AUDIO:

"The EcoNews Report," Dec. 17, 2022.

The following is a rough machine transcript. Click the words to skip to that point in the audio.

TOM WHEELER:

Welcome to the Econews Report. I'm your host this week, Tom Wheeler, executive director of EPIC, the Environmental Protection information Center, and I'm joined by my friend and cohost Jen Kalt, executive director of Humboldt Baykeeper. Hey, Jen =And so we are talking about offshore wind today, and we are going to zoom in specifically at port development and what's going on in Humboldt Bay -- so, something that Jen cares very deeply about. And joining us to help us understand , and what Humboldt Bay might be like in 10 years, is Larry Oetker, executive director of the Harbor District -- and Larry, I always forget the Harbor District has some big long name and I always abbreviate it to the Harbor District. Tell me full title of what you direct.

LARRY OETKER:

Yeah, we do just what the name says -- Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District. Those are all the things that we do as part of Humboldt Bay

WHEELER:

All right, and we will touch on recreation and conservation. So this is, this is perfect, the name really says it all as you as you say Alright, so in case you've been living under a rock, we have big and exciting news, which is the first major milestone has been reached in offshore wind energy development. So earlier this month, in early December the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, or BOEM, as you might hear us call it, announced provisional winners of its auction of two offshore wind lease areas about 20 to 30 miles off of Humboldt County's coast. So we have now that we have these provisional winners, the future work about studying the offshore wind environment and coming up with specific plans and then eventually building wind turbines and shipping them out to the ocean can proceed. And the the building of wind turbines. This is one of the things that has a lot of people here in Humboldt County excited, because this is going to mean lots of jobs, right? This is going to be kind of this idea of the Green New Deal where we have, you know, family-wage jobs, blue-collar work that builds the economy of the future, builds a renewable energy future, helps tackle climate change. So a lot of reasons to be excited. There's also a lot of reasons why people are probably nervous about this, because Humboldt Bay is such a jewel and a gem, right? Jen what, what's the eelgrass percent? How much does Humboldt Bay have for eelgrass compared to the rest of the state. Aren't we, like, upwards of 50%?

JEN KALT:

I believe so, yeah. It's the majority of the remaining eelgrass in California in large part because in other estuaries, you know, there's been so much more pollution and dredging and development. Especially south Humboldt Bay, which is mostly National Wildlife Refuge, has a ton of eelgrass.

WHEELER:

So we also have endangered uh, fish. We have marine mammals that use the bay. So we've got to get this right. And so I'm glad that we have Larry Oetker on today's call. So Larry, I know that the Harbor District sees offshore wind as this great potential opportunity for Harbor District land. Uh, if we're thinking about potentially building, uh, these large offshore wind turbines and all the support infrastructure and everything that's necessary for this to be successful. What, where are we talking about here? Can you kind of like paint a visual picture like places on a map?

OETKER:

Yeah. So people that are really familiar with Humboldt Bay and the way I kind of look at it when you, when you, you go over the bridge is uh, you know, from Eureka side and you go to Woodley Island and then you go to tolerate island, you know, and then you get to the Samoa peninsula right. So right before you go over the bridge and you're going west on the highway to 55. You know, you look to your left and the very first terminal that you see there and then you see the smoke stack on the distance. That's right where we're talking about. So literally when you're going over the bridge and you, you look to your left, um, then that's where this new development is gonna turn, uh, where the Harbor District is looking and for other people that are more familiar where the time of Samoa is. And then you've probably been to the Samoa cookhouse were literally right below the Samoa cookhouse is where we're talking about.

KALT:

So for the old-timers that are listening, you might remember the Hammond Lumber Mill used to be on this site. So there's a bunch of old buildings and a really old dilapidated dock that's been slowly falling apart and it will have to be completely replaced. So we're not talking about building on wetlands, or, you know, clearcutting a forest or anything. It's an industrial site.

OETKER:

Exactly. This site is a 170-acre site basically between, you know, the Samoa cookhouse and the mill. You know, it's been used for over 100 years for a variety of different purposes. And we're also in the USCPA Brownfield program, where we're analyzing you know contamination and we want to clean up any content remaining contamination that might be in the area for remnants. And those types of things, how do we keep the bay clean? Clean up some of these old contaminated mill sites.

