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PREVIOUSLY: 

• At a Two-Day Conference in Eureka This Week, North Coast Tribes Advocate for ‘Meaningful Engagement’ With Offshore Wind Developers, Federal Regulators
• Yurok Tribal Council Votes to Formally Oppose Floating Offshore Wind Energy Projects Along the North Coast

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Press release from the Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria:

On Tuesday March 5th, 2024, The Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria Tribal Council voted to formally oppose the development of offshore wind, the effects of transmission lines over land and across the ocean floor, the development of the harbor area, and the East/West rail lines.

All of these projects are related to the implementation of offshore wind off the Bear River Coastline and directly through Bear River Ancestral Territory.

The Tribal Council Opposes offshore wind in our Territory for the following reasons:

• There is insufficient and inadequate scientific research on the adverse environmental impacts associated with floating wind turbines and platforms, the development of a massive Harbor, the effects to marine life from the subsea transmission cables and the effects over land transmission lines to the habitats of endangered/protected species such as the Humboldt Martin and Snowy Plover, just to name a couple.
• The 900 foot tall turbines impact the view shed from sacred cultural sites along the coast.
• The sacrifice of our Cultural and Natural Resources for the benefit of more electrical capacity for large cities in Central and Southern California is a scenario that we will not accept.

The Tribal Council is deeply concerned with the potential effects of these projects on marine life in the ocean off our coast as well as the effects to the Estuaries of the Eel and Mattole Rivers.

Additionally, while not in our ancestral territory, we are deeply concerned with the effects of offshore wind to Yurok territory, whom we have interlinked with by our membership and their membership through marriage.

It is the opinion of the Bear River Tribal Council that the effects of these offshore wind projects will be disastrous to the Cultural and Natural Resources of all Native Territories in the area and we seek unity amongst Tribes to protect these things which we have been the protectors of since time immemorial.