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The Yurok Tribe convened a two-day summit at the Sequoia Conference Center in Eureka this week to discuss all aspects of the floating offshore wind development slated for the North Coast and the importance of including indigenous communities in every step of the development process.

“Too often we feel like we’re being talked to … and we’re tired of it,” Yurok Vice-Chair Frankie Myers said at the start of Monday’s summit. “We’re tired of consultations. We’re tired of being a box to be checked and being a part of the process. We want to engage meaningfully. We want to create the process.”

Myers acknowledged the urgent need to address the global climate crisis and expressed support for energy alternatives, but said he still wasn’t sure whether the Tribe would stand behind the proposed project because there are too many unknowns.

Yurok Vice-Chair Frankie Myers

“From our perspective, industry is industry,” he said. “We all understand the need to address climate change because it most often disproportionately affects people like us. We need to take bold action and bold transitions, but ensuring it’s done equitably has to be at the forefront. Otherwise, we’re bound to make the same mistakes we have in the past. … One hundred years from now our grandchildren will look back on you. Let’s make sure they look back and are proud of what we did, and that they don’t have to ask themselves the same questions we asked ourselves. Let’s truly leave a better world for future generations.”

The first day of the summit focused on the regulatory side of the proposed development. Representatives from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), U.S. Department of Energy, California Energy Commission (CEC), Vineyard Offshore, Canopy Offshore Wind, Humboldt Harbor District, Schatz Energy Research Center at Cal Poly Humboldt and others provided detailed presentations on various aspects of the project, including environmental review, port development and challenges surrounding electrical transmission on the North Coast. 

The Humboldt Wind Energy Area (WEA), located approximately 20 miles west of Eureka, could host as many as 100 floating wind turbines across more than 200 square miles of deep ocean waters. The development would be one of the first floating offshore wind energy projects in the United States.

At one point during the first day of the summit, three women quietly got up from the audience and held signs in silent protest of the proposed development. The Outpost caught up with one of the women, Yurok tribal member Melissa Star Myers, during a break and asked how she felt about the summit so far. “I’m looking for these people to come out and tell us the truth,” she said.

“I just think that the idea of offshore wind energy and these giant wind turbines in our ocean … it’s terrible,” she said. “It’s a horrible idea. A person I know recently just said to me, ‘Oh, missy, it’s already done.’ I don’t just lay down like that. It’s not already done. That’s not my mentality, and that’s not my family’s mentality.”

The second day of the summit provided an opportunity for tribal leaders to respond to the previous days’ speakers and share their concerns about offshore wind development. One woman, who did not identify herself, asked what the developers and regulatory agencies would do to protect marine animals and birds.

“How is this going to affect the animals in the ocean?” she asked. “How are these generators – these mammoth manmade monstrous machines that generate all this energy – going to affect the migration of the whales? Every living thing inside that water is important and will be affected in one way or another. And everything that affects one thing ultimately affects everything.” 

The Yurok Tribe invited representatives of the Mashantucket Western Pequot Tribe, the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) and the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe to speak about their experiences in working with regulatory agencies and developers on a large offshore wind development located about 35 miles off the coast of mainland Massachusettes, south of Martha’s Vineyard. 

Michael Johnson, deputy historic preservation officer for the Mashantucket Western Pequot Tribe, said the developers and regulators consulted tribal communities in the region, but their concerns “fell on deaf ears.”

“It’s been challenging on a lot of fronts,” he said. “We heard the very same thing: ‘We take consultation very seriously.’ We hear that all the time. … The problem is, we are consulting but none of the information is used … and it really does feel [as though] they’re checking the box and saying ‘Yeah, we consulted with the tribe.’”

For example, Johnson said he and other tribal members had to explain to developers why “Mayflower Wind,” the former name of one of the lease proposed developments owned by Shell New Energies and Ocean Winds, was problematic. “I said, ‘Do you understand the history of the United States and tribal people?’ and he said, ‘No, I do not,’” Johnson said.  “I told him that I’d like him to do some research and come back. … Two years later they changed the name to SouthCoast Wind.”

Bettina Washington, the historic preservation officer for the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head, said there seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding between tribes and regulatory agencies regarding natural resources. “We have to somehow convince federal agencies [that] when you see natural resources, in your head you need to think of them as cultural resources because that’s how we see them.”

At the end of Wednesday’s summit, Yurok Tribal Chairman Joe James invited the developers up to the stage to share closing remarks and respond to some of the concerns shared throughout the day. 

Rachel Pachter, Vineyard Offshore’s Chief Development Officer, said she was at a loss for words, noting, “My heart is trying to figure out what to do with all this information.”

“I think we’re all acknowledging that a lot of things we want to do together are really difficult, and so that’s going to take a lot of thought and a lot of time,” she said. “My brain immediately goes to ‘How?’ … So, for me, where the current work is is to pause at that moment and take the time to figure that next step out.”

James Sun, development director of RWE Offshore Wind Services LLC, regionally known as Canopy Offshore Wind, agreed that the developers “have a lot of work to do” but said he is confident that all parties will be able to forge a path forward.

“We have a lot of homework that we have to do up here,” he said. “I think [this] is a turning point of sorts, and I think the only thing we want to look forward to is to continue listening, to continue learning and to deepen our relationships.”

Chairman James and several other local tribal officials shared their thoughts on the two-day summit in a brief press conference, which can be viewed below.

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