WHEELER:

So it is it's not not quite as Mad Max of of a landscape as the old pulp mill site. I remember seeing that for the first time and just being amazed at the piles, the heaps of rusting metal and trash and and pools of weird liquids and whatever that are at that site. It's kind of bearer. I think that there are logs stored on part of the site right now. It's just kind of empty and like a ghost of its former past.

KALT:

Well, there are still some things going on on that site. It's being used for some fishing operations. Do you want to talk about that a little bit, Larry?

OETKER:

Yeah there's there is well in the first place the area is used for hag fish operations where they, it's like a slime eel that they go, so the fishermen go out, they put out buckets out in the ocean and the slime eels kind of get in the buckets, they bring them them back to the dock and then they keep them a planned for a couple of weeks. Um And literally these slime eels, you know you could pick them up by your hand and they literally just like slime every place and then they basically sell those over to to Asia. And so those are like an upland fisheries and aquaculture operation that we have and then there's some crab fishermen that also use the area for crab pot storage and offloading some product. Um And so we're looking at locations that we've identified and working with the fishermen to really relocate and provide some updated improvements for fisheries facilities.

WHEELER:

Slime eels. Alright, that's a new thing for me to go in Wikipedia after this call. wow weird kind of gross. Maybe I don't know. Very

OETKER:

very gross. You might see them sometimes they show them on these tv shows where people do the really stupid things and being a tank of slime eels and when you touch them they just immediately like release slime.

KALT:

I know someone who lives on a boat on Woodley Island who tried to eat one once and she told me, I don't think I cooked it. Right, That was so funny.

WHEELER:

Alright. So, um, we're gonna be redeveloping this site. Uh, this is the plan and um, I know that the Harbor District just signed a contract with a poor development company. Crowley, Can you talk a little bit about the relationship between the Harbor District and Crowley and how this partnership is going to help facilitate the development of this site?

OETKER:

Yeah. And so part of this really gets down to, is that you opened up is what is the vision for the ports for the next 10 years. Right. And so then the harbor district, we are bored. We spent a lot of time kind of, who would be the best partner that's gonna help us to sort of achieve our vision. Right. And we determined that Crowley was that best partner. And as part of this vision, we're looking at creating a new kind of ports here in Humboldt Bay one that when ships pull in that they connect to shore power instead of having their engines running, they collect to renewable shore power and the tugboats and other things are gonna be, you know, either electric or hydrogen fueled, right? Uh, these are like developing a ports of the future because we're redeveloping this area. We wanted to find a partner that really shared the same ideals and Crowley has commissioned the first electric tugboat that's gonna be an operation in SAn Diego. And we really want to see these vehicles in Humboldt, you know, instead of these old polluting vessels, we want to really encourage the transition of the fleet that's going to service these into modern vessels that are completely renewable and non carbon based fuels. And so this is really helping to set the stage for this transition. Um, and Crowley has been meeting with cal poly Humboldt College of the Redwoods really about how they can integrate some of these new technologies and some of the research into practical applications and then also how can they really work with the, with the University and College of the Redwoods to train the workforce that's going to be experienced and how do you service and operate those, those new vessels?

WHEELER:

Well, that's very exciting. I imagine if, um, electric tug boats or anything like electric cards, you're gonna have a lot of torque, which I bet would be good for a tugboat application. Um, So we have this former industrial site that's on the bay that is looking to be redeveloped. We have a partner in redevelopment, let's talk about, you know, again, 10 years down the line, let's imagine what the landscape is going to look like. Um, what, what kind of physical changes are going to be necessary to this area to be able to, you know, build offshore wind turbines which are really gigantic, impressive machines in their own right. you know, what sort of cranes or docks, what, what, what all is going to be necessary for this to be successful.

OETKER:

