An ambitious 984-acre project to address historic flooding issues in the Elk River system and restore the area for fish cleared a hurdle Thursday night at a Humboldt County Planning Commission meeting.

The first phase of work aims to replace dysfunctional tidal infrastructure in an area that’s been partially reclaimed by saltwater, and restore habitat in part of the valley that has existed as ranchland for decades.

Commissioners approved a conditional use permit from CalTrout and partners unanimously Thursday night, with one absence.

“I like this project,” remarked Commissioner Iver Skavdal. 

He pointed to the Elk River Estuary Restoration Project plans for restoration, nuisance flooding control, adding new public access to the area and the support of the area’s 13 property owners.

Photo: Humboldt County Planning

In a presentation, Humboldt County planner Andrew Whitney said the Elk River is the largest tributary to Humboldt Bay, and one of the largest intact estuary habitats in the state. 

“The project is essentially a large ecosystem-wide restoration project of the Elk River estuary,” said Whitney, adding that the project aims to restore portions of the estuary and surrounding lands to conditions that resemble those before settlement.

The valley has a long history of human habitation, with a historic Wiyot village at the mouth nearby.

But after white settlement, dairy farmers dug straight drainage ditches to get water off the lands. Ditches and culverts that manage the water have since become silted up, with help from muddy runoff from the historic logging industry and willow trees trapping sediment.

Plus, sea level rise is reclaiming land with saltwater, turning green pastures back to a kind of wetland.

These conditions have caused farmlands and nearby roads to be subject to nuisance flooding.

Darren Mierau, North Coast Director of environmental organization California Trout, said during a presentation the project’s been conceptualized for over 12 years. It has involved sediment studies, outreach to property owners, work with the water board and efforts to obtain grant funding.

He said the broad view is part of a managed retreat strategy of sea level rise — letting the sea “reclaim what we claimed,” and to enhance the adaptive capacity of the land.

The plan also aims to protect remaining viable agricultural lands and community infrastructure, like roads, waterlines and utilities.

There’s 43 parcels in this phase — some will be entirely reworked, like adding new sloped “eco-levees” using sediment that now clogs channels. Habitat would be added for birds and fish. Some tributaries will be fenced off from livestock. Other parcels will stay largely the same, like agricultural land expected to be protected from saltwater inundation.

The project aims to add about a dozen new tidal gates that fish can pass through. Work to improve habitat is planned, and fences, berms and culverts will be removed.

During recent king tides, CalTrout took a photo of a flooded tide gate. Photo: CalTrout

Humboldt County planning staff were in support of approval of the permit. A concern noted by some commissioners was the loss of agricultural land, though from CalTrout’s perspective, the land has already been lost.

Commissioner Todd Fulton emphasized “once you lose ag ground, you’ll never get it back.”

County planning rules aim to prevent the loss of prime agricultural land to development. But county staff believed since the work will prevent destruction of further agricultural lands from sea level rise, the project as a whole is saving agricultural lands.

According to CalTrout, some areas that once were pasture have been gradually becoming unusable for grazing.

“The landowner that sold it to us stopped their ag use on the land over a decade ago because of the intrusion of sea water onto the property,” said Mierau, speaking of parcels by Swain Slough that will see a bundle of tidal changes.

According to a county planning staff report, 136 acres of historical agricultural land within the Coastal Zone would become a natural landscape or riparian corridor. About 51 acres of this are turning back to tidal wetlands anyway, the report said.

Fulton called for some plan to be put in place for maintenance of the tidal infrastructure, shared by other commissioners who later added a condition for a future maintenance plan to be added.

The project involves removing derelict infrastructure, including “six tide gates, 32 culverts, fences, several derelict farm buildings, sections of farm roads, portions of an abandoned gas line, a portion of an abandoned railway prism, ditches, and levees,” a county staff report said.

It also includes regrading of ditches, fixing up beds, making seasonal brackish ponds, replacing 13 tide gates with fish friendly gates, and other ecological-minded changes.

New public access points will be added. Two non-motorized boat launches are planned in Swains Slough and the mainstem Elk River, plus overlooks, new wildlife viewing platforms and trails.

