A digital rendering of a floating offshore wind farm. | Image: U.S. Department of Energy.

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A quick heads-up for people interested in offshore wind development on the North Coast — the Humboldt Bay Harbor District is hosting a public meeting in Arcata next week to discuss next steps for the Offshore Wind Heavy Lift Marine Terminal slated for the Samoa Peninsula. 

If you haven’t been following the project up to this point, now is a good time to tune in.

Why now? The Harbor District is preparing environmental documents for the heavy lift marine terminal, and the agency needs community input to ensure the draft environmental impact report (DEIR) thoroughly addresses concerns surrounding the project. The June 24 meeting will be one of several opportunities the public will have to share their thoughts on the proposed project before the district recirculates the notice of preparation later this summer.

But before we dig into those environmental documents, a little refresher on the six-year history of the project: 

The Harbor District began planning for the heavy lift marine terminal project back in 2020, just a couple of years after the Humboldt Wind Energy Area (WEA), located about 20 miles west of Eureka, was first identified as a possible location for a floating offshore wind farm.

The Humboldt Wind Energy Area (WEA)| Map: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)

In 2022, the Harbor District entered into a partnership with Crowley Wind Services to build and operate a full-service marine terminal on the Samoa Peninsula that would have the potential to produce and ship the gigantic components needed for floating offshore wind turbines — everything from the blades and nacelles (the generator house) to mooring lines, towers and transmission cables. In 2024, the Harbor District secured a massive $426 million grant from the Department of Transportation to build the project.

The Harbor District worked with Crowley on the port terminal project for a little over a year before allegations of sexual misconduct among some company higher-ups came to light, prompting major pushback from tribal leaders. A few months later, the district’s partnership agreement with Crowley expired without a lease in place, effectively ending the company’s relationship with the district.

When President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, he fulfilled his long-held promise to block offshore wind development in the United States, issuing a sweeping Executive Order to halt leasing and permitting for new wind energy projects. In the months that followed, the Trump Administration rescinded more than 3.5 million acres of designated lease areas on the outer continental shelf — excluding the Humboldt WEA — and clawed back $435 million in federal grants. 

But despite all of this, the district has held out hope for Humboldt’s offshore wind future.

“Absolutely, we are moving ahead with port development,” Harbor District Executive Director Chris Mikkelson told the Outpost via email. “Markets change, and players change too; however, our drive for economic development and the construction of a multi-purpose heavy-lift marine terminal does not. We remain focused on driving economic development while cleaning up neglected brownfield lands in our community, restoring the health of the land and water, and we will remain so until we complete the goal we set a few years ago.”

“As for the Federal Administration’s actions, as we have shared many times, No Hard Feelings,” he added. “We will work with all to find a path that will bring a quality project forward for the consideration of our community.”

Conceptual rendering of the Humboldt Bay Offshore Wind Heavy Lift Marine Terminal | Photo: Harbor District.

The district is on target to have the project’s draft EIR ready for public review by next spring, Mikkelson said, with the final EIR and “a construction-ready project” ready to go by the end of 2027.

But before the draft EIR goes out for public review next year, the district will recirculate the notice of preparation (NOP) — the first step in the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review process — for a 30-day public comment period. The NOP was first released in August 2023, but the district felt it should be updated to include new information, though nothing about the actual project has changed. That document will be released for public review in August.

“We are voluntarily revising and recirculating the NOP since quite a bit of time has passed,” Harbor District Development Director Rob Holmlund told the Outpost. “There have also been persistent rumors that the project ‘has been cancelled,’ which is not accurate. The project was temporarily paused following the loss of Federal funding, but the project proceeds as originally planned through the utilization of State funding. So, we decided that it would be helpful to the community to release an updated NOP to help clarify that the project is proceeding.”

At the end of last year, the district secured an $18.25 million waterfront facilities improvement grant from the California Energy Commission — a drop in the bucket compared to the $435 million in federal funding that was rescinded last year. Still, Mikkelson said the CEC grant will “further our technical studies and substantially grow our community engagement initiatives.”

“We will apply for additional funds through the CEC under an award made available from Proposition 4 funds, with more details to come as that program is currently under development,” he said, referring to the state’s $10 billion climate bond, which earmarked $475 million in funds for port upgrades to support offshore wind development in California. 

Mikkelson could not say what portion of those funds, if any, the Harbor District is slated to receive.

A digital rendering of the fully built-out Humboldt Bay Offshore Wind Heavy Lift Marine Terminal. | Image: Harbor District.

After the public review period for the NOP wraps, the Harbor District will use those comments — and others submitted during community meetings, like the one coming up on June 24 — to set priorities for the draft EIR, which will analyze a wide-range of potential environmental impacts associated with the project.

In an effort to “go far above and beyond what is typical or required” to get the public involved, Holmlund said the district assembled a community advisory committee to improve local engagement and “ensure the project is informed by a broad community perspective.”

The 40-person community advisory committee includes delegates from North Coast tribes and the Northern California Indian Development Council, elected officials from the county and its seven incorporated cities, residents of the Samoa Peninsula, environmental advocates, business leaders and representatives from various industries, including commercial fisheries, aquaculture and the local building sector.

Wilfred “Wil” Franklin, director of the North Coast Small Business Development Center (SBDC), emphasized that the intent of the committee is not to advocate for offshore wind, but to ensure community members have access to accurate information about the proposed development.

“We aren’t necessarily advocates or proponents; we are just there as liaisons [for] communication and education,” Franklin told the Outpost. “There are [members who] aren’t really excited about offshore wind, but the communications have been very respectful, and everybody’s really trying to help the community. That feels really good, even if we sit on different sides of whether we want it or support it or not.”

Similarly, Heidi Moore-Guynup, the Blue Lake Rancheria’s director of tribal and governmental affairs, said it is essential to combat misinformation surrounding the port development project. 

She pointed to a survey conducted by Oregon State University, in partnership with the Schatz Energy Research Center at Cal Poly Humboldt and several other universities, that sought to understand community perspectives on offshore wind development in Humboldt, Coos Bay, Ore. and Westport, Wash.

“What we learned is that very few people are actually aware of the proposed projects, both at the hyper-localized level and at the state level,” Moore-Guynup said. “So we want there to be active community education … and accurate information that’s distributed and made available so that individuals can make their own assumptions about offshore wind as an ecosystem.”

“When I say ‘offshore wind as an ecosystem,’ what we’re talking about are the actual floating wind turbines that will be in the ocean, about 20 miles off the coast,” she continued. “We’re talking about the heavy lift terminal that needs to be constructed to be able to assemble and tow out those turbines. We’re talking about transmission upgrades that need to happen to bring the power on the shore to provide more reliable electrification across the county, as well as to bring that electrification … to larger municipalities outside of the county. There’s supply chain needs, workforce development and training. When I say ‘offshore wind ecosystem,’ it’s all of those things.”

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

Moore-Guynup noted that the Blue Lake Rancheria is “currently in support” of local offshore wind development, given the Tribe’s “deep concern of climate change.” However, that support is hinged on several conditions, including the district’s commitment to a green port strategy, an Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) prevention plan, tribal participation in workforce development and training, as well as ample mitigation measures to protect native plants and animals.

“It’s vitally important for there to be widespread community support for projects like this. Otherwise, it can feel very extractive,” she said. “The Harbor District also can tremendously benefit from those perspectives and community voices.”

Matt Simmons, an attorney with the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC), hopes the upcoming community meeting will encourage people from all sectors to get involved with the NOP/EIR process.

“The [NOP] basically says, ‘We’re thinking about doing this, what do you as the public and all the state agencies that regulate natural resources think? What concerns do you have? What should we be studying?’” Simmons said. “I think it’s important for people to know that the Harbor District is planning and … now is actually the time for the community to weigh in.”

The community meeting will be held at the Arcata Community Center (321 Dr. MLK Jr. Parkway) on Wednesday, June 24 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Unlike previous meetings where staff provide lengthy powerpoint presentations to an audience, this meeting will be more interactive and attendees can wander around the room to view displays and ask questions about various aspects of the port development project.

“[A]ny project we propose must pass the test of the people,” Mikkelson said. “We invite all to engage, to provide personal testimony, and to have your voices heard.”

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