Yeah. So if again, if I can sort of try to paint a picture here. So basically we have this approximately six acre existing dock that goes over the water, we're gonna build a brand new dock that doc is going to be taken out and there's gonna be a brand new and it will be the heaviest lift dock on the west coast. And when I say heavy lift, you know, I mean really heavy, it's kind of like you probably have seen the space shuttle right? Literally when they take the space shuttle and Cape Canaveral and they have it on this crane and they're like moving it to position, this is what we're talking about here in Humboldt Bay is you've got something that's the size of a city block that we're looking to construct and then moving it over this terminal and putting it on the water. And so those are the types of vessels that you're gonna see in the bay, that's at actually moving these constructed objects and then putting them over the water, right? And then once they get these foundations, the size of a city block, basically in the water, then they're going to start constructing the tower and the turban and the blades right import. And these are gonna be tall. Very, very tall. And so people are going to see the crane, which will be about 400 ft tall. The crane itself will be about 400 ft tall. And these turbans which are gonna be very tall, that are gonna as they're being constructed, Right? So that's kind of, is this first thing, it's gonna be a very visible object, but they're tall and skinny and we'll have, you know, most likely the three blades that are beyond their. And for reference when you look out at the existing pulp mill, if you're over on the war finger or other places, and you see the big smokestack, which is the tall structure that's about 150 ft tall. And so we're talking, you know, about three times the height of that existing smokestack. So they will be very tall structures. And so then once they're constructing them in ports and they have them fully upright, then they will tow them out the bay, right in the existing federally maintained navigation channel. Um, the Army Corps of Engineers comes in each year and basically maintains the navigation channel. And at this point, we're not anticipating that there's going to be any modifications that are required to that. Um, so we're looking at it in detail, but at this point that doesn't appear that there needs to be any specific modifications to the navigation channel.

WHEELER:

So, so what you're saying is we don't need to dredge the channel any deeper than we currently dredge it, even though these are very, very big structures that the platforms in which the wind turbine set, they don't have a very deep draft. Is that correct?

OETKER:

That's that's correct. Is the existing channel, when, when you go basically from the Samoa Bridge, you know, to the Coast Guard Station, you know, it's, it's currently maintained at 38 ft deep. That's how deep it is, 38 ft deep and it's about 400 ft wide the channel that entire area. And, and then once you get to, you know about the Coast Guard station, it switches to 48 ft deep out the rest of the through the jetties is, and the reason why it gets deeper is because we all know you have big waves and you have big swells. And so that's why they made it 10 ft deeper to accommodate some of the swells that happened in the navigation channel. So that at the end of the day, a 38 ft vessel when you accommodate when you take into consideration swells that they can get out of the bay safely.

WHEELER:

So we are going to build these wind turbines. So we're building the base on land, the base is going to move on to the water and drop into the water. And then once in the water we're gonna build the turbines on top of it using a very tall crane. The crane, I think is about as tall as like the middle of the spinning blade, is that correct? So that's

OETKER:

about four 100

WHEELER:

ft or so. And then we're going to have the turbines on the structures and then you just kind of drag them out to see, is that right?

OETKER:

Yeah. With sailboats is basically, they'll probably be, you know, they're probably three tow boats that, you know, one on each side and one in the middle that will tow them out the entrance. And so when you're towing them out, you know, the couple of things is, um, you know, the existing fishing vessels that go in and out, uh, the existing recreational boaters, sailboats, etcetera. You know, we're gonna have to accommodate for those things as they're gonna go out. Um, and one thing I just want to kind of note is when, when I talk about this federal navigation channel, you know, and 38 ft deep, You know, most fishing vessels are only in the range of, you know, 8-12 ft of draft. Right? That's all the water they need 8 to 12 ft of water. And there's still a lot of room outside of the navigation channel that's within those depths that the fishing vessels will be able to go around, you know, or outside of that federally maintained navigation channel.

WHEELER:

Um, I, I know some fisher or not fisher surfers, the other kind of recreational group that I'm, I get questions from, they have concerns that would this disrupt their ability to go surfing around the south jetty. Um, is there any, is there gonna be any restriction for other recreational users because of the movement of wind turbines through Humboldt Bay

OETKER:

Yeah. Well, first and foremost, what I often think about is, I know on Wednesday afternoon, you know, they have traditionally have like sailboat racing in, uh, in humble, that's kind of his on Wednesday afternoon, the sail boat operators go out there and they kind of do races and so, you know, I sort of think in terms of, oh well, is there gonna be impact to those, those sailboats? Because this is a hugely important thing for our recreational users, like the sailboats? What are going to be these impacts to people that have their sailboats, the surfers that are out, you know, that use the south jetty, the people that, that kayak and the oyster. Uh, you see the oyster barges that go in and out between the islands. You know, these are all the things that we have to take into consideration of what are the other users of the bay. And then how can this new industry be compatible with those existing users? Um, and these are all things that, that we're really looking at and analyzing and we want to really minimize any of the impacts that we can to those industries.

WHEELER:

Um, and I imagine that these will be studied and the work that you're doing. Are you going to have to do um, some sort of environmental analysis under federal or state law, like the National Environmental Policy Act, Nepa or seek to the California Environmental Quality Act. I imagine that there's, there's some due diligence done for um, to to comply with federal and state law. Right?

OETKER:

Yeah. So, uh, you may have heard that we received approximately $10,450,000 grant from the California Energy Commission for this. And so we have uh, use those money and we have a contract to do an environmental impact report under Ceqa and an environmental impact. Well, we don't know for sure what level, but there will be a nip a document on the federal side as well. And so we've already completed almost all of the technical studies, the wetland delineations, the eelgrass impacts, uh, cultural resource assessments, all of those things. We are all in draft form And our, what we're estimating is that we're going to be releasing those to the, the agency's most likely in the April may time period. And we anticipate that the draft documents will probably be out to the public around June July of 2023. And as part of those studies just to go back to this visual is what we've done is that we've done visual simulations of what this will look like. And I forget exactly how many but approximately 30 different locations everywhere from Trinidad head to Deland to cal poly Humboldt Bay up at the very very top table bluff About 30 different locations. We've done visual simulations of what this will look like from those locations in the bay and as part of those analysis, that's what we'll be releasing to the public and start to get comments and then looking at what will be the impacts to those those areas.

WHEELER:

Super. so jen I imagine you are probably concerned about contamination.

KALT:

Well, yeah, a lot of Humboldt Bay keepers work is focused on just making sure that contamination is fully assessed and and considered in any kind of plans that involve ground disturbance and Larry, you talked about a U. S. E. P. A. Grant that is assessing the contaminants at this site. And can you talk about the timeline for when the assessment and and any kind of cleanup plans will be completed?

OETKER:

Yeah. And so first and foremost with, you know, the contamination is the health of the baby is critically important. Right? And one of the things the barometers that we often look at is, you know, the aquaculture industry, the aquaculture industry absolutely demands high quality water, you know, in order to operate and in order for our aquaculture operations we have to have high quality water and we have aquaculture operations that are right offshore of these locations. And so first and foremost is all of this water quality and the data and everything is all about maintaining high quality water. And so we've already completed what's called the Phase one environmental site assessment for the entire area, which is really is looking at the past contamination issues. We recent applied for half a million dollar grant from the U. S. C. P. A. Under the brownfield program and that they've been providing as technical assistance and other things. And so we're anticipating of starting these phase two environmental site assessments around the february March of 2023 time period and what the preliminary discussions and I'm kind of, I I'm always reluctant to say this, especially on air, what we did with the nordic project and I thought it was really successful is the Water quality control board and the the U. S. C. P. A. Did a sampling plan and then we show gave that sampling plan to the N. E. C. and uh I'm sorry we sent that to Baykeeper and had jen review the sampling plan. And then jen came back and said, hey there's a couple of other parameters that we'd like you to look at in addition to what the water quality control board and with the nordic project, they went ahead and did those additional samples and that's kind of what we'd like to do the same process. This is because we want to remove these uncertainties. Part of the brownfield and cleaning up these sites is not just doing the minimum level but going that extra step to provide certainty of the community that we've uncovered all the parts and we're doing our best to to re mediate those areas. So we want to follow that same process.

KALT:

Excellent. Yeah. That is really important to us as well because you know, having these early discussions is really really helpful to make sure there's no big surprises at the end of the process, especially for projects that you know like with the nordic aqua firms project. The proposal involves modern stormwater systems like detention ponds that are intended to absorb all the runoff from the roof and the parking lot and stuff and infiltrated into the ground rather than having it run off into Humboldt Bay as every all the storm water on the site does today every time it rains. And so it's really important to you know, make sure that the stormwater design team and the contamination experts are comparing notes and so we did a lot of work with nordic and their consultants on that to make sure you're not, you know, putting a detention pond in contaminated soil because that would just defeat the entire purpose and contaminate the groundwater beneath. And if you read the secret, you know, the environmental review documents, all of that work isn't explained in there, but it's all just done behind the scenes in advance. And you know, I don't know why it's not in the in the public documents, but it's really important, um, work and we do this on all kinds of sites in the area. So,

WHEELER:

so other site specific concerns regard in regards to development. Um, Larry, do we have any understanding of historic, we use of this area. Are there, for example, shell mounds or other architectural, architectural, archaeological? There, there's the right word. Archaeological concerns related to this specific site for development. And what is the relationship? How are you working with? Uh, the tribe yet? Not go.

KALT:

I just want to be cautious about feeling anything that's confidential because this has been happening in the news a lot where people are talking about village sites that probably shouldn't be.

