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When Humboldt County Aviation Director Justin Hopman submitted his letter of resignation on March 2, less than two months after taking over the gig, he was uncommonly candid.

“After much reflection and discussion with my family, I have made the difficult decision to step away due to the personal challenges we have faced living in this location,” his letter says. “I am sure you understand the long-term needs and well-being of my family must take priority at this time.”

Reached by phone on Thursday, Hopman reiterated his deference to family. He and his wife grew up in Florida and have lived along the “Space Coast” east of Orlando for most of their lives. They moved to Humboldt County with their two kids after Hopman accepted the aviation director position, and the transplant didn’t quite take. 

“The wife and kids just miss the family,” Hopman said, adding, “They’re in charge, not me.”

Nothing against Humboldt, though.

“This is a really beautiful place,” he said. “Everywhere you look around here can be a postcard. But it’s just, yeah — it’s mostly missing the family support we have there with the kids, grandparents and great-grandparents, that stuff.”

Upon learning of Hopman’s resignation, the Outpost wasn’t alone in wondering whether something seriously dysfunctional might be going on with the county’s Aviation Department. Just five and a half years ago it was brought out from under Public Works to become a standalone county department, and now three directors have resigned in the past 18 months. 

But Hopman said things are actually going really well here, a message echoed by an outside consultant’s report delivered at the last Board of Supervisors meeting. 

“This is a very unique place here,” he said. “It’s kind of exciting, and I’m really disappointed to leave because of it. We just had Breeze [Airways] launch [service to] Burbank today, and we had Breeze launch Vegas yesterday. And Alaska is launching in three weeks, with Seattle runs. That’s, like, unheard of at an airport this size.”

The inaugural flight to Burbank was full, and Hopman said there’s still interest from other air carriers in bringing new routes to the California Redwood Coast-Humboldt County Airport. 

“So there’s a lot of good things happening here,” Hopman said. “I’m disappointed I’m not going to be here to see this [through].” 

He said the Board of Supervisors has been very supportive of the airport and open to his feedback, “which is really refreshing, to have that openness. They want the airport to succeed, and I think they realize it’s a pretty valuable asset here in the community.”

Hopman’s last day on the job is currently scheduled for March 27, though he has offered to help the county transition to new leadership, if needed.

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Old houses have plenty of problems. Leaky pipes, cracked foundations, bad heating and worse insulation all make for hard living. But an ancient water meter can actually save owners money — at the city’s detriment. 

Arcata’s housing stock is rife with them. Around 6,600 meters city-wide measure the water residents use, and all of them need to be replaced. (About 680 already have been.) When a meter turns 15 years old or so, it stops measuring the water usage accurately, almost always in favor of the customer, sometimes undercounting by huge margins. Arcata doesn’t recover costs for up to a third of the $1.7 million it spends on water bought from the Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District and resells at-cost, Finance Director Tabatha Miller told the Outpost. Arcata loses some $300,000-$500,000 annually, though the losses have mounted over time as more meters deteriorate. Some of it is lost to leaky infrastructure or from fire hydrants, like the 2.5 million gallons firefighters dumped on the Jan. 2 fire earlier this year, but around half of it is from undercounting water meters. 271 active customers have paid the monthly minimum flat fees without being charged at all for water usage within the last four months, Miller said, even though the city believes they’re using water. 

“It’s a lot of water,” Miller said. “And it’s a lot of money. You can see why this is important to me.”

City council members and staff swapped anecdotes at a meeting several weeks ago, when they decided they’d attempt to snag state funds to replace the meters. Councilmember Stacy Atkins-Salazar said she’d heard the city was losing boatloads of money annually to faulty meters; some customers pay nothing and it “didn’t sit well with her.” The other council members agreed. “When I hear that somebody who can afford to pay water [bills] has a zero meter-read, that drives me crazy,” councilmember Alex Stillman said. Replacing even a few meters has had an impact; Miller said that a few customers with new meters complained to the finance department, irate that their water bill had doubled. Finance staff asked them a few questions about their usage: how many people lived in the house, how often they were there, and showed them that they had been benefiting from a faulty meter.

