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Trump and Newsom Find Common Ground Attacking California’s Coastal Agency

The California Coastal Commission has been under siege like never before, alarming environmentalists and raising questions about the future of the 53-year-old state agency.

“We are under complete assault,” said Susan Lowenberg, a member of the coastal-preservation commission, which was born in the 1970s from the same movement that gave rise to Earth Day and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “We need help.”

President Trump has publicly castigated the state commission, vowing not to “let them get away with their antics.” Elon Musk has said it “should not even exist as an organization.” Mr. Trump’s administration has threatened to withhold federal aid for the Los Angeles wildfires unless the state defunds the agency.

And Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, has said the commission has too much power, and delivered a stinging rebuke in January.

The California Coastal Commission has been instrumental in preserving that stretch of the state facing the Pacific Ocean by limiting development and ensuring public access. But more than half a century later, the commission has been under siege like never before.

In 1972, California voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure that maximized public access to the shoreline, required extra permitting for any construction near the coast and created the commission to review development proposals. It’sa the only state agency in California created by voters. Later, in 1976, the State Legislature cemented the protections in the Coastal Act.

“The Coastal Act is a hugely important thing for all Californians and all people who come to California, and it should not be sacrificed to solve other problems,” said Jennifer Savage, California policy associate director at the Surfrider Foundation.

That’s a wrap on Tsunami Preparedness Week 2025

California’s 2025 Tsunami Preparedness Week is in the books. What did it accomplish? Three things I hope: a test of North Coast counties’ emergency notification system, an opportunity for California emergency managers to practice responding to a tsunami event, and a time to bombard you with tips and information about tsunamis and what to do when one approaches. For some of you, it did something even more important — on Wednesday, you walked your evacuation route, developing the muscle memory to do the right thing when a major tsunami arrives.

There is a reason why California chooses the last week in March to focus on tsunamis. This marks our worst historic tsunami disaster. On March 27, 1964, at 5:36 p.m. local time in Alaska, a small crack formed near the north shore of Alaska’s Prince William Sound. As that crack grew, the ground shifted around it changing the coastline of southern Alaska forever. When the rupture finally stopped more than a minute later, a 500-mile-long fault had ruptured causing the land around it to uplift and subside.

Our 2025 tsunami week focus was to flip the tables, so to speak — to pretend what happened in Alaska in 1964 was here and Alaska got our tsunami four hours later. Geologic evidence suggests more than a dozen of these earthquakes have occurred over the last several thousand years ranging in magnitude from the upper 8s to 9. The most recent was on January 26, 1700. The source is the Cascadia subduction zone extending from Cape Mendocino to Vancouver Island, Canada.

It’s much more difficult to prepare for a Cascadia earthquake and tsunami than for a repeat of what happened in 1964 or in 2011 when we had more than 9 hours before the Japan tsunami reached us. The 1964 Alaska experience from the Alaska perspective provides useful guidance on what to expect.

• There will be no official warning or guidance on what to do or what to expect. The first 30 seconds of shaking will knock out our power, trigger landslides, and make roads impassable. No internet, no phones, no one knocking on your door. You will get an alert that something is up — more than a minute of ground shaking.

Next time the ground shakes for a long time, I hope it makes you think:

1. DROP, COVER, HOLD ON or stay in one spot while the shaking lasts

2. Am I in a tsunami zone? If YES, evacuate as soon as I can safely move. If NO, stay put!

You can sign up for Humboldt County's emergency notification system to get texts, emails, and/or phone calls.

For more info aboute tsunamis safety, including tsunami hazard maps, visit the Redwood Coast Tsunami Working Group.

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Humboldt Planners Take First Glance at Lighting Regulations

Humboldt County has begun an effort to regulate trespassing – not of people, but of light.

A draft ordinance that seeks to “minimize the effects of light trespass and light pollution” got initial feedback during a March 20 Planning Commission workshop.

The proposed new law will “establish reasonable design standards for outdoor lighting to minimize light pollution while maintaining nighttime safety, utility, security and the enjoyment of the night sky,” according to its statement of purpose.

Directed at residential and commercial properties, the ordinance’s basic goal is to contain lighting within properties and “address community complaints” about “nuisance” lighting.

County Planner Reanna Meighan said light pollution is defined as “any artificial light emitted into the atmosphere, either directly or indirectly, which may have a destructive effect on natural cycles and inhibit the observation of our stars and planets.”

Light pollution also impacts “the circadian rhythms of a majority of organisms, including humans,” she continued.

Requiring “fully shielded’ lighting and use of “warm” bulbs that emit yellow light are among the ordinance’s draft measures.

Mark Wilson, vice president of Astronomers of Humboldt, referred to a recommended limit on “color temperature” set by the International Dark Sky Association (DSA) and a scientific paper.

The DSA’s recommended limit is 2,700 kelvin while the ordinance’s standard for warm lighting is 3,000 kelvin or less.

Sylvia van Royen of Humboldt Waterkeeper recommended using the DSA’s “municipal code template” for regulating light, with lumens, candelas or watts as units of measurement.

Meighan said the template was reviewed but “it was very technical” and “we decided to suggest something that would be more standard and straightforward for the general public to understand.”

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Humboldt Bay Trail planned to extend to College of the Redwoods

At last week’s Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation, and Conservation District Board of Commissioners meeting, Hank Seemann, deputy director at Humboldt County Public Works, presented a provisional plan to extend the southwestern leg of the Humboldt Bay Trail to College of the Redwoods.

“I’d like to just give you a brief overview of a planning study that we’re wrapping up to extend the Humboldt Bay Trail from Eureka south to College of the Redwoods,” Seemann told the commissioners and public. “Once the trail along the safety corridor was in the construction phase, we wanted to think about what’s the next frontier, and this is where we started to look at the biggest priority to expand regional trails, both for alternative or active transportation … and also to provide additional racing opportunities.”

Seemann noted that the county has led the effort to extend the northeast portion of the trail, a project that will be completed in June or July of this year. When completed, that project will connect Eureka and Arcata along an expanding network of paved trails.

The new extension of trail will continue from Humboldt Bay Trail's current southwest terminus, just north of King Salmon, to College of the Redwoods.

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Humboldt County supervisors support Rogers’ Klamath water bill

The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday signed off on a letter of support for a state Assembly Bill penned by District 2 Assemblymember Chris Rogers (D-Santa Rosa). The letter for the bill, which would make emergency water regulations permanent on two Klamath tributaries in the name of protecting fish, was approved in a 4-1 vote. First District Supervisor Rex Bohn was the dissenting vote.

Assembly Bill 263 would keep emergency drought water diversion rules in place for the Scott and Shasta rivers until permanent regulations are adopted. Drought water rules for these tributaries to the Klamath River are presently set by the California State Water Resources Control Board on a yearly basis. The board is working on permanent rules for the sticky water diversion situation, but this is expected to take a long time and hinges on state emergency declarations of drought. Rogers previously told the Times-Standard this system creates uncertainty for fish cycles and water users alike.

“Humboldt County has long relied on the fishing industry to support its local economy, and we also acknowledge the historic inequitable management of our state’s water system has discounted and ignored important tribal, cultural and economic uses of water and dependence on healthy aquatic ecosystems,” the letter states, initiated by Supervisor Steve Madrone.

The letter points to the importance of salmon for local tribes and the significant decline of salmon populations locally. The rivers host spawning and rearing habitats for fish populations. Conservationists, state agencies and the fishing industries have pointed out low flows have cut off habitat for fish, where native populations are shrinking.

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