OETKER:

That's what I was going to say is that we have, we've completed a cultural resource assessment and we transmit that cultural resource assessment to the and the other tribes and that remains confidential, but that uh, you know, government to government relationship and that tribal consultation is actively engaging. But we don't discuss, you know, the locations or find or anything like that. Good.

WHEELER:

Well, I, I mean, as long as our tribal partners are, are content, um, then I think I have no objections there. Right. Um, well, and

KALT:

that that brings up an important point that's been in the news quite a bit lately, that a lot of these conversations go on in confidential and confidentiality. And um, it's, you know, um, leaves a lot of questions for, for the public, but it's just important for people to know that the tribes are not just regular members of the public that get three minutes of the podium. You know, they have government to government consultations and

OETKER:

you know,

KALT:

it's for them to tell us at some point whether their content or not or or not at all

OETKER:

for us, if I could just sort of give one little here, is that like with the nordic aqua farms project, we just completed 12 months of sampling. What happened was the Harbor District, we contracted with the tribe and the fisheries staff went out and they did all of the sampling for us. Right? And so therefore they're getting that direct firsthand knowledge and they're also getting that experience of taking the sampling. We're getting ready to do a Spar Tina eradication project, a seven year martina eradication project. And again that we tried, we have a contract with them to do seven years worth of cultural monitoring on those. And so it's not just the idea that you're doing consultation, but what we're trying to do is actually getting them involved in the sampling and the analysis in the monitoring of these and having them engaged in the long term, there's also discussions that Crowley had with some of the tribes about how do we work to get them to be actively working on these job sites. How do we get tribal members on job sites, How do we get them directly involved in getting economic opportunities for the tribes as well. and so really getting engaged in the community of how do we do that outreach and hear concerns, but also how do we try to get additional opportunities for the tribes and other members of our community?

WHEELER:

So perhaps lastly on the, the direct impacts. one thing that's protected under the coastal act is esha and jen correct me, environmentally sensitive habitat area.

OETKER:

I got the acronym,

WHEELER:

I know the acronym better than I know the full the full term it encompasses,

KALT:

it encompasses not just wetlands but also dunes and endangered species, habitat and you know, anything that's environmentally sensitive in the coastal zone.

WHEELER:

Is there any identified Aesha within this project area that you'll need to avoid or somehow work around?

OETKER:

Yeah. Is that if you look at the master plan, that we have a couple of things I'd like to point out is in the first place, there is a weapon mitigation area that's on the plan. We also have an eelgrass mitigation plan that we have laid out. One thing I'd like to really sort of, because this goes right along with the esa is low, people are focused on the Bayside, take a look at the master plan, but look at some of the trail networks that are on the pacific ocean side and the interconnection between the town of Samoa, the trail networks that are on there. And then the trail networks that we have planned as part of our master plan. And then coupled with that as really as these improved coastal access points where the Milwaukee is at Bay Street and some of these other places about how do we improve facilities for some of the surfers and recreational opportunities that are on the small peninsula. And so I really, because some of those areas they go right through these dune systems but of having a trail system, coastal trail system, a true coastal trail system on that Samoa peninsula and then also have some improved recreational access points. One of the things that's kind of uh been a little bit frustrating is that there are a couple of locations that the have been mitigated and that people have like driven all over these dunes restoration locations that are on the small peninsula. I'm really talking about that narrow band between the road and the pacific ocean. Um and then really getting some defined coastal access points and then really having some protected areas where we're trying to protect that that Russia that's along the shore line there of the pacific ocean but still allow pedestrian public access and all of these other things not prohibiting public access access but really promoting dune restoration and dune habitat conservation because those are really the front line of defense for sea level rise, tsunami inundation inundation and a whole host Of bird species and other reptiles that use those, those critical habitat pieces. And so I really want to point people to that narrow strip that's right along Highway 255, which is really, really critical habitat for a lot of species. And it's also that interface that the public uses a lot.

KALT:

So it sounds like there's going to be um, some improvements along with this project that will benefit the Samoa peninsula communities of which you live in one right? You live in Manila. Yeah. So there's gonna be a lot of changes, but hopefully there will be a lot of positive changes as well. Um, one thing I really want to be sure we talk about because people ask me about it quite a bit as sea level rise and um how the Harbor District plans to um um plan for sea level rise while building this whole dock and warehouse facility in the access roads to it and everything. Can you talk a little bit about that?

OETKER:

Sure. Just to put this into perspective, Well, sea level rise, I often look at it and say that if you're on the Eureka boardwalk, right? If you're on the Eureka boardwalk, that's basically in 2100, approximately where sea level rises is projected to to go to. So most people that walk along the Eureka boardwalk, you're you're basically walking along where sea level is going to be in 2100, just a little bit less than that, but that's how high it is. And so on the small peninsula, there's areas that are a little bit under the 2100 sea level rise projections. And so what our plan is, is to elevate that area approximately 4 to 5 ft. and to plan for sea level rise. And so then what that means is the shore line. The existing shore line is where right now the existing shore line, if you if people that walk along like the arcata marsh, you know, and where clark lake is, what you'll see is there's a bunch of concrete rubble on the shore line, Right. That's kind of historically what they did for a shore line. And so it's approximately a mile of shore line, that will be a part of this project. And that shore line is that same concrete rubble because historically that's what they did. And what we, what we would like to do is basically kind of like a living shoreline, a shoreline restoration project. And so as we're elevating the land behind it and sea level rise to remove some of that hard rubble interface and to create more of a living shore line so that we can have habitat for crabs and critters and shorebirds and vegetation and all of these other things, but still provide a soft engineered shoreline a solution.

KALT:

So, a lot of this, the environmental impacts and and sea level rise. A lot of this will be, you know, publicly available for review and comment at the Coastal commission permitting process and whatnot. But something I think that the public may be less aware of is the property tax structure that's been formed out there in Samoa and um you know, I've seen it in the news, but I was wondering if you can explain in simple terms since I don't fully understand it, what does it mean and how is it going to benefit the communities in the Harbor District and and promote this, this whole project going forward in the best way possible.

OETKER:

Yes, so the Harbor District in the county of Humboldt, really, the county of Humboldt, I want to give all the credit to the county of Humboldt on this. We work with the water district, Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District, Samoa Peninsula Community Services District, the Harbor District and basically said if we bring these new developments to the peninsula, What happens is is that everybody, I mean, I literally just wrote my paper property check tax check, I think it was on Monday. Right? So everybody that just wrote your property taxes right. What the deal is is that everybody pays 1% property tax, that's what people pay in California. And so that 1% property taxes as the nordic aqua farms and this new terminal project come online and they're gonna pay these additional property taxes that the county of humble as agreed to reinvest a large portion of those property tax revenues into the Samoa peninsula and those would be two for housing, recreational opportunities, trails, infrastructure and these other things. And so between the nordic aqua farms, the uh, the new terminal project that we're describing, the town of Samoa and some of the other development that we're seeing on the Samoa peninsula, it's projected to raise approximately $50 million of tax revenue that would be reinvested back into the Samana Peninsula. This is huge, a huge win. So instead of those revenues going back to the general fund of the county and just being siphoned away to all the other development, it's actually being reinvested back into the communities. And so the comm community as a whole is gonna see some real good improvements that are gonna start to happen over the course of the next couple of years, these trails, these coastal access points. A lot of these, these pieces are really exciting from a land use planner like myself that's been trying to fund these things for years.

KALT:

Um tell people, tell our listeners how they can follow what's going on at the Harbor District, um, whether it be public meetings or the website.

OETKER:

Yeah. So first and foremost, kind of what we have said at the Harbor District, we have this on pretty much every meeting of the Harbor District. And the idea is is that if you have an issue or you have a concern, you can just come to any Harbor District meeting and either listen in or voice your concerns directly to the board so that they can hear those. So first and fore foremost every month you can do this, you don't have to wait for some big public meeting to do this, you can do this every month, come to the Harbor District Board and give your, your comments. Um, and then, but we are gonna be doing some specific outreach to the community outreach efforts and other things. Over the course of the next 6 to 12 months, you're gonna start to see a number of outreach efforts. The Redwood community action agency is uh, is doing some outreach right now to Manila Samoa and the Samoa peninsula because we have some clean California grants and we're gonna be working with our partners, the core hub, the county of Humboldt and others to do a coordinated public information requests. So really it's kind of a whole of government working together as opposed to having, you know, a million different public meetings that are done with individual groups. All right,

WHEELER:

well, thank you so much Larry, this is gonna be an exciting next 10 years as we all work as a community to figure this thing out together.So, this has been another episode of the Econews Report. Join us again next week on this time and channel for more environmental news from the north coast of California