Remember offshore wind? That was a thing we talked about for a while. Leases were sold off the Humboldt Coast, federal grants came rolling in, California’s voters passed a great big climate bill that included by funding for harbor facilities.

Then Donald Trump was re-elected as president, and all that came screeching to a halt. Federal grants were clawed back. The offshore wind companies that had opened offices in Eureka closed those offices. All was quiet again.

But right now, down in Long Beach, a bunch of Humboldters are attending the Pacific Offshore Wind Summit, a trade conference that wants to keep the flame alive. Among the presenters at the conference are:

• Rob Holmlund, the director of development for the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District, who will be participating in a panel called “Putting Steel in the Water — Building Out Ports, Foundations, and Vessels in the Supply Chain for CA Offshore Wind.”
• Arne Jacobsen, a director of Cal Poly Humboldt’s Schatz Energy Resource Center, who will deliver a keynote address called “Connecting Offshore Wind to California’s Grid – Accelerating Transmission Planning & Interconnection.”
• Jason Ramos, chair of the Blue Lake Rancheria, who will deliver another keynote titled “Tribal Nation Strategies for Workforce & Economic Development.” [DISCLOSURE: The Blue Lake Rancheria is a minority owner of the Outpost’s parent company, Lost Coast Communications, Inc.]

These people are not acting as though offshore wind development is a dead letter.

So what do you think? Are they wrong? Is the offshore wind discussion coming back soon?