The project ranges from Highway 101 to Showers Road.

A bundle of entities are involved — including individual property owners, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (which will take over a few CalTrout parcels to add to the Elk River Wildlife Area), and the Wiyot Tribe, which similarly owns a parcel of land.

The effort to restore the river includes restoration near to the Elk River’s mouth, following a 175-acre purchase of former ranch land in 2025.

According to the staff report, the timeline of the project is up to ten years and will be dependent on the applicant’s ability to secure funding. CalTrout hopes to begin construction in the summer of 2026, using funding from the NOAA coastal zone program. 

A Coastal Commission permit is required.

The commissioners approved the first phase of the project. According to CalTrout, the organization is proceeding into the next planning area upriver.

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From the Caltrans District 1 Facebook page:

Route 255 in Eureka is scheduled to be closed overnight from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday night (Feb. 23, 24, and 26).

The closure will be in effect from U.S. 101 (Fourth Street) to just south of Woodley Island, with a turnaround available for southbound travelers heading toward Eureka. Woodley Island will remain open.

Crews will continue bridge and broadband work. Travelers should plan accordingly and use 101 as a detour.

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If you’re a California homeowner and you’ve been feeling chilly this winter, there are plenty of reasons to go get a heat pump.

An all-electric, energy-efficient alternative to gas-burning furnaces, heat pumps are widely seen as the climate-friendly home heater of choice.

They can do double-duty as both home heaters and AC-units and are pretty good at maintaining a constant temperature inside a home without the blast-then-cool-off cycle typical of a furnace.

What about a guaranteed lower monthly utility bill? Not in California.

Call it California’s heat pump conundrum.

On the one hand, California has hyperambitious goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to curb the worst effects of a changing climate. Most experts see the electrification of buildings — swapping furnaces, water heaters, stoves and ovens that run on burning fossil fuel with appliances plugged into California’s increasingly green electrical grid — as a necessary step toward meeting those goals.

California has built one of the most aggressive heat pump strategies in the country. The state aims to install six million heat pumps in homes by 2030. Lawmakers are also moving this year to boost heat pump adoption – proposing to streamline permitting, and make it easier to electrify homes.

On the other hand, California’s residential electricity prices are among the highest in the country — expensive even compared to its also pricey natural gas. That makes heat pumps a tough sell to many Californians.

A new Harvard University study maps exactly where that reality bites – and tries to explain why some places are more heat-pump friendly than others.

The public is “overwhelmed with these sorts of plans now for decarbonization: ‘This by 2030,’ ‘this by 2050,’” said Roxana Shafiee, an environmental science policy researcher at Harvard University. “But then you scratch the surface a bit more and you look at things like electricity prices.”

Reaching those goals amid such high prices is a tough circle to square, said Shafiee.

By looking at residential energy costs, usage and winter temperatures in every county in the United States, Shafiee and Harvard environmental science professor Daniel Schrag found in a recent paper that typical households living across the American South and the Pacific Northwest would likely see lower utility bills by making the switch to a heat pump.

Average homes in northern midwestern states, in contrast, would see their bills increase. That’s partly because heat pumps work by extracting heat from outdoor air, compressing it, and piping it indoors, a thermal magic trick that’s harder to perform in places with subzero winters. It’s also thanks to the region’s relatively cheap gas.

Then there’s California: A surprisingly mixed bag.

Though the state’s temperate coast is ideal for heat pump adoption, high residential electricity prices can make swapping a gas furnace for a heat pump a pricey proposition. That’s especially true in counties where homes tend to be larger, winters are colder or electricity is costly. .

Quentin Gee, a manager at the California Energy Commission, said the advantage of heat pumps comes down to thermodynamics. Unlike a gas furnace, which burns fuel to create heat, a heat pump compresses and expands a refrigerant, like a refrigerator in reverse. That moves heat from outside into a home — allowing it to deliver several units of heat for every unit of electricity it uses.

Even in PG&E territory, where electricity rates may be some of the highest in the U.S., Gee said that efficiency can allow heat pumps to compete with — and in some cases beat — gas on operating costs, depending on local rates and home characteristics.

