energy economy and create jobs, including by spurring offshore wind development.”

Humboldt Bay is a good fit for an offshore wind industry for several reasons: there’s an excellent wind resource off our coast, a connection to the grid next to the bay, no bridge in the way of floating the turbines in and out for maintenance, and there’s ample space on the harbor for an industrial port. The Redwood Coast Energy Authority provided $50,000 in funding to the Humboldt Bay Harbor District to help them put together a proposal that will hopefully secure ~$66 million in state and federal funding to redevelop Humboldt’s port infrastructure to be able to support offshore wind development.

Discussions with local fishermen led to a Memo of Understanding in 2018 between RCEA and the Humboldt Fishermen’s Marketing Association (HFMA) to work together throughout the development of an offshore wind project. Ken Bates from the HFMA commented today that “Wind power proposals on this coast are not new, the HFMA has been engaged since 2018 with wind power advocates and local organizations concerning impacts to fishing and fishing grounds.”

RCEA intends to model how developers should engage communities on projects of this scale. Local tribes were consulted early on and will remain at the forefront of RCEA’s engagement efforts. Although every tribe will have their own perspective, Ted Hernandez, the Chairman of the Wiyot Tribe (who’s unceded land surrounds Humboldt Bay), recently publicly supported local offshore wind development.

Most recently, a network of local organizations, governments, tribes, and individuals have come together under the umbrella of the Humboldt Area Foundation to launch a central entity, the Energy Resiliency Network. As a collaborative, the Energy Resiliency Network is poised to coordinate engagement efforts regarding offshore wind that will include all the diverse values of our North Coast community. Expect to hear more about this in the coming weeks.

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31 Comments
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Omar
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Omar
2 years ago

Yes! Time to get Humco off the fracked gas generators at King Salmon, and onto something cleaner.

Bushytails
Guest
Bushytails
2 years ago

Don’t worry, big oil will find more fake environmentalists to come up with reasons why we should keep burning fossil fuels… I wonder which tribe they’ll pay to claim it’s sacred ocean too…

Alf
Guest
Alf
2 years ago

I don’t trust environmentalist wackos. I don’t trust Biden or anyone in his administration. To me offshore wind projects should be shut down with the same reasoning as offshore drilling. They have on shore wind generation all over the State. I’d be in favor of the Monument Ridge wind project, but that was shut down. The disruption of the oceans will be exponentially worse than anything onshore. This project will never get my vote.

Bushytails
Guest
Bushytails
2 years ago
Reply to  Alf

Yep, the same reasoning… Those awful oil spills caused by wind turbines!

thetallone
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thetallone
2 years ago
Reply to  Alf

Alf, you must be really pissed at the Navy for their “takings” (killing) of whales, turtles and other sea creatures-for what? Experiments in sonic warfare. I can feel your rage from here!

Trashman
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Trashman
2 years ago

Another moron leftist. Could be shipping forest products.

Third World County
Guest
Third World County
2 years ago

Electricity for 500,000 homes or 500,000 one thousand watt grow lights on veg.

UnflappableJack
Guest
UnflappableJack
2 years ago

The citizens need their Soma.

Ullr Rover
Guest
Ullr Rover
2 years ago

A whole lot of masturbation.

Bushytails
Guest
Bushytails
2 years ago
Reply to  Ullr Rover

I’m perfectly happy to run my hitachi off wind power.

Jim’s Guest Is Someone Else’s Wife
Guest
Jim’s Guest Is Someone Else’s Wife
2 years ago

Interesting that this charlatan…errr! Shaman! slipped into humboldt and then out before the media announced her visit.

Skitty
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Skitty
2 years ago

You gotta get off certain websites to know what’s going on.

Bushytails
Guest
Bushytails
2 years ago

Do the routine movements of politicians performing their jobs need to be subject to public approval?

Suzanne Elizabeth Atiyeh
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Suzanne Elizabeth Atiyeh
2 years ago

The energy from the ocean has to be delivered via a grid cut through the redwoods. Hello. No one wanted even one tree cut at Richardson grove. Remember?

The wind farm most likely will be owned by a mulitibillion dollar company like Masdar using up our waterways and obstructing and or killing our birds.

