Press release from Green Diamond:

On January 31, 2024, the McKinleyville Community Services District (MCSD), Green Diamond Resource Company (Green Diamond), and the Trust for Public Lands (TPL) announced the close of escrow on 599 acres of timberlands in northwestern Humboldt County, slated to become the McKinleyville Community Forest.

In 2015, Green Diamond and TPL, a national nonprofit organization committed to improving public access to nature, announced plans to seek grant funding for a land sale that would establish a public community forest adjacent to the community of McKinleyville. The McKinleyville Community Services District (MCSD), the independent special district that provides water, sewer, parks and recreation, and other services to the McKinleyville area, was identified as the entity best suited to own and manage a community forest.

For nearly a decade, MCSD, TPL and Green Diamond have worked closely to ensure the success of this project. In 2020, the California Natural Resources Agency’s (CNRA) Recreational Trails & Greenways Grant Program awarded a $3.8 million grant to TPL to acquire a tract of Green Diamond property and transfer ownership and management responsibilities to MCSD.

“TPL is proud of our partnership with MCSD and Green Diamond to help realize the vision of the McKinleyville community to ensure this space is protected from development and enhance the environmental and economic benefits of this land for generations to come,” said Guillermo Rodriguez, Vice President for the Pacific Region for Trust for Public Land.

The McKinleyville Community Forest is located within the Widow White Creek and Mill Creek watersheds which are tributary to the Mad River. The forest primarily comprises second- and third-growth Sitka spruce, redwood, and Douglas fir forest and provides habitat for a variety of plant and wildlife species.

“The District is deeply grateful for the efforts of CNRA, TPL, and Green Diamond to get us to this point,” said Patrick Kaspari, MCSD General Manager. “We look forward to stewarding this land for the community and all of our children and children’s children.”

Much like the Arcata and the McKay Community Forests, the McKinleyville Community Forest will be managed for multiple objectives, including public recreation, timber production, water quality, and wildlife habitat protection. Under the guidance of a forest management plan, MCSD will reinvest income generated by timber harvests back into the forest, offsetting costs of trail, access point, and amenity development and maintenance.

Green Diamond is a longstanding private timberland landowner on the North Coast, managing thousands of acres of working forests adjacent to McKinleyville and throughout the Mad River basin.

“We greatly appreciate the opportunity to establish another community forest in Humboldt County,” said Peter Jackson, Green Diamond’s Vice President and General Manager of California Operations. “After years of teamwork with TPL and MCSD, Green Diamond welcomes the close of this land sale and the beginning of a long-term investment in the wellbeing of the McKinleyville community.”

With the land transfer complete, the McKinleyville Community Forest is officially open to the public, with two designated yet undeveloped access points along Murray Road. Note that the Green Diamond timberlands east of the community forest will remain closed to the public.

“It has taken us nine years to get to this point, but now the real work begins,” stated Kaspari. “We invite the public to enjoy the Community Forest and contact us to help plan and implement the trail improvements, watershed restoration, tree planting, and all the other projects that we will be initiating for this community asset.”

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Press release from the Humboldt County Drug Task Force:

Toohey

On February 1st, 2024, Humboldt County Drug Task Force (HCDTF) with assistance from the Fortuna Police Department and the Rio Dell Police Department, served a search warrant on Thomas James TOOHEY (44 years old from Humboldt County). HCDTF Agents observed TOOHEY travel from Humboldt County to the Bay Area. Upon TOOHEY’s return to Humboldt County, Agents conducted a traffic stop on his vehicle. FoPD Officer Stephens and his K9 partner Cain conducted an open-air sniff on the vehicle. K9 Cain alerted to the vehicle indicating drugs were present.  

Inside the vehicle, Agents located Thomas TOOHEY, over a half pound of fentanyl and approximately 3 grams of methamphetamine. 

Agents then travelled to TOOHEY’s residence, in the 600 block of Side Street in Rio Dell where they located two firearms, ammunition, a large amount of lactose (cutting agent for Fentanyl), 2 grams of methamphetamine, approximately 30 grams of non-prescription narcotics, indicia and packaging materials.

Thomas James TOOHEY was transported to the Humboldt County Correctional Facility where he was booked on the following charges:

• HS11351- Possession of controlled substance for sales
• HS11352(A)- Transportation of a controlled substance
• HS11352(B)- Transportation of a controlled substance through noncontiguous counties
• PC29800(A)- Convicted Felon in Possession of a Firearm
• HS11377(A)- Possession of a Controlled Substance
• HS11366.5(A)- Maintaining a Drug House
• PC30305(A)- Felon in Possession of Ammunition
• HS11370.1(A)- Possession of a Controlled Substance while Armed
• HS11378- Possession of a Controlled Substance

Anyone with information related to this investigation or other narcotics related crimes is encouraged to call the Humboldt County Drug Task Force at 707-267-9976.

Has California’s transition to electric cars hit some bumps in the road? Even though Californians are buying them in record numbers, several industry setbacks have been reported in recent months.

The rental car company Hertz is selling about a third of its global electric vehicle fleet, replacing them with gas-powered vehicles. Ford in January announced that it was reducing production of its F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck after scaling it up last year.

Tesla sales in California dropped 10% in the last three months of 2023, when compared to the same quarter a year earlier, according to data from the California New Car Dealers Association. And some automakers last year announced production cutbacks and delays in new electric models.

Today, the California Energy Commission provided another piece of the puzzle: Sales of electric cars in California reached record levels last year, with 446,961 sold, up 29% from 2022, according to Veloz, a nonprofit that works with the commission to promote electric vehicle growth in California.

But while sales of electric cars are still growing, it’s a slower pace of growth than the previous year: 2022 sales increased 38% from 2021.

During the final three months of 2023, Californians purchased 103,127 electric cars, an 8% increase over the same period in 2022. Fourth quarter sales last year were down 14% from the third quarter. But sales typically slow in the fourth quarter, and higher interest rates may have played a role, the commission said.

Nick Nigro, founder of Atlas Public Policy, which researches the electric car market, said the transition to electric cars might be slower than some automakers and experts anticipated.

“Recognize where we are in a once-in-a-century transition — we’re in the very early stages,” Nigro said. “Even though EVs have been around for about 14 years, in this current iteration they only really started to pick up sales nationally in the last five years or so.”

“It’s no surprise that the industry is going to have to adjust their expectations,” he added.

So far, the increased market share for electric vehicles means California is moving toward hitting its goals: Electric vehicles in California made up 25% of the new car market last year, up from nearly 19% in 2022. The state has mandated that 35% of new 2026 cars sold must be zero-emissions, ramping up to 68% in 2030 and 100% in 2035.

“Transportation electrification is rapidly unfolding,” David Hochschild, chair of the California Energy Commission said in a recorded video announcement.

Nationally an estimated 1.2 million electric vehicles were sold in 2023, also a record, according to Kelley Blue Book.

The pace of California’s transition matters because it is far and above America’s leader in sales, and a rapid transition to electric vehicles is key to slashing greenhouse gases responsible for climate change.

When originally introduced, Ford’s electric F-150 Lightning was so popular it had a three-year waiting list. But in January, the company said it was cutting production at its Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Mich., from two shifts to one, with some workers transferred to factories assembling gas-powered cars. Sales of the electric truck were up 55% in 2023 and Ford projected “further growth for 2024,” but said it was making the changes to better meet customer demand of its pickups.

Automakers “have financial challenges…But every one of them is just delaying. Not one of them is canceling.”
— Daniel Sperling, UC Davis Institute for Transportation Studies.

Daniel Sperling, director of the Institute for Transportation Studies at UC Davis, cautioned about reading too much into the delay of the Ford F-150 Lightning. One interpretation, he said, is that the car was simply not the right product, calling it a “retrofitted vehicle” in which “they just pulled out the drive.”

What’s more, there could be broader financial reasons for the F-150 Lightning slowdown. Sales of all cars slowed last year and legacy automakers faced cash flow challenges and a strike from the United Auto Workers union.

“They’ve got financial challenges, so if they can come up with an excuse to slow down their investments, they’re going to do it,” Sperling said. “But every one of them is just delaying. Not one of them is canceling.”

Earlier this year, Hertz said it was selling its 20,000 electric car fleet. In an interview with The New York Times, Hertz Chief Executive Stephen Scherr blamed price cuts by Tesla for lowering the resale value of the cars, and added that they were more expensive to repair and more likely to be involved in collisions.

Last year, sales by Tesla, by far the leader in electric vehicle sales, sold 230,589 cars, up from 185,090 in 2022, according to the California New Car Dealers Association. But sales dropped in the final three months of the year to 47,592 from 52,782 over the same period the year before. Analysts say that a variety of factors may be at play, such as lower resale value after Tesla’s sticker prices dropped.

One of the biggest problems facing electric car adoption across the U.S. — and the world — is the need for more seamless charging.

A lack of adequate public chargers has become a major impediment as customers begin to weigh electric cars as an alternative to gas-powered vehicles. To that end, the Biden administration is pouring some $623 million into charging projects across the nation, with California getting $168.5 million.

While California is meeting its goals for new electric car and truck sales, the state is projecting that it will need a much more robust electric charging network to support its ban of new gasoline-powered cars by 2035 and serve all drivers statewide.

An Energy Commission report projects that California will need 1.01 million non-private chargers by 2030, and 2.11 million by 2035. It now has only 93,000, according to energy commission data. The state has met at least one important charging infrastructure goal, installing 10,000-plus fast chargers last September.

California’s efforts to support electric car sales could also be stymied by its budget issues. Last year, California eliminated its popular electric car rebate program to focus on providing subsidies only to lower-income car buyers through the Clean Cars 4 All program, which has strict income limits.

This year, Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed a three-year delay for additional funding for that program, along with other programs aimed at increasing lower-income Californians’ access to cars.

Bill Magavern, policy director of the Clean Air Coalition, said he’s concerned that it could leave low-income communities behind. He thinks the funding delays will likely result in cuts to the program.

“We’re very disappointed in the governor’s proposal because he literally made a promise that he’s not keeping,” Magavern said. “It’s really a fiction to say, well, we’re maintaining this funding, we’re just delaying it by three years.”

Changes in federal tax incentives also may impact sales. The Treasury started the new year off by announcing a relatively short list of cars that qualified for a $7,500 subsidy. The incentives are limited to cars with parts sourced from the U.S. and its allies.

Globally, electric car sales are likely to face a “reality check” this year “given consumer apathy over a lack of fast public chargers and high prices, though China is an exception,” according to a report by Bloomberg Intelligence.

Sales of electric calls in Europe fell for the first time since April of 2020, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association. And analysts have warned that German carmakers are falling behind Tesla and Chinese models as global competition intensifies.

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CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

A Humboldt County cannabis grower has agreed to pay $750,000, remove unpermitted ponds and restore streams and wetlands after state officials accused him of violating regulations protecting water supplies, wildlife and waterways.

Of the total, $500,000 is a record penalty for a water rights violation in California. State officials say the violations by Joshua Sweet and the companies he owns and manages, Shadow Light Ranch, LLC and The Hills, LLC, continued for years and were “egregious,” damaging wetlands and other resources.

Under the settlement, Sweet will have to pay an additional $1 million if the remediation work outlined is not completed.

In a statement to CalMatters, Sweet said, “If the full penalty and remediation costs were due today it would take everything I own.”