In lower-cost municipal utility regions such as Sacramento’s SMUD, he said heat pumps can be a clear financial win.

“Gas prices have also gone up over time as well — so both are tricky when it comes to heat pumps versus, say, a gas furnace,” Gee said.

Between 2001 and 2024, average retail gas prices have gone up by 80% in California, according to federal data. Retail electricity rates, padded out with wildfire prevention costs and state-manded social programs, have increased by twice as much.

Even in parts of California where the average home isn’t likely to save with a heat pump, there are plenty of exceptions. Smaller, well-insulated homes can often stay warm with minimal output from a heat pump.

For some homeowners, solar panels have helped bridge the gap. Doug King, a green building consultant in San Jose, installed his first heat pump in 2021 alongside a new rooftop solar system; those panels more or less covered the monthly cost of running the heat pump. A second unit installed last year has pushed his bills higher. “But that’s fine, I don’t mind,” he said. “I was willing to pay a bit of a premium for using electricity over gas anyway.”

Homes that already use old-fashioned electrical baseboard or space heaters are guaranteed to save on monthly costs by switching since that entails swapping an inefficient electrical heating system that uses a ton of energy (“basically like heating your home with a toaster,” said Shafiee) for heat pumps that use up to 60% less.

But for all of California’s reputation as a climate champion, most of its homes don’t rely on electric heat. Nearly two-thirds use natural gas, well above the national average of 51%.

That isn’t surprising, said Lucas Davis, a UC Berkeley energy economist.

Looking at 70 years of home heating data across the country, Davis’ research has found that the best predictor of whether a household uses electricity to stay cozy in the winter is the price of energy.

“To this day, where do we see that electric heating is the most common? Throughout the southeast,” said Davis. “What do we know about the southeast? Cheap electricity.”

The consequences of costly electricity extend well beyond any individual household’s ambitions for a heat pump or its utility bill. Using fossil fuels to heat up water, warm indoor air and cook food inside homes and businesses was responsible for 13% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2022, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Gas-powered cars and trucks used for private use make up another 16%.

Focusing on upfront costs

Heat pumps are a 19th century invention and started popping up regularly in American homes in the 1960s, but you would be forgiven for thinking they’re a new technology.

Spurred on by concerns over climate change and policies meant to address it, heat pumps have outsold gas furnaces each year since 2021, according to the Rocky Mountain Institute, a clean-energy research nonprofit. Demand saw a particularly sharp spike after 2022 thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden-era law that threw rebates and tax credits at homeowners.

Installation costs can reach into the tens of thousands of dollars, which is why most federal and state policies promoting heat pump adoption have focused on defraying them. In California, the push runs through multiple agencies:

• The California Energy Commission tightens building codes that steer new construction toward all-electric homes.
• The Public Utilities Commission sets rate rules and oversees utility rebate programs.
• Utilities offer rebates and special rate plans.
• State and federal dollars have reduced upfront costs, especially for lower-income households.

This year state lawmakers are considering bills to speed up the local permitting process for heat pumps and to require gas utilities to offer homeowners cash to electrify their homes in lieu of replacing an old gas line.

Even as the federal supports subsided with President Trump’s return to the White House, installation costs are “pretty competitively priced with traditional units, especially since in most cases, you are installing two appliances for the price of one,” said Madison Vander Klay, a California policy advocate for the Building Decarbonization Coalition, a national nonprofit which represents appliance manufacturers and utilities.

That may not be the case for all homeowners.

Many homes need new wiring, larger breakers or a full panel replacement, and some require upgrades to the service connection to the grid, said Matthew Freedman of The Utility Reform Network. Costs rise quickly when homeowners electrify more than just heating, he said.

Customers often underestimate how complex and costly that electrical work can be, he said, another uncertainty on top of the potential for long-term rate savings.

Installation costs aside, month-to-month electricity costs remain an obstacle.

Last year, the Legislative Analyst’s Office released a report warning that California’s residential electricity rates are among the highest in the country — nearly double the national average — and rising much faster than inflation.