Putting wind turbines in a massive industrial energy project in the air is no smarter than big turbines in the rivers.

No it is not clean or cool.

We need lots of solutions, not singular, old school, massive solutions enriching foreign companies.

Bushytails
Guest
Bushytails
2 years ago

Unless you’re off-grid, your energy already comes from large corporations with power lines cut through the redwoods. The difference is now your energy will come from large corporations with power lines cut through the redwoods and produced from clean wind power, not burning natural gas.

Cmon man get real
Guest
Cmon man get real
2 years ago

“Equitable clean energy future” what? These Democrat progressive idiots running the country right now are jackasses. Giant tall blades built with and by oil energy, transported by oil, set up by oil, and get junked in 25 years to rot in a landfill turning back into oil in 10,000 years. Wow, real equitable to America and all the birds on the pacific flyway when we have all the oil and natural gas we need for the next 500 years right in our ground. Thanks Biden you moron. I have to ask joe, why the hard push for windmills, does your son have an investment in another country somewhere that builds the blades?

Bushytails
Guest
Bushytails
2 years ago

If you cared about the birds, you’d not want 500 more years of co2 dumped into the atmosphere. Wind turbines save quite a bit more oil and gas than is used to make them, and the amount used to make them keeps going down as the factories run off an increasing percentage of renewable power themselves. Disposal and recycling is an issue that is slowly being addressed as more of them need disposing and recycling. Maybe Biden is pushing hard for wind turbines because he’s trying to actually do something about climate change, and unlike you, he cares a bit about the future of the planet?

D'Tucker Jebs
Guest
D'Tucker Jebs
2 years ago

Someone who thinks that wind turbines will turn into oil in 10,000 years has no business calling someone else a moron.

my perspective
Guest
my perspective
2 years ago

The never ending political back and forth. Both sides suck, politics is crooked.
The only thing you have control over is your own destiny. Enjoy life.

Bushytails
Guest
Bushytails
2 years ago
Reply to  my perspective

There is no political issue here, except for people who care more about profit than long-term environmental damage making it into one, and those people virtually always belonging to the same political party that only cares about their own profit in every other matter too…

I like stars
Guest
I like stars
2 years ago
Reply to  Bushytails

Oh FFS, neither major political party has a bunch of altruists. Greed dominates them both.

trackback

[…] offshore wind is a critical component of that agenda. >click to read<, and the press release, >click here to read< […]

North west
Guest
North west
2 years ago

The wind is fine with me but clean up the nuclear mess pg&e started. Having a loaded nuclear site right on the bay is ridiculous
Ones in the chamber aimed at us.

thetallone
Guest
thetallone
2 years ago
Reply to  North west

Why should that worry you? The nuclear waste will be completely harmless in a few hundred thousand years

Lynn H
Guest
Lynn H
2 years ago
Reply to  North west

Yeah, I’ve heard their waste storage is in a 30 ft earthen berm on site in the tsunami zone. Supposedly it’s “tsunami proof”. My ass. When, not If, there is a tsunami how much radiation will contaminate the entire area?

Bushytails
Guest
Bushytails
2 years ago
Reply to  Lynn H

It’s not just “in a berm”. The fuel is in sealed steel casks that are designed to survive all manners of disasters including tsunamis, fires, drops, train collisions, and just about anything else. And these types of events are actually tested, including crashing into them with real trains (the footage of a large diesel locomotive and cars impacting one at over 100mph is fairly impressive), immersing them in pressure chambers, burning them in thousands of gallons of diesel fuel, strapping them to rocket-powered sleds and slamming them into cement walls, and so forth.

There’s lots of real problems with nuclear power – no reason to invent ones.

I like stars
Guest
I like stars
2 years ago
Reply to  Bushytails

Does the waste need to be cooled?

iyby
Guest
iyby
2 years ago

I’m glad the tribes were consulted early on. That means it’s less likely that endless opposition from NIMBY will double the price of putting them up for the sake of being paid for lawsuits.

Bushytails
Guest
Bushytails
2 years ago
Reply to  iyby

Big oil will probably find some tribe who will object to it in trade for a generous donation, just like last time…

I like stars
Guest
I like stars
2 years ago
Reply to  Bushytails

A little racism to keep that religious bigotry company?