They’ve needed replacement for a while now. For years, Arcata didn’t have the cash. City hall chased funding opportunities for other projects as they popped up — grants for street and transportation improvements, $67 million for the wastewater treatment facility. Miller said they took advantage of what was available, and went from there. Focus on more critical infrastructure projects, like the steel waterline replacement, also sidelined meter replacement. Mustering the money for the project would also have been unpopular, Miller said. 

“Nobody likes rates to be increased,” Miller said. “If you can push them off a year or two because nothing’s really bad — it happens…And people hate it when you rip up their roads and streets, and they’re out of water. It’s a big deal.”

The meters are partially to blame for the imminent increase to the city’s water rates. Under California law, the revenue Arcata earns from their water service goes right back into the water fund, not its general fund. Arcata is mainly increasing the water rates to defray costs from the ongoing steel waterline replacement and other infrastructure upgrades — around $36 million total — but more money in the water fund would have allowed for much lower increases. (Several city council members have said they’d look at lowering the rates in 2030 if the meters were replaced.) 

Miller estimated that it’ll cost about $13 million to replace all the meters. It’s not as simple as just loosening some bolts and swapping them out; the new auto-read transmitters are larger than the old meter boxes, which are embedded in the street. The concrete around the boxes has to be destroyed and repoured. If the city gets it, the CDBG funding they’re applying for will cover $2.9 million, and the state and federal government might kick in the other $10 million through a combination of a few different grants. If all goes to plan, the project will take around two and a half years to complete, finishing sometime in 2029.

The meters they’re planning on replacing with the $2.9 million of CDGB funding will be in low-income areas of the city, determined by census tract data. Miller agreed that it was counter-intuitive that Arcata’s effectively raising their rates before focusing on people who will have an easier time paying for it, but CDGB funds have to be used for lower-income areas. And the new meters can also tell residents if their pipes are leaking, potentially saving them money in the long run. 

“If we can get money to pay for infrastructure that makes it uniform and fair across the board as far as water usage and water bills,” Miller said, “It’s a win for the customers, and that impacts almost everybody in the city.”

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A hydraulic fluid leak at Ruth Lake — the reservoir that holds most of Humboldt County’s water supply — does not pose any kind of health risk for local residents, according to Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District. Nor have there been any impacts to fish and wildlife, the agency says.

Here’s what happened:

On Tuesday of last week, during a routine safety inspection of R.W. Matthews Dam on Ruth Lake, a hydraulic slide gate malfunctioned. During subsequent diagnostic work, roughly 15 gallons of hydraulic fluid leaked into an enclosed space underground. This stuff is not typical hydraulic fluid, according to the District; it’s non-toxic, plant-based and biodegradable.

Still, it’s not supposed to leak into the water. 

Alas, two days ago, on March 11, a sheen was observed near the intake structure on the lake surface. Absorbent pads and containment booms were deployed, and all of the appropriate regulatory agencies were notified, the District said.

Here’s the agency’s public statement:

Key Facts

The Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District (District) is providing the following information regarding a release of hydraulic fluid at the R.W. Matthews Dam intake structure on Ruth Lake in Trinity County.

The dam is structurally sound. This event involves only the hydraulic operating system for the intake slide gate — not the dam structure itself.

• No oil has reached the Mad River. The released fluid was observed on Ruth Lake in the immediate vicinity of the intake structure and is contained within booms. District staff surveyed the entire lake and found no evidence of oil along the reservoir edge.
• There is no impact to drinking water supplies. Ruth Lake is approximately 75 river miles upstream of the District’s diversion facilities at the Essex Operations Center near Arcata. There is no risk to the water supply serving approximately 90,000 Humboldt County residents.
• The released product is not conventional petroleum-based oil. It is a plant-based, readily biodegradable hydraulic fluid that is non-toxic to aquatic life and does not accumulate in the food chain.
• No impacts to fish, wildlife, or water quality have been observed.

What Happened

On March 3, 2026, during a routine Division of Safety of Dams (DSOD) field inspection at R.W. Matthews Dam, the hydraulic slide gate at the intake structure malfunctioned while being operated. The District activated its Emergency Action Plan and notified state and federal dam safety regulators and all required agencies of a non-failure emergency condition the same day.

The District conducted diagnostic testing over the following week to determine the nature of the failure. During that diagnostic work, approximately 15 gallons of hydraulic fluid leaked from the operating system into a flooded cylinder room inside the intake structure — an enclosed space approximately 110 feet below the lake surface containing static, non-flowing water.

On March 11, a sheen was observed on the lake surface in the vicinity of the intake structure. The District immediately deployed absorbent pads and floating boom and reported the release to the National Response Center, Cal OES State Warning Center, and the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board. A formal notification was sent to all coordinating agencies — including Trinity County OES, Trinity County Environmental Health, CDFW, USFS, NMFS, and USACE — within two hours of the observed release.

Clarification on Timeline

Some early reporting has suggested an unexplained gap between the March 3 mechanical failure and the March 11 oil release. There is no gap in reporting. These were two distinct events:

• March 3: Mechanical failure of the slide gate. No oil entered the lake. Reported to dam safety regulators and required agencies.
• March 11: Oil sheen observed on the lake surface. Reported to NRC, Cal OES, and the Regional Water Quality Control Board immediately. Containment deployed at once.

Some coverage has also incorrectly described the equipment as a “flap gate” and stated that oil was released to the Mad River. The correct term is a hydraulic slide gate, and the oil has not reached the Mad River.

About the Hydraulic Fluid

The District specifically selected Clarion Green BIO 32 for this application because the hydraulic system operates underwater in a public water supply reservoir. This product is readily biodegradable, minimally toxic to aquatic life, and not bioaccumulative.

Specifically, this product is:

• Readily biodegradable: It is formulated from high oleic natural esters derived from renewable plant-based resources, not petroleum.
• Non-toxic to aquatic life: It meets U.S. EPA LC50 test requirements, meaning it is classified as non-toxic to fish and aquatic invertebrates.
• Zinc-free and ashless: This product contains none.
• Not bioaccumulative: It does not build up in the tissue of aquatic organisms or concentrate through the food chain.
• Not classified as hazardous under the OSHA Hazard Communication Standard (29 CFR 1910.1200).

The District selected this product to minimize environmental impact in the event of a release at this location. It represents the least environmentally impactful hydraulic fluid available for this application.

Containment and Monitoring

The District has deployed multiple layers of containment and is conducting active monitoring:

• An interlocking non-absorbent spill containment boom and oil-only absorbent boom deployed between the two spillway walls.
• Additional booms installed at the northwest corner of the dam where oil was collecting.
• Floating booms deployed directly downstream of the dam.
• Visual monitoring by District staff.
• Water sampling of the lake and river at several locations at the request of the Regional Water Quality Control Board. 

The District surveyed the entire lake and found no evidence of oil along the reservoir edge. The oil appears contained within the booms.

Planned Repairs

The District has engaged a commercial dive contractor to access the cylinder room underwater, inspect the hydraulic system, and make repairs. Dive operations are scheduled to begin the next week.

Additional containment booms and environmental controls will be in place before the diver enters the cylinder room. The scope and duration of repairs will depend on what the dive inspection reveals.

Drinking Water Supply

There is no impact to drinking water supplies. Ruth Lake is approximately 75 river miles upstream of the District’s diversion facilities at the Essex Operations Center near Arcata, where water is drawn from the Mad River aquifer through Ranney collector wells. The volume of hydraulic fluid involved is small, the product is non-toxic and biodegradable, and containment is in place. The District serves approximately 90,000 residents in the cities of Eureka, Arcata, and Blue Lake and the communities of McKinleyville, Manila, Fieldbrook-Glendale, and Humboldt, and there is no risk to that water supply from this event.

Agency Coordination

The District is coordinating daily with the following agencies:

• Division of Safety of Dams (DSOD)
• North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (Region 1)
• California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW)
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)
• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)
• U.S. Forest Service (USFS)
• Trinity County Office of Emergency Services
• Trinity County Division of Environmental Health

Ruth Lake Community Services District

From the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

On Mar. 12, 2026, at approximately 10:41 p.m., 19-year-old Tse-Lin Lincoln who was wanted in connection to the Hoopa Shooting that occurred on Mar. 10, 2026, turned himself into deputies at the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office.

Lincoln was taken into custody on the arrest warrant and booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility.

Anyone with information about this case is encouraged to call the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at (707) 445-7251 or the Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip line at (707) 268-2539.

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PREVIOUSLY:

• One Person Hospitalized With ‘Life-Threatening’ Injuries Following Yesterday’s Shooting in Hoopa; Suspect Remains At-Large, Says HCSO
• Hoopa Valley Tribe Offers $10K Reward for Information Leading to Arrest of Suspect in Tuesday’s Shooting; Emergency Community Meeting in Council Chambers Tonight
• 15-Year-Old Arrested in Connection With Hoopa Shooting, Sheriff’s Office Says; Two Other Teenage Suspects Still at Large
• Another Suspect in Monday’s Shooting in Hoopa Taken Into Custody

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This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.

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Three years ago, California built a first-in-the-nation system aimed at protecting drivers when oil markets turn calamitous. The legislature passed it. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed it. He proclaimed “California took on Big Oil and won.”

Its author, then-Sen. Nancy Skinner called it a “landmark law” that “will allow us to hold oil companies accountable if they pad their profits at the expense of hard-working families.”

But the law — which gave regulators the power to cap refinery profits and penalize oil companies for price gouging — has never been used. Instead, last year, the California Energy Commission voted to delay the rules for five years. Skinner – who wrote the law as a Senator – was absent when her own commission voted to delay it.

Now, with gas topping $5.30 a gallon statewide, that decision is under a new spotlight. The Iran war has sent global oil prices soaring — but the war is only part of the story. California has a structural problem: fewer refineries, a captive market and no easy outside supply options. When prices rise nationally, they can rise even more here.

Proponents say this is precisely the moment the 2023 law was designed for. The commissioners last year left the door open to rescind the delay — and move forward with the rule before the five years — if they change their minds.

“These are the moments we need them, because when the price of a commodity goes through the roof — be it crude oil or refined gasoline — that’s when companies make outrageous profits,” said Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog.

But those who backed the delay argue it was a necessary concession — that penalizing refiners risked driving them out of the state entirely. It’s a tension that cuts to the heart of California’s energy predicament: how to protect consumers today from an industry the state can’t yet afford to lose, while still making good on its promise to leave that industry behind.

California’s unused gas-price tools

When the California Energy Commission met last August Newsom was already retreating from his confrontation with the oil industry. The question before commissioners was whether to move ahead with aggressive rules targeting refinery profits — or step back, as the governor was doing.

It was a sharp reversal. Newsom had declared special legislative sessions in 2022 and 2024, pushing through sweeping new powers to curb gasoline price spikes — including requirements that refiners store more fuel and replace lost supply during maintenance, and the profit-cap rules now sitting dormant. A new energy commission oversight division created by the law found an unexplained gasoline premium of about 41 cents per gallon between 2015 and 2024, costing drivers an estimated $59 billion.

“Those are critically important laws,” said Kassie Siegel, director of the Climate Law Institute at the Center for Biological Diversity. “What that information shows is that Californians are at the mercy of a very few refiners with immense power.”

California’s oil industry strongly opposed the measures, and some economists remain skeptical of them. UC Berkeley energy economist Severin Borenstein warned that capping refinery profits during shortages could backfire.

“The last thing we need is to start trying to regulate refinery margins,” he said. “As much as people don’t like high gasoline prices, they really, really hate gas lines.”

By last August, refinery closures were looming and warnings of $8-a-gallon gasoline circulated in Sacramento. Newsom and Democratic leaders were negotiating with the oil industry to boost production in Kern County — talks that produced a law that has since driven an uptick in drilling permits.

After Valero said it would close its Benicia refinery, Newsom directed Siva Gunda, vice chair of the California Energy Commission, to “redouble the state’s efforts to work closely with refiners on short- and long-term planning” and ensure a “reliable supply of transportation fuels.” Gunda responded with a series of recommendations that aligned largely with industry’s desires — among them a pause in the state’s profit-cap rule.

Against that backdrop, energy commissioners voted on Aug. 29 to delay the rules for five years. Ahead of the vote, Gunda said the delay would help boost “investor confidence” in the state’s oil refiners, “thereby ensuring a reliable in-state refining capacity.”

Oil industry representatives say the decision made sense – the profit-cap measures, they argued, miss the real problem.

“The real problem is California is an energy island — we’re losing 17% of our refining capacity,” said Zachary Leary, a lobbyist for the Western States Petroleum Association.

But Court, of Consumer Watchdog, said the governor “panicked,” leaving the state without the “hammer” it now needs.

“When you have this type of level of gas run up, you’re going to need those tools,” Court said.

The difficult middle of the energy transition

California has committed to phasing out fossil fuels by 2045 — but it still depends heavily on gasoline, and it is losing the refineries that produce it.

Phillips 66 last year shut its Los Angeles refinery, citing concerns about the sustainability of the California market. Valero is closing its Benicia refinery next month, pointing to a challenging regulatory environment.

“If you start losing refineries — as we are going to — and you don’t have an alternative source of supply, we’re going to start getting price spikes when there’s any sort of disruption at one of our refineries,” Borenstein said. “Or just during high demand periods.”

The challenge of reducing fossil fuel use while maintaining adequate supply has created what Gunda — Newsom’s point person in negotiations with the oil industry — calls the “mid-transition.

“This is not going to be a smooth transition,” Gunda said last month in testimony to a state Senate committee. “Every time you lose a refinery, it’s going to be a double-digit percent of refined fuel lost in California. So that abrupt transition will mean an abrupt increase in imports.”

A global oil shock hits California

The recent jump in gasoline prices reflects a global oil shock tied to the war with Iran — not a policy change unique to California, experts said. But the surge highlights how exposed the state remains to global energy markets as it loses refining capacity and imports more crude and gasoline.

Since the conflict began, the international benchmark for crude oil has climbed more than $25 a barrel — a shift that typically translates to about 60 cents per gallon at the pump, in line with the increase in California retail prices, argues Borenstein, of UC Berkeley.

“All of the change we’ve seen in the last couple of weeks is in line with the change in crude oil prices, and therefore is not California specific,” he said.

Newsom has made a similar argument, blaming the spike on global oil markets and the war with Iran rather than California policies. But analysts note that the state’s shrinking refinery base means global shocks land harder here than elsewhere.

A key concern is the Strait of Hormuz. Before the conflict, the narrow waterway carried more than 20 million barrels of oil a day — roughly one-fifth of global supply. Traffic is now at a standstill, and crude prices topped $100 a barrel again — even after more than 30 countries announced releases from emergency reserves.

Ryan Cummings, chief of staff at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policymaking, said a prolonged closure could push crude prices above $130 or $140 per barrel — driving California prices closer to $7, with a worst-case scenario approaching $10 at some stations.

Most analysts consider that outcome unlikely but no longer unthinkable.

“Right now, this doesn’t appear likely, but it is a worst-case scenario that is growing by the day,” Cummings said.

Competing ideas for what comes next

Siegel, of the Center for Biological Diversity, said California should move forward immediately to implement the profit-cap rules and require companies to hold larger fuel inventories.

“Our leaders shouldn’t rest until the rules are in place to prevent price gouging on top of volatility, and should not rest until people get their money back,” she said.

Economists say California’s biggest challenge may be infrastructure. Valero plans to close its Benicia refinery, which produces about 10% of the state’s gasoline, next month. In an analysis posted last year, Stanford economist Neale Mahoney and Cummings said California could offset lost refinery production with gasoline imports – if permitting allows refineries like Benicia to convert to fuel import terminals. Newsom said in January his administration is working with the company to continue importing gasoline into Northern California after its refinery operations close.

“If I was in the Legislature right now, all of my energies and effort would be built on, one, making sure that Benicia gets turned into an import terminal — and two, making sure whoever owns or operates that is not an incumbent,” Cummings said.

Court, of Consumer Watchdog, pointed to a proposed Phillips 66 pipeline that could bring refined gasoline from Midwest refineries into the state – something California has never had, relying instead on in-state refining and marine imports. Dubbed the Western Gateway Pipeline, the project would build a new pipeline and reverse an existing one to move gasoline and diesel from central U.S. refineries to Arizona and California.

One state lawmaker has proposed expanding access to E85, a cheaper ethanol blend. Both ideas remain proposals without clear timelines.

Meanwhile, some oil companies and even some Democrats are warning California’s climate policies could raise production costs enough that refineries reconsider operating in California — adding another pressure point to an already strained supply picture.

The profit-cap rules that could penalize oil companies remain on hold until 2029. By then, California may have lost more refineries — and may still be grappling with the problem Newsom once promised to solve: gasoline price shocks in the country’s most unaffordable market.

Evan Lennard Olson, a resident of Fortuna, crossed over the rainbow on March 5, 2026, after a three-year fight against cancer. He was surrounded by his loved ones. The son of Howard E. and Evelyn E. (Brisbin) Olson, he came to bless our world on July 9, 1953, at the small hospital in Garberville, California.

Evan grew up in Garberville and graduated from South Fork High School. He married Wendie Johnson, and they started a family, adding their son, Brian, to the story of Evan’s life. A few years after Wendie’s early tragic death, Evan married Keven Carney and they added a daughter, Kortney, to the family.

Early in his adult life Evan started working at the post office in Redway, which turned into his lifelong career. Over the years he was a cheerful presence at a variety of post office locations, retiring as Postmaster from the Scotia office in 2008. The postal service also brought him the love of his life, Barbara, who remained by his side to the end of his life.

Evan was a jovial, social person who loved listening to music and spending time with friends and family. After retirement, Evan and Barb enjoyed a variety of activities together, including travel, with Maui, Hawaii, a place they returned to several times. He enjoyed playing golf with his brother and friends. For the last 10 years he enjoyed a weekly visit at the Eel River Brewery’s Peanut on the Floor Night with his son and friends.

Evan is survived by his wife of 34 years, Barbara Olson, Brian Olson and partner Liz Hilderbrand, Kortney Olson and husband David May, Stephen and Danielle Quenell, Bryan and Sara Quenell, Elizabeth Quenell; grandchildren Karlie (Olson) Kowalska and husband Filip, Connor Olson of Arcata, Kody and Kayden Quenell, Autumn Atkins; and three great-grandchildren, Niko Kowalski, Ayla and Shae Kowalska; sister Annamarie Olson Ahmed, and numerous cousins, nieces, and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, son Karl Olson, sister Kerstina (Olson) Clark, and brother Eric Olson.

A celebration of life will be announced at a later date.

Roger Stephen Weston
April 25, 1952 – December 28, 2025

It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Roger Stephen Weston, at the age of 73. Roger passed away at the Mad River ER. He was born in Auburn, California, to parents Noel and Jimmie Weston and spent his life in San Leandro and Humboldt. He graduated from Arroyo High school, class of 1970. 

In his twenties, Roger demonstrated a strong work ethic, hired with De La Valle working on large equipment. This is where he met his long time friend Jim Brown. 

Roger then proudly worked for the city of San Leandro for over 30 years, as a water pollution control supervisor. When working with the city, he worked in a variety of roles, as a mechanic, electrician and pump specialist. This is where he retired from at the age of 58.

He loved music, good conversation, and shared countless laughs with family and friends. Roger had many instruments that he loved playing, and found joy listening to music at local venues. His art is where he found peace, completing many works of art in his spare time. He was an outdoor lover, which included taking photos of nature, walking around the marsh, fishing, as well deep sea fishing. 

Roger was known for his compassion and generosity. He would always give the shirt off his back if someone needed it. That is the kind of person Roger was. He kept various crystals in his pockets, and would give them out to people that needed them.

Roger was preceded in death by his parents, Noel and Jimmie Weston, and his two older brothers Larry and Phillip Weston. He is survived by his daughter Kelly Real (husband Saul); son Joel Weston; grandchild Nicholas Real; his brother, Richard Weston; and sister Susan Weston.

A celebration of life will be held for those who knew Roger in Blue Lake, at Paskenta Mad River Brewing Company, on Saturday, March 28 at 1 p.m. 

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Roger Weston’s family. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here. Email news@lostcoastoutpost.com.