“Although I will follow through with my end of the settlement, I do not believe this is fair or just, and I believe I have already suffered way too much,” Sweet, a licensed cannabis cultivator, said in the emailed statement.

“Even during our court-mandated settlement conference, they were asked why they would go after a small independent businessman with these type of enormous fines usually reserved for huge corporations that destroy ecosystems.”

In the settlement, Sweet agreed that “developing the properties in Humboldt County … resulted in violations of the California Fish and Game Code and the California Water Code.”

“Although I will follow through with my end of the settlement, I do not believe this is fair or just, and I believe I have already suffered way too much.”
— Joshua Sweet, Humboldt County cannabis grower

The companies’ 435 acres of land are part of the Emerald Triangle, where cannabis reins. Springs and streams of the Bear Canyon Creek Watershed cross the land and eventually drain into the South Fork Eel River — a wild and scenic river that provides critical habitat for threatened and endangered species of steelhead, Chinook and coho salmon.

The settlement comes as the cannabis industry is still trying to find its footing after legalization, and as its water use, especially for illegal cannabis operations, becomes increasingly contentious.

The agreement, approved by the Humboldt County Superior Court and announced last week, is the culmination of years of inspections by state water and wildlife officials dating back to 2016, according to the timeline outlined in the initial complaint.

It “resolves violations … that include: the owner’s destruction of wetland habitat and stream channels; conversion of oak woodland to grow cannabis; and failure to … satisfy permitting requirements,” the state’s announcement of the deal said.

Yvonne West, director of the State Water Resources Control Board’s office of enforcement, said Sweet didn’t have authorization to divert water to the reservoirs and use it. Between 2017 and 2020, Sweet took about 16.2 acre-feet of water for three ponds, according to an email from the water board — approximately enough to supply about 49 households for a year.

“The ordered penalties are modest given the scope of damage, the length of time the site has been left unremediated and considering the unjust enrichment or benefit to Mr. Sweet from running a business for several years without going through the necessary permitting process,” said Jeremy Valverde, assistant chief counsel at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, in an emailed statement.

Sweet and his businesses “for years resisted our attempts to cooperatively work on restoration and recovery of those resources, leaving formal enforcement as our only option,” said Joshua Curtis, the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board’s assistant executive officer.

Sweet said, though, that the case didn’t have to play out like it did. “Offers were made and denied,” he said. “There would be no settlement without their need to ‘make an example of me first’.”

The size of the penalty is notable because the water board has limited powers to enforce California’s arcane water rights system. A weeklong standoff during a drought, when ranchers pumped more than half of the Shasta River’s water in violation of state orders, netted a $500 per day fine that reached $4,000, or roughly $50 per rancher.

“The ordered penalties are modest given the scope of damage, the length of time…and considering the unjust enrichment or benefit to Mr. Sweet from running a business for several years.”
— Jeremy Valverde, California Department of Fish and Wildlife

State lawmakers floated a bill last year that could triple the fines for water rights violations, though the bill has thus far stalled. And in 2022, a new law enhanced penalties for cannabis-related violations to $3,500 per day, though this took effect after then-Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed the complaint.

“This was an ongoing use by Mr. Sweet and the penalties are over an approximately four-year period for unauthorized diversion and use of water to support cultivation,” West said. “Five hundred dollars a day, multiple violations over a four-year period, does really add up. And then again we did have the additional types of violations at play here as well.”

The cannabis operation’s complex irrigation system came to state officials’ attention after Sweet notified the Department of Fish and Wildlife of plans to further develop the property in 2015, the 2020 complaint said.

Over the years, inspections by state agencies turned up “violations … for unlawful alteration of the bed, channel, or bank of a stream and … unlawful sediment discharge into waters,” the complaint said. They also turned up storage tanks and three storage ponds, two of which predated his ownership and one that, according to the complaint, Sweet had constructed despite the warning that it needed a permit.

