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PG&E agrees to settlement to reduce dioxin runoff into bays, waterways

An eight-year-old lawsuit filed against PG&E Co. for alleged releases of dioxin from stored utility poles into San Francisco Bay and Humboldt Bay has been settled, according to the environmental group that filed the lawsuit.

The Ecological Rights Foundation, based in Garberville (Humboldt County), alleged in its 2010 lawsuit that dioxin, a chemical that causes cancer and birth defects, was carried by storm water runoff from treated wooden utility poles, sawdust and wood waste into the two bays. The settlement was signed by U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg in San Francisco on Friday and announced by the foundation on Monday.

Under the agreement, which will remain in effect through 2026, PG&E will identify storage yards containing treated poles and will test and implement technologies for reducing dioxin runoff to levels that pose lower risk to human health and wildlife.

Two candidates vie for Harbor District seat

Editor's Note: Richard Marks is seeking re-election to the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District’s Board of Commissioners on Nov. 6. Eureka City Councilwoman Marian Brady is challenging him for the Division 4 seat, which covers the majority of Eureka. On Aug. 21, the Times-Standard emailed both candidates, asking them to answer five questions regarding their experience and their stance on important issues facing their community. The replies of respondents appear below.

Richard Marks

Q: Please describe your experience and what you bring to the job.

A: Humboldt Bay is an amazing place that provides so much for our county. That is why it is imperative that we work together to promote and protect this economic, recreational and ecological treasure at the center of our community.

For the last nine years I’ve had the honor to serve the 4th Division on the Humboldt Bay Harbor Recreation and Conservation District. During this time, shipping is dramatically up, there are more jobs, the bay is cleaner and more productive and the financial health of the district has improved greatly.

Meet Jennifer Kalt – as seen in Vanity Fair!

It’s a beautiful photograph in a slick magazine. Vanity Fair’s Summer 2018 issue has a feature article titled “Clear the Coast: A Band of Passionate Californians Is Fighting To Keep Crucial Waterways Clean” and the photograph was taken in Rancho Palos Verdes.

Jennifer Kalt, the director of Humboldt Baykeeper is third from the right, wearing her well worn field vest over a Humboldt Baykeeper T-shirt. Thanks for representing!

Settlement In Lawsuit Over Cancer-Causing Dioxin Runoff From PG&E Utility Poles

The wooden poles are treated with pentachlorophenol, a preservative that creates dioxin when it is manufactured. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has banned the preservative for all uses except on utility poles, and its website says it “is extremely toxic when ingested by humans.”

New Directions teams up with Caltrans for cleanup work

John Shelter has been trying to provide homeless men and women with work in Humboldt County for decades, and his latest cleanup project has led to a contract agreement between Shelter’s New Directions program and Caltrans.

New Directions will clean up the areas under 10 bridges in Arcata and Eureka, including the Samoa Bridge and the Eureka Slough Bridge, so that Caltrans inspectors and work crews can perform required maintenance and inspections.

Shelter’s aim is to help homeless men and women turn their lives around.

“The philosophy is employment,” Shelter said on Friday. “Get them up and working, get them going and then address the mental health and addiction and you have a new direction. We change attitudes that change behavior.”