Last Thursday, the Coastal Commission unanimously approved a 5-year permit for Nordic Aquafarms to discharge tertiary-treated wastewater through the 1.5-mile long ocean outfall that was built for the pulp mill in the 1960s. The ocean outfall has attracted a number of potential developers since the pulp mill closed for good in 2008, including a quickly-withdrawn scheme to process gold ore with toxic chemicals like cyanide.
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Nordic Aquafarms has cleared yet another hurdle in the extensive permitting process for its land-based fish farm planned for the Samoa Peninsula. During today’s monthly meeting, the California Coastal Commission unanimously approved a coastal development permit, with special conditions, for wastewater discharge for the proposed project.The Norwegian seafood company plans to raise yellowtail kingfish at the massive aquaculture facility, which would discharge more than 10 million gallons of “tertiary treated wastewater” per day through the existing Redwood Marine Terminal II outfall pipe located 1.55 miles offshore. To put that into perspective, when the Samoa Pulp Mill was operational it would produce 70 million gallons of untreated wastewater per day, according to Coastal Commission staff.Jennifer Kalt, executive director of Humboldt Waterkeeper, spoke on behalf of the Surfrider Foundation, the Northcoast Environmental Center and the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC), and offered support for the staff recommendation to approve the permit with additional ocean monitoring requirements. She credited Nordic for its “commitment to 100 percent renewable energy” and the company’s “willingness to discuss, negotiate and compromise” throughout the project development process.“We view the project’s potential impacts along with its benefits – namely that it would begin by removing contaminated structures, including the smokestack and chemical tanks abandoned in 2008 by the pulp mill that operated there since the 1960s,” Kalt continued. “We strongly support staff recommendations, and we urge you to approve the [coastal development permit] with special conditions.”Keep reading
Huge coastal barriers could protect the world’s cities. But they’ll have unexpected costs.There are many kinds of coastal protection. Some of the most effective are entirely natural. Marshes, mangroves, and even sandy beaches can absorb the destructive power of waves, helping to soak up water and energy that would otherwise wreak havoc. Engineers can fortify a shoreline by replenishing lost sand, or by adding rock, wood, or concrete. It’s also possible to augment the shore. A rock pile that parallels the coast, shielding the beach from waves, is called a breakwater. A pile that juts out to sea, trapping sand on one side, is called a groin. All of these measures are already widely used on coastlines around the world.Hard seawalls may be the bluntest instrument in coastal engineering. Typically, they are made from concrete, stone, wood, or metal, and rise vertically from the shore. But a wave that strikes a seawall never breaks and dissipates, as it would on a beach; instead, it bounces off like an echo, its destructive force intact. In the end, the flow of water and sediment is a zero-sum game. For a wave to spare one place, it has to strike another; for sand to accumulate somewhere, it has to wash away from somewhere else.When I ran these critiques of coastal protection by Rachel Gittman, a marine ecologist at East Carolina University, she offered another reason to worry about seawalls. Natural habitats already serve as powerful buffers against flooding, she said. They absorb water and energy; this is why marsh and mangrove restoration is often the best way to protect a coast. By contrast, when coastal communities wall off the shoreline, they tend to trap ecosystems between the water and the wall, causing a process called coastal squeeze. “It can be a slow drowning of those habitats,” she told me. When they disappear, we may be more vulnerable than when we started.Keep reading
On this week's EcoNews Report, Jen Kalt of Humboldt Waterkeeper interviