On May 18th, the Lost Coast Outpost ran a poll entitled “Will Offshore Wind Come Back Into the Conversation Within the Next Ten Years?” About two thirds of respondents answered that they believed that once President Trump left office the conversation would pick back up and we’d “get back to fighting about it amongst ourselves.” The poll was in reference to the Pacific Offshore Wind Summit which was held in Long Beach, California this year. The summit brought together Tribal Nations, state agencies, local governments, nonprofits, offshore wind developers, and related businesses who were all there trying to answer that same question. I attended, along with more than two dozen other Humboldt County locals, to learn more about the offshore wind industry and to bring that knowledge back to my community.

In my role as the Indian Natural Resources, Science and Engineering Program (INRSEP) Coordinator at Cal Poly Humboldt within the COMPASS Department, I strive to instill in Native students at Cal Poly Humboldt the belief that they can weave together cultural knowledge with the professional development knowledge gained in school towards their career pathways. Only by braiding together Traditional Ecological Knowledge and sciences of both Indigenous peoples and the western world can we hope to fix the many diverse environmental and social crises that plague our communities.

Perhaps the most daunting challenge we face is weaning ourselves off fossil fuels in order to curtail climate change. Earth’s last three years were the hottest on record. As a result, ocean heatwaves are becoming a regular occurrence which raises serious concerns about the impacts on marine food webs. Salmon, one of the species most negatively affected by marine heatwaves, are considered relatives by my people in the Nor Rel Muk Wintu Nation and many other North Coast Tribes. Ocean Acidification, another result of burning fossil fuels, is likewise decimating marine ecosystems and impacting important, and delicious, North Coast fisheries like Dungeness Crab. Beyond the environmental impacts of fossil fuels, there are the very real consequences of the constant wars for oil that continue to devastate communities across the globe and cost US taxpayers billions of dollars. Every day that we remain dependent on fossil fuels is another day that we continue to contribute to these problems. Offshore wind has been put forward as part of that solution by the State of California. And I don’t believe we can afford to not seriously consider it. 

Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not a believer in by-any-means solutions. The North Coast has been promised miracle industries before. I believe for the offshore wind industry to be successful it needs to learn from the mistakes made by the industries of the past and improve. That means first partnering with Native Nations to ensure that the new industry respects cultural sites, environments, and people. Learn from and listen to Native People about how to responsibly steward the environment. Second, these industries need to prove that they will uplift the communities they are developing in. That means jobs for locals, community benefits agreements, and investments into the broader community. Instead of just sending all that electricity to whoever can pay the most for it, connect it to the local grid to power North Coast hospitals, businesses, and homes. Prove to us that you aren’t going to just extract a resource and move on. 

But I have to say that what I heard and saw at the Pacific Offshore Wind Summit gave me reason to hope. I learned from Sharon Kramer, Ph.D. from H.T. Harvey & Associates how advancements in technology could improve monitoring and mitigation for offshore wind projects. Chris Mikkelsen from the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation, and Conservation District spoke passionately about cleaning up a contaminated site on the Bay and working together with Tribal Nations and the local community to build something new. Arne Jacobson from the Schatz Energy Research Center explained how new transmission lines built to the North Coast could help make our electric grid more reliable while reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. Chair Jason Ramos of Blue Lake Rancheria challenged a room full of developers and State agencies to work together with Tribal Nations on workforce and economic development so that Tribal Nations directly benefit from these projects. For a conference meeting in Long Beach, it was voices from the North Coast who most prominently addressed the need for both responsible and timely development of offshore wind.

Many folks I speak to in Humboldt are nervous about this proposed new industry. I guess that’s what the poll meant by “get back to fighting about it amongst ourselves.” But all that means is that people are passionate about protecting this incredible place we are lucky to call home. Good on ‘em! That passion is an asset, not a liability. Doing this right will be a heavy lift but it’s an effort worth undertaking. I know that the North Coast’s Tribal Nations, universities, and environmental ethos make us better equipped to face the challenge of reinventing our nation’s energy system than anywhere else in the world. If we do this right, we can be a model for communities across the globe.