The report, authored by LAO analyst Helen Kerstein, cautioned that those high rates could undermine the state’s climate strategy by discouraging households from switching to electric cars and appliances like heat pumps from gas-powered ones.

“If I’m a consumer, I’m going to be thinking about — not just, ‘is this good for the environment?’ That’s certainly one consideration, but also, ‘is this something I can afford?” Kerstein said. “Unless folks are saving money on the operating cost, it often doesn’t pencil out.”

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Billionaire gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer called on the crowd to tax people like him more, while one of his competitors, Rep. Eric Swalwell, said the California governor’s most important job should be to “keep Donald Trump and ICE out of our streets and out of our lives.”

Eight of the nine Democrats vying for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s seat made their pitch at the California Democratic Party convention Saturday, during a marathon weekend of meeting, greeting, wining and dining as they wooed thousands of Democratic delegates in San Francisco.

No candidate at the party’s endorsing convention this weekend expected to earn the party’s endorsement, which requires the support of 60% of the 3,500 delegates. Preliminary results released Saturday night showed Swalwell in the lead with 24%, and former state Controller Betty Yee and former state Attorney General Xavier Becerra coming in a surprising second and third.

The result of the endorsement vote, which reflects the views of the state’s most active Democrats, diverges from their support in many polls of likely voters, which have shown Yee and Becerra at 2% and 3.5%, respectively. It could complicate a race in which Democrats are anxious to consolidate support among an unusually wide-open candidate field.

The convention was a chance for gubernatorial hopefuls to introduce themselves to the labor unions, activists and local delegates whose ability to rally donors and door-knockers throughout California makes them coveted assets for any statewide campaign. All the candidates made appearances before the various interest group caucuses.

Former Orange County Congresswoman Katie Porter, rushing from meeting to meeting in a neon pink blazer, trotted out a reliable line a few times for laughs: As the single mother of three teenagers, “running for governor is what I do to relax.” She came into the weekend with the endorsement of Massachusetts Rep. Elizabeth Warren, her mentor and fellow consumer law professor, and turned heads with a proposal to eliminate state income tax for households making less than $100,000.

At the environmental caucus meeting, billionaire investor Tom Steyer waded through a crowd of fellow climate activists seeking handshakes and selfies. Steyer, who has blanketed the airwaves with campaign ads using $30 million of his own money so far, is aiming to close in on the party’s left flank.

Appearing before the labor caucus, top-polling candidate Bay Area Rep. Eric Swalwell stole the show by introducing an officer who worked in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, bringing attention to Swalwell’s work leading the congressional impeachment of President Donald Trump after that riot. A legion of young volunteers wearing Swalwell’s logo were around every turn at the convention center. A few hours later, Swalwell, a frequent anti-Trump figure on cable news, courted millennials who grew up on Disney Channel with a party featuring early 2000s pop duo Aly & AJ.

Many Democrats found it hard to pick a favorite in such an unusually wide field just two weeks before the deadline to finalize June primary candidates. Several of the Democrats pitched a single-paying health care system. Everyone pledged to make housing more affordable and fight Trump. Becerra, ticking off his resume to delegates, said he’s the one candidate who won’t need “on-the-job training,” but even that line was identical to one used by Yee.

Dems worry about too many candidates

The convention underscored the anxiety and frustration throughout the party that two Republicans could advance after the June 2 primary election to the November ballot. Polls for months have shown the top two Republican candidates, former Fox News host Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, could beat most Democrats in the race.

Former Oakland mayoral candidate Loren Taylor summed it up at Swalwell’s party: “We know we need to narrow the field, but nobody’s willing to call it.”

San Francisco resident Cher Evans attended a nearly three-hour forum at the Commonwealth Club that featured all nine candidates, back-to-back on Friday in hopes of coming up with her pick for governor to recommend to all her friends.

“I’m a little more overwhelmed than I was before, even,” said Evans, a self-described progressive who volunteered at the convention. “It still doesn’t answer the question, how are we going to narrow down the candidates?”

