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On Wednesday afternoon, about 100 of Humboldt’s movers and shakers gathered at the Sequoia Conference Center for the Greater Eureka Chamber of Commerce’s 2024 Economic Forecast, an annual event focused on the local economy and emerging industries.

Turns out, there’s a lot going on here in Humboldt! The offshore wind industry is looking to build a massive floating wind farm off the coast of Eureka; the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District is drawing up plans for a heavy lift marine terminal that would support offshore wind development; Nordic Aquafarms is wrapping up the permitting process for its land-based fish farm on the Samoa Peninsula; and the Blue Lake Rancheria is moving forward with yet another microgrid project.

Gregg Foster, executive director of the Redwood Region Economic Development Commission (RREDC), led a four-person panel discussion focused on emerging industries and the future of the local economy. He emphasized how far the county has come in the last 40 years, following the decline of “traditional industries” and the subsequent “period of rapid disinvestment.”

“There were some solutions that came out of that, such as investing in infrastructure to make us ready for the next wave, whether that be broadband, the airport, the Harbor District, or whatever else,” Foster said. “It’s refreshing to come to a conference like this where we’re looking at all these opportunities that are in front of us … and hearing directly from the businesses who are actually making commitments, who are actually spending money, who are actually bullish on their future here in Humboldt County.”

Brenda Chandler, U.S. CEO of Nordic Aquafarms, said the Norway-based company has all but wrapped up the permitting process for its onshore fish farm and is shifting its focus to site clean-up at the Harbor District-owned Redwood Marine Terminal II property.

“As most folks know, the very first step is site clean-up. There’s more work that needs to be done in terms of the site itself,” Chandler said. “We also need to get a better understanding of the subsurface and the network of pipes that exists below the surface. … By the beginning of the year, we’re hoping the site will be ready to begin demolition”

If everything goes according to plan, Nordic will begin construction in late 2026 or early 2027. Once that’s done, the company will enter a commissioning phase. “There’s a fairly lengthy commissioning process as we’re starting up the farm, which will probably carry over into 2028,” Chandler said. “Those are just general terms, and there’s a number of things that still need to fall into place. We’re looking to the future, but we’re sort of taking it one day at a time.”

To bring the project to life, Nordic will have to hire a workforce with a broad range of skills. They’ll need aquaculture experts, biologists, farmers, mechanical and technical engineers, salespeople and a variety of collaborators. “We will have a microcosm of an entire industry available here,” she continued. “There’s a lot of opportunity that is going to surround the farm. … It’s still a few months away, but we’re getting ready to turn this corner and really start outwardly engaging.”

The offshore wind industry is still several years behind Nordic. Erik Peckar, Vineyard Offshore’s West Coast director of external affairs, said the company is currently focused on getting to know the community and establishing local partnerships.

“Before I moved to the West Coast, I spent the better part of the last 13 years advocating for my community on Martha’s Vineyard … to bring investments into the local community and to help folks get trained for local jobs,” he said. “We want to make sure that we’re building partnerships with folks in the community … and we want to invest in the community. I don’t think it’s a secret that there’ll be tens of millions of dollars invested into these local communities. … We want to work with folks to build partnerships to make sure that that money is spent in a responsible manner.”

There will be thousands of wide-ranging jobs available in the coming years and decades, Peckar said. They’ll need folks to help construct the heavy lift marine terminal on the Samoa Peninsula and assemble the massive turbines that will be towed out to see. And when construction wraps up, they’ll need a lot of other folks to maintain the turbines.

“The more that we can train locally here, the more that we can invest locally here and, I think the better off we are,” Peckar said. “That’s not to say that there won’t be folks coming from out of town to come work on these jobs – just being frank – but we want to build a local workforce.”

Chris Mikkelson, executive director of the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District, talked a bit about the district’s role in offshore wind development and expressed enthusiastic support the project and the opportunities it would bring for locals.

“I didn’t come from a family that wanted to save the planet or the environment,” Mikkelson said. “I came from a family that wanted to log trees, ship lumber and get filthy rich … We have an opportunity to create better opportunities in our community and for our children.”

Jason Ramos, CEO of business operations at the Blue Lake Rancheria, said the Tribe is hard at work on the Toma Resilience Campus, a training and innovation center that, once complete, will provide the four-county region with classrooms for emergency preparedness training, a “business incubator,” a commercial kitchen and a variety of other uses. Ramos said the Tribe is currently focused on the business incubation component of the project and will be seeking local business partnerships.

The Blue Lake Rancheria is also working with the Hoopa Valley Tribe, Karuk Tribe, Yurok Tribe, Redwood Coast Energy Authority, Pacific Gas & Electric Company and the Schatz Energy Research Center at Cal Poly Humboldt on the Tribal Energy Resilience and Sovereignty (TERAS) project. The TERAS project seeks to advance climate resilience and clean energy innovation in tribal communities throughout the North Coast.

“We’ve got to move forward,” Ramos said. “We have to move forward with job training and business innovation. We have to do something new.”

[DISCLOSURE: The Blue Lake Rancheria is a minority owner of the Outpost’s parent company, Lost Coast Communications, Inc.]

Offshore wind development faces one major obstacle: California’s aging electrical grid. State lawmakers are pushing legislation forward that aims to streamline wind and solar energy projects, but there’s still a long way to go.

During the Q&A period at Wednesday’s event, Humboldt Sheriff Billy Honsal expressed “major concerns” about offshore wind development efforts. 

“I don’t know if we’re ready, as far as the infrastructure goes,” Honsal said. “Workforce development, housing – all those things are major concerns. We’re already struggling with the professional industries that are already here, such as Cal Poly Humboldt and Providence … I would love to be able to support you all in what you’re doing but we also have to come up with a plan to make your projects in our county a success.”

Peckar thanked Honsal for bringing up his concerns and emphasized that Vineyard Offshore wants to get a “full picture” of the community’s concerns to make “the best decisions we can in investing in this community.”

Unfortunately, the keynote speaker couldn’t make it to the event. Robert Eyler, renowned economics forecaster and professor of economics at Sonoma State University, got stuck on an Arcata-bound plane due to weather conditions and had to head back to the San Francisco airport.

Nancy Olson, CEO of the Greater Eureka Chamber of Commerce, assured her membership that Eyler would provide an economic forecast for Eureka at a future meeting. Stay tuned!