The pond was in a location that “disturbs/inundates wetlands with a direct hydrologic connection and discharge to a … tributary to the South Fork Eel River,” the complaint says. “Additionally, the Property’s other ponds, multiple illegal stream crossings, and road-associated landslide discharge or threaten to discharge to unnamed tributaries of the South Fork Eel River.”

The pond is one of the reasons state officials considered the case egregious, West said. “We didn’t have the opportunity to review and catalog the status of that wetland or the benefits of that wetland before it was destroyed.”

Sweet, the grower, said the lengthy process “has caused so much undue and unnecessary strain, pain, and suffering on me and my health, my family, my friends, and this community.”

“I thought what I was following the law and had hired the proper professional team to abide by the myriad of requirements,” Sweet added. “My suffering does not end, and I will continue to struggle for the foreseeable future. Which is, I guess, what they wanted.”

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CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

Kathleen June Baldy-Dean was born June 10, 1958, and entered into rest January 28, 2024.

Kathy was a beloved mother, a dear sister and aunt, loving wife, and cherished friend. She was a member of the Hoopa Valley Tribe and resided on the reservation for most of her life. She graduated from Hoopa High school and continued her education over the years, primarily at Edmunds Community College in Washington, where she was noted to be a member of the Native American Association. Kathy held a strong family affiliation with her siblings and their children. By her late husband Omar Dean, Kathy also enjoyed life as a stepmother, grandmother, aunt and in-law. Before his passing, Kathy and Omar shared a great love, and were inseparable for 30 years. They especially loved to travel to various places together.

Kathy is remembered for her happy-go-lucky spirit, and fun loving personality. She was often the light at family gatherings with her celebratory enthusiasm and notable humor. She enjoyed beading, known for creating all kinds of jewelry. She would string together necklaces as impromptu gifts for her loved ones. When the occasion called for it, Kathy liked to sing and dance, even if her only audience was her daughter, or her beloved pets. Kathy also enjoyed western classic shows, playing card games, word searches, and billiards. Her daughter also fondly remembers her mother for being a volunteer for car rides, even just to the store, and that Kathy was a shop til she dropped kind of person.

Over the recent years of her life, Kathy was a dependable caregiver for her family. She was always willing to help anyone in need and opened her home to family. She created cherished bonds with Ariel Richards and Melody Phines, Salisha Dean, and Al Kenny Dean when she welcomed them into her home. Kathy was a one-of-a-kind person, with a generous heart – even when she had nothing to give, she gave everything she had for family and friends. She is going to be missed deeply by all who loved her, including her beloved pets Cinnabear, Toby, and grandpups Chocolate, Coco, and Peanut.

Kathy is survived by her daughter Kathleena McConnell and husband Kevin McConnell. Also survived by her siblings and their families: Alex Pratt; Julie McKinnon; Valerie Harvey; Sonja Baldy; Lyle Baldy, Sr.; Darcy Miller; and Lulu Baldy. She is survived by stepdaughter Deborah McConnell and family, as well as numerous grandchildren, nieces, and nephews through her Dean family.

Kathy is preceded in death by her husband Omar Dean; her parents Newton Baldy Sr, and Nancy Gardner-Baldy; paternal grandparents, Maynard and Nellie (Moon) Baldy, maternal grandparents Martin and Lulu (Todi) Gardner; siblings Nancy Baldy, Kenny Baldy, Newton Baldy Jr., Clarence Baldy, Elizabeth “Dolly” Marshall; Allen “Cash” Davis, Edgar Norton, Mary Doolittle and Keith Baldy; Kathy is also preceded in death by stepdaughter Rebecca Dean-Ferris, and stepson Omar Dean III.

Pallbearers include: Kevin McConnell, Rowds Robbins, Ronnie Robbins, Filmore Harvey, Lare Toss McKinnon, Floyd “Cowboy” Billings, Lance Marshall Sr., Kevin Pacheco, Bautisto “Cheetos” Pacheco, Andrew Pratt, Lyle Baldy Jr., Leroy Baldy, Derek Schuchman-Baldy, Isaac Bussell, Bruce Bussell, Ryon Markussen, Lonnie Dean, Al Kenny Dean, Bradley Hostler, Sonny Jim Dean, Tsewenaldin Van Pelt, Stuart McConnell, Robert McConnell Jr., Marcus Dean-Rowe, as well as Kathy’s great-nephews, and loved ones too numerous to list.

Honorary Pallbearers: Kenneth Doolittle, Sonny Pratt, Alex Pratt, Clyde Moon, Franklin Richards, John Robbins Jr., Tyke Robbins, Robert McConnell Sr., Arden McCovey, Pliny “Jack” Jackson, Tim Bussell Sr., Kim Conrad, Boyd Ferris, Jesse McCovey, Damon Cross, Rick Sanderson, Sylvester “Flab” Brown, Douglas Brown, Freddie Brown.

Kathy’s passing was unexpected; please understand if we forgot to mention anyone. Your presence is encouraged and will be greatly appreciated as we lay our loved one to rest.

A wake will be held at Kathy’s home on Telescope Road on Friday, February 2, beginning at 6 p.m. Funeral service will be held on Saturday, February 3 at the Neighborhood Facilities in Hoopa, beginning at 11 a.m., with Harold Jones officiating. Burial at Hoopa Cemetery. A potluck reception will follow at the American Legion. Please cook up your favorite dish and join us. Arrangements are under Paul’s Chapel in Arcata.

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Kathleen June Baldy-Dean’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here.

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The Yurok Tribe convened a two-day summit at the Sequoia Conference Center in Eureka this week to discuss all aspects of the floating offshore wind development slated for the North Coast and the importance of including indigenous communities in every step of the development process.

“Too often we feel like we’re being talked to … and we’re tired of it,” Yurok Vice-Chair Frankie Myers said at the start of Monday’s summit. “We’re tired of consultations. We’re tired of being a box to be checked and being a part of the process. We want to engage meaningfully. We want to create the process.”

Myers acknowledged the urgent need to address the global climate crisis and expressed support for energy alternatives, but said he still wasn’t sure whether the Tribe would stand behind the proposed project because there are too many unknowns.

Yurok Vice-Chair Frankie Myers

“From our perspective, industry is industry,” he said. “We all understand the need to address climate change because it most often disproportionately affects people like us. We need to take bold action and bold transitions, but ensuring it’s done equitably has to be at the forefront. Otherwise, we’re bound to make the same mistakes we have in the past. … One hundred years from now our grandchildren will look back on you. Let’s make sure they look back and are proud of what we did, and that they don’t have to ask themselves the same questions we asked ourselves. Let’s truly leave a better world for future generations.”

The first day of the summit focused on the regulatory side of the proposed development. Representatives from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), U.S. Department of Energy, California Energy Commission (CEC), Vineyard Offshore, Canopy Offshore Wind, Humboldt Harbor District, Schatz Energy Research Center at Cal Poly Humboldt and others provided detailed presentations on various aspects of the project, including environmental review, port development and challenges surrounding electrical transmission on the North Coast. 

The Humboldt Wind Energy Area (WEA), located approximately 20 miles west of Eureka, could host as many as 100 floating wind turbines across more than 200 square miles of deep ocean waters. The development would be one of the first floating offshore wind energy projects in the United States.

At one point during the first day of the summit, three women quietly got up from the audience and held signs in silent protest of the proposed development. The Outpost caught up with one of the women, Yurok tribal member Melissa Star Myers, during a break and asked how she felt about the summit so far. “I’m looking for these people to come out and tell us the truth,” she said.

“I just think that the idea of offshore wind energy and these giant wind turbines in our ocean … it’s terrible,” she said. “It’s a horrible idea. A person I know recently just said to me, ‘Oh, missy, it’s already done.’ I don’t just lay down like that. It’s not already done. That’s not my mentality, and that’s not my family’s mentality.”

The second day of the summit provided an opportunity for tribal leaders to respond to the previous days’ speakers and share their concerns about offshore wind development. One woman, who did not identify herself, asked what the developers and regulatory agencies would do to protect marine animals and birds.

“How is this going to affect the animals in the ocean?” she asked. “How are these generators – these mammoth manmade monstrous machines that generate all this energy – going to affect the migration of the whales? Every living thing inside that water is important and will be affected in one way or another. And everything that affects one thing ultimately affects everything.” 

The Yurok Tribe invited representatives of the Mashantucket Western Pequot Tribe, the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) and the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe to speak about their experiences in working with regulatory agencies and developers on a large offshore wind development located about 35 miles off the coast of mainland Massachusettes, south of Martha’s Vineyard. 

Michael Johnson, deputy historic preservation officer for the Mashantucket Western Pequot Tribe, said the developers and regulators consulted tribal communities in the region, but their concerns “fell on deaf ears.”

“It’s been challenging on a lot of fronts,” he said. “We heard the very same thing: ‘We take consultation very seriously.’ We hear that all the time. … The problem is, we are consulting but none of the information is used … and it really does feel [as though] they’re checking the box and saying ‘Yeah, we consulted with the tribe.’”

For example, Johnson said he and other tribal members had to explain to developers why “Mayflower Wind,” the former name of one of the lease proposed developments owned by Shell New Energies and Ocean Winds, was problematic. “I said, ‘Do you understand the history of the United States and tribal people?’ and he said, ‘No, I do not,’” Johnson said.  “I told him that I’d like him to do some research and come back. … Two years later they changed the name to SouthCoast Wind.”

Bettina Washington, the historic preservation officer for the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head, said there seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding between tribes and regulatory agencies regarding natural resources. “We have to somehow convince federal agencies [that] when you see natural resources, in your head you need to think of them as cultural resources because that’s how we see them.”

At the end of Wednesday’s summit, Yurok Tribal Chairman Joe James invited the developers up to the stage to share closing remarks and respond to some of the concerns shared throughout the day. 

Rachel Pachter, Vineyard Offshore’s Chief Development Officer, said she was at a loss for words, noting, “My heart is trying to figure out what to do with all this information.”

“I think we’re all acknowledging that a lot of things we want to do together are really difficult, and so that’s going to take a lot of thought and a lot of time,” she said. “My brain immediately goes to ‘How?’ … So, for me, where the current work is is to pause at that moment and take the time to figure that next step out.”

James Sun, development director of RWE Offshore Wind Services LLC, regionally known as Canopy Offshore Wind, agreed that the developers “have a lot of work to do” but said he is confident that all parties will be able to forge a path forward.

“We have a lot of homework that we have to do up here,” he said. “I think [this] is a turning point of sorts, and I think the only thing we want to look forward to is to continue listening, to continue learning and to deepen our relationships.”

Chairman James and several other local tribal officials shared their thoughts on the two-day summit in a brief press conference, which can be viewed below.

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The State of California wants in on the City of Eureka’s fight against the Security National-funded Citizens for a Better Eureka.

The Office of Attorney General Rob Bonta today submitted a request to file amicus curiae or “friend of the court” briefs in support of the City of Eureka and the Eureka City Council, and it says the court should reject the Citizens for a Better Eureka’s efforts to thwart affordable housing developments downtown. 

Last month, Citizens for a Better Eureka filed a series of motions seeking preliminary injunctions that would immediately block the city and its partners, including Linc Housing and the Wiyot Tribe’s Dishgamu Humboldt Community Land Trust, from breaking ground on affordable housing and transportation projects slated for development on municipal parking lots downtown.

The motions – five, in all – allege violations of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), arguing that the city failed to conduct legally required environmental review not only for the elimination of public parking spaces but also for the various planned redevelopment projects, which the group says will impact traffic and air quality. 

The city, meanwhile, says that it fully complied with CEQA when it updated the Housing Element for its 2040 General Plan. The parking lots slated for redevelopment were designated for affordable housing in that document, which was certified by the state in 2019, and those parcels have since been declared surplus property.

In the application filed today, the Attorney General’s Office says the City of Eureka did not violate CEQA; rather, it says, the city’s actions are consistent with state housing and environmental policy, and it used proper metrics to analyze traffic impacts. 

Specifically, the filling argues that by identifying city-owned infill sites for development, “the City is able to actively facilitate future housing, including affordable housing, where it is most suitable, most needed, and results in the greatest environmental benefit.”

Indeed, the filing continues, “The City is actively fulfilling state policies to facilitate much-needed housing development in precisely the areas those policies encourage to reduce environmental harm and improve livability for all Californians.” (Emphasis in the original.)

The A.G.’s request is scheduled to be heard tomorrow afternoon by Judge Timothy Canning in Courtroom Four. The Citizens for a Better Eureka motions for preliminary injunction are scheduled to be heard on Feb. 9.

While Citizens for a Better Eureka mounts a legal battle against the downtown housing development projects, a similarly Security National-funded effort called the “Eureka Housing for All and Downtown Vitality Initiative” is taking the fight to the ballot box.

That measure, which will appear on local ballots in November, would rezone the former Jacobs Middle School property, which was recently purchased by a mysterious buyer who has so far refused to identify themself, and amend the city’s General Plan to allow downtown developments only if existing parking spaces are preserved and additional parking is built for residents.

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DOCUMENT: Ex Parte Application for Leave to File Amicus Curiae Briefs in Support of Respondents

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PREVIOUSLY:

• The Eureka City Council Wants Developers to Build Affordable Housing on Three City-Owned Parking Lots
• Eureka Planning Commission Chair Jeff Ragan Abruptly Resigns, Citing ‘Grave Concerns’ Over City’s Approval of Housing Projects on Three City-Owned Parking Lots
• The City of Eureka is Gearing Up to Turn Three More Parking Lots into Affordable Housing Developments, Including the Two Lots at City Hall
• Arkley Threatens Lawsuits, Referendum, Recall Drive Over City of Eureka’s Plans to Convert Parking Lots to Housing
• Eureka City Council Postpones Vote on Proposed Parking Lot Land Swap
• ‘Furious’ Rob Arkley Says He’s Moving Security National HQ Out of Eureka After Clashing With City Staff About Development Priorities
• New Group — ‘Citizens for a Better Eureka’ — Says It Will Sue Eureka Over Downtown Housing Development
• Here is the Housing Development/Parking Lot Lawsuit Served on the City of Eureka Today
• Arkley-Affiliated Group ‘Citizens for a Better Eureka’ Files Second Lawsuit Against the City Over Development Plans
• Local Group Announces Intent to Stop the City of Eureka’s Conversion of Downtown Parking Lots Into Housing With New Ballot Measure
• Wiyot Tribe Makes Its Case, Convinces Eureka Council to Reject Staff Pick and Award Affordable Housing Development Projects to Tribal Land Trust Agency
• Group Circulating Eureka Housing Petition Says the Wiyot Tribe’s Projects Are OK, Clarifies That Parking Lot Conversions Will Be Allowed So Long as Developers Build Even More Parking Than Before
• Eureka Gets $30 Million Grant for Housing Projects That the ‘Housing For All’ Initiative Hopes to Block
• New Coalition — ‘I Like Eureka Housing!’ — Formed to Oppose Arkley-Backed Pro-Parking Lot Initiative
• (UPDATE) Arkley-Affiliated ‘Citizens for a Better Eureka’ Files Two More Lawsuits Against the City, Aiming to Block Linc Housing Developments