Attendees wait for the opening of the afternoon general session during the California Democratic Party convention at Moscone West in San Francisco on Feb. 21, 2026. Photo by Jungho Kim for CalMatters

Porter has pushed the hardest for Democrats to take seriously the possibility of being locked out of the November race, raising the concern in fundraising emails and before party delegates. But like her opponents, she stopped short of calling on any specific candidate to drop out, alluding only to campaigns that aren’t “viable.”

Yee, Becerra, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, former state Assemblymember Ian Calderon and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan have all failed to secure even 5% support in polls.

Prior to the delegates’ vote, Porter said if she fell in the polls she would drop out. She came in fifth, with 9% of delegates.

“Right now I’ve been at the top of the polls, I’m well-positioned to come out of the primary and beat the Republican candidate but if that ever changed of course I would do what’s right for California,” she said.

Prominent party figures like Newsom and outgoing former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi haven’t weighed in. And several of the candidates are beloved fixtures, giving them the hope of future endorsements from key Democratic-affiliated groups.

Party Chair Rusty Hicks has so far dismissed concerns about a lockout even as some attendees quietly hoped he would intervene. On Friday he evaded reporters’ questions about whether or not he will, suggesting that labor unions, other liberal groups and the ability to raise money will pressure candidates.

“I certainly believe I have a role to play,” he said. “I’m not the person solely responsible for that.”

The debate over billionaires

Money has become a complicated factor.

Steyer, who made his wealth through a hedge fund and has no experience in elected office, has incrementally raised his standing in large part because of the extensive TV ads paid for with his own bottomless campaign fund. He came in fourth in the endorsement vote, with 13% of delegates.

That he’s emerging as an unlikely progressive contender, with endorsements from Rep. Ro Khanna and the powerful California Nurses Union, has rankled his opponents at a time when the party is grappling with its approach to extreme wealth.

Tom Steyer, candidate for California governor, center, and his spouse, Kat Taylor, right, are introduced by state Sen. Henry Stern, of Los Angeles, left, during a luncheon at the California Democratic Party convention in San Francisco on Feb. 21, 2026. Photo by Jungho Kim for CalMatters

“I think it’s just really important to demonstrate that you have both the will and the courage to tackle big problems … but also that you have the ability to relate to everyday people,” Porter said.

No candidate for governor other than Thurmond supports the one-time tax on billionaires’ assets that a health care union is proposing for the November ballot. Steyer has repeatedly stated he’s willing to pay more taxes as a billionaire and is fashioning himself as the “billionaire who will go after other billionaires,” unbeholden to corporate interests because he doesn’t need their campaign donations.

Even some of the most left-wing Democratic constituencies are considering him.

Astrid Zuniga, chair of the party’s labor caucus and president of the United Domestic Workers, said Steyer’s wealth isn’t disqualifying because “there’s good money and there’s bad money.”

“It might sound and look ironic, but if he’s willing to pay that tax then why the hell isn’t another billionaire willing?” said Zuniga.

Yee, who has struggled to raise funds, said the amount of money in the race is “a test for the party, of whether grassroots campaigns are still going to be viable.”

She emphasized her experience over her opponents, especially with the state budget, as California faces a multi-year deficit that threatens progressive priorities like expansive Medi-Cal coverage.

“We will not be pushed aside by the billionaires’ boys club who want to rule California,” she said. “I’m not stopping here.”

Later, Yee said the delegates’ vote giving her 17% affirmed her refusal to leave the race.

“Don’t underestimate the power of the grassroots,” her spokesperson Marcey Brightwell wrote in a statement Saturday night. “And don’t underestimate Betty Yee.”

Steyer pointed to Mahan’s campaign, funded with millions of dollars in contributions from wealthy tech executives, as the one to beat.

Mahan is a moderate sometimes-critic of Newsom who has gotten attention for reducing street homelessness in San Jose with a combination of tiny homes for shelter and threats to arrest unhoused residents who repeatedly turn down a shelter placement. It’s unclear how much support he can build with little name recognition outside the Bay Area.

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan speaks with supporters at the California Democratic Party convention in San Francisco on Feb. 21, 2026. Photo by Jungho Kim for CalMatters

But the money alone may make him a viable contender. At a packed wine bar a few blocks from the convention center where his campaign threw a party Friday night, he said in an interview that his goal was to “meet as many Democrats as possible” and urge them to resist “populism on the right and the left.”

Many of San Francisco’s rising moderate bloc were in attendance, along with local tech employees and representatives of the Western States Regional Council of Carpenters, which supported Mahan for mayor but has not endorsed a candidate for governor yet.

One man who shook hands with Mahan introduced himself as representing online gambling platform FanDuel. Across the bar, an AI company employee who said he sometimes votes for Republicans expressed excitement that Mahan was a “centrist” candidate.

Mahan batted away criticism that his campaign would cater to tech interests.

“It would be a little shocking if the largest employers in my city didn’t support me,” he said. “I’m running to expand opportunity and upward mobility for all Californians.”

Back at Swalwell’s party, delegates mixed with Sen. Adam Schiff, who has endorsed Swalwell and actor Sean Penn, who has given Swalwell’s campaign $15,000.

Christopher Torres, a 24-year-old delegate from San Dimas, said he was unsure about the gubernatorial candidates but decided to support Swalwell after hearing him prioritize fighting Trump, moved by fears of Trump’s aggressive immigration raids and erosion of democratic norms.

“Eric is the only one that is vocal about protecting California and the people of California, whatever their immigration status may be, against the federal government’s wrath against us as a blue state,” he said.

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Maya Miller and Juliet Williams contributed reporting.

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For a Democratic Party convention with the theme, “Together, we win,” there was a lot of infighting, culminating in a Sunday morning shouting match between two Democratic heavyweights.

State party Chair Rusty Hicks and Sen. Mike McGuire, the former Senate president, got in a heated exchange that some onlookers described as unnecessarily petty, intensely personal and highly unprofessional.

Delegates from the region voted Saturday by a 74% margin to endorse McGuire in his bid for the 1st Congressional District over Democratic primary opponent Audrey Denney, sending that decision to the convention floor for a pro forma Sunday approval.

But at 8 a.m., Hicks made an eleventh-hour move to block McGuire’s endorsement by approving a review sought by Denney.

“What the hell is going on here?” demanded McGuire, the favorite to win the heavily redrawn district after voters adopted maps favoring Democrats by passing Proposition 50 last November.

While Denney’s move was legal under the party’s bylaws, the challenge irked McGuire and his campaign, who saw it as an unnecessary holdup given the widespread support he’d already received the night before.

What sent them over the edge Sunday was that Hicks essentially put his thumb on the scale to guarantee the review committee considered Denney’s challenge, regardless of whether her team had submitted the necessary signed petitions. Denney’s campaign manager said the campaign submitted the required 20 signatures on Saturday evening, received notice that night that it was approved and did not know Hicks would also get involved.

Then-state Sen. President Pro Tem Mike McGuire during a floor session at the state Capitol in Sacramento on April 24, 2025. Photo by Fred Greaves for CalMatters

“This hearing is an embarrassment. We’re supposed to be Democrats — people who believe in the sanctity of elections, voter integrity, and that every vote counts,” McGuire declared during a five-minute speech. “Instead, this morning, because of two people trying to put their finger on the scale, the headline coming out of this hearing is all about party bosses trying to overturn votes behind closed doors in the dead of night.”

McGuire’s supporters contend that Hicks has a personal vendetta against their candidate dating to 2023, when Hicks launched a surprise bid for a vacant Assembly seat. Hicks, who refused to give up his position as state party chair to seek office, was heavily criticized for attempting to brute force his way into the state Legislature.

Instead of endorsing Hicks, McGuire as the Senate leader backed his opponent, Chris Rogers, a decision McGuire’s supporters say has made him a target for retribution from leadership.

Chris Snyder, a delegate and executive board member of the Sonoma County Democrats who supports McGuire, said “there’s some animosity toward him over that race,” though he acknowledged he couldn’t prove personal politics motivated Hicks to guarantee Denney a review.

Even a delegate who had consistently supported Denney throughout the process declared that she couldn’t bring herself to support removing McGuire from the consent calendar after 74% of the delegates supported him.

“That vote changed it for me,” said Janet Jonte, chair of the Glenn County Democrats. “There’s a cost also to continuing to run maybe a bitter campaign the next few months.”

Ultimately, Hicks voted along with everyone else to deny the challenge, paving the way for McGuire’s endorsement.

Hicks would not say why he took steps to guarantee Denney’s challenge would be heard.

“The committee was convened to consider the issues that were brought forward and ultimately decided to leave the senator on the consent calendar,” Hicks told CalMatters.

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On February 12, the Trump Administration rescinded the Obama-era “endangerment finding,” a legal recognition by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that greenhouse gas emissions were harming and would further harm health and human safety. This endangerment finding allowed the EPA to issue regulations under the Clean Air Act on six climate pollutants, including carbon dioxide.

Now, the Trump Administration says that it lacks the legal capacity to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and have tossed the endangerment finding and clean car regulations that aimed to reduce emissions by improving efficiency.

To break down what this means, Matt Simmons, Climate Attorney at EPIC, and Scott Greacen, Conservation Director at Friends of the Eel River, join the program.

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I was born in the Revere Hotel, First and E Streets, in the year 1894. (It was demolished in 1964.) It was an exciting life. Each day brought forth a new chapter. The memorable old-country hotel has gone out of existence. Although I could write chapter after chapter, I will only relate those which stand out most potently.

My grandfather, George Kramer, came to Eureka from the Mother Lode country with his wife and three sons. He took active part in the management of the Revere House at the age of 16, When he became 24 he brought home a bride from San Francisco. They were welcomed at the dock with friends and a brass band. Shortly after, my grandparents retired and my father took over.

At the turn of the century a new addition was added and another story built on for the sum of $10,000. I was thrilled with our new quarters, which consisted of a large living room with a bay window, two bedrooms and bathroom.

The hotel was the center for great activity. Information was obtained for trains, buses and steamers. Phone “Central” and she would give you the number — Main 44. The clerk would respond to the best of his ability.

When the steamer, which arrived once a week from San Francisco, was sighted, the whole town came to life. Everybody who had special interest dashed to the dock. I had a front seat in the bus and relished the confusion.

Along with the guests came the transfer men. An especially nice one, Mr. Yuill, used to put a heavy trunk on his back and carry it up the stairs for the sum of 50 cents or $1.00.

The guests were a multifarious lot — from the honest country folk, the businessman, called the drummer, and the ever-present charlatan.

The downstairs and saloon were strictly for men. The saloon was more of a social club where games were in progress. The few gambling tables and slot machines were not unlike the pinball machines now in use. Many residents came in for a few hours in the evening to participate. If anyone got out of line, the bouncer would throw them out bodily into the street.

The upstairs parlor was for women. It was for weddings, social gatherings and card games. My ears were always open to hear all the gossip. Once in a while Civil War veterans would gather and relate their experiences. I was fascinated! Evenings were social affairs. Anyone who had a talent, such as card tricks or such could display skill. Sometimes I was allowed to recite or sing a song.

The king of all charlatans came to the hotel. He posed as a professor of phrenology, fortune-teller and reader of the mind. His credentials reached a mile of nonexisting institutes of learning. Crowds came. To prove his skill, he set a day for demonstration. A flag was planted in the pocket of one of our prominent citizens. He would recover it by mental telepathy. In front of an audience he left the entrance blindfolded into an open carriage. He seized the reins, standing up all the time, and galloping the horses through the streets. After a few detours, he stopped at City Hall, found his target and went back to the carriage again. Upon alighting, waving the flag all the way, he feigned the most realistic faint into the arms of his conspirators, due to his mental strain. Chicanery runs its course, and our friend took off as mysteriously as he arrived.

Fourth of July was a big event. The fire companies turned out in competition as to who would get there first at a fake fire. They always took to the hotel because it had three stories. I was petrified when I saw them descend the ladders as it was too realistic. A few years before Eureka had a volunteer fire department. An ungainly blast from the mill would sound off and each fireman would go to the post. One blast meant nearby, and two or three, the location of the fire. If it occurred at night, I put my head under the covers with fright. My father always got up to see if there were any visible flames.

There were many a shipwreck in those days. They brought the survivors to the hotel, some with blankets for coverage. One in particular was a gruesome sight. I sat on the steps watching the procedure as they were assigned rooms. I followed them up to the door and sometimes went in so as to not miss a thing.

We always welcomed the return of interesting sea captains. One was Captain McClellan of the P. A. Kilburn. His ship ran between Eureka and San Francisco. Sometimes he overstepped his time in the bar saying his farewell. The vessel would blow and blow the whistle. He would shake his fist and in no uncertain terms declare that he would come when he was good and ready.

When World War I broke out many of our men were drafted. The one-day train left early. I was awakened when I heard the band playing, “Over There” as they escorted them to the train.

There was the Albany Restaurant in connection with the hotel. They had booths with doors, called boxes. We saw many a secret date sneak in and out. We knew all the hidden life of the citizens. I sat in the bay window most of the time and knew what was going on.

We survived the big shake in 1906. The hotel, I swear, hit the sidewalk and bounced back. At breakfast time the cook began his duties just the same, feeding large logs into the wood range, never check out as to the safety of the chimney. No fire occurred. In fact, we never had a major fire and hadn’t any preventions. In earlier days there were kerosene lamps in the rooms, then came gas, and finally it was electrified.

After the Armistice, my father sold out and went to live in Southern Humboldt.

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After the previous article in the September issue about the Revere Hotel, I received several requests to write more. I will now recall more of these impressionable events.

Since most of these are centered around my father, Edwin George Kramer, I hereby dedicate this article to him.

He had the most outstanding personality — radiating such warmth and friendship, which made him a most popular hotelman. He always was full of jokes and his ready wit carried him along to all who were fortunate to have known him.

When the guests arrived from the steamers, he was at the door to greet them with a handshake, calling them by name. Rarely was he mistaken. He was endowed with this gift. In those days everyone wanted to meet the proprietor. It was a friendly hotel. The guests who came from the mountains to transact business were considered members of the family. Meals were 25 cents, or two-bits as it was then called; chicken dinner with wine on the table for Sunday. Later the dining area was taken over by the Albany restaurant.

A large safe occupied a space next to the main office desk. It was only closed at the end of the day. My father would go in there to make change. It contained only gold coin and silver dollars. Paper money was looked upon with disdain. Holdups were unheard of. Everyone trusted one another.

Then there was the invincible alley where all disputes and much argumentation took place. It was behind the store on Second Street and the end of the hotel on E Street. Also it was directly below the family living quarters. My father always had a bucket of water handy if the arguments were too prolonged. It always brought results.

The afternoon nap was customary in the life of Edwin George. One early afternoon there was much commotion and hilarity occurring outside. A swarthy-looking man with a black bear on a rope came down E Street, and immediately set up shop right under my father’s window, waking him up. Out came the water bucket. It made a direct hit and drenched the bear. The infuriated man shook his fist and exclaimed, “Wherefore you wet my Mary!” A few more expressions were added and the crowd dispersed to another more suitable location. Then Edwin George resumed his nap.

My father was very fond of children so I often brought home a group to tour the hotel. He would take them to the top of the cupolas (which were later removed) for a view. Then we would slide down all the banisters on the way out.

When nature blessed us with a nice sunny morning, we were awakened with whistling and singing. A trip to Samoa Beach was in the making. We got together a hasty picnic lunch, boarded the launch to the mill, and then walked the rest of the way to the ocean. The happiest days were spent there on Samoa Beach.

It was customary for the men to carry the women out into the deep breakers, deaf to their shrill cries and pleadings. My father was past master at this kind of episode and my mother a victim. One could only go in wading because of the heavy and dangerous surf. We always came home with a case of sunburn which lasted a week, even though we kept our hats on.

I will conclude my article by referring to the words of William Shakespeare, “All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players.”

I think that we all have played our part and played it well. Since this year has faded out, there are only the treasured memories that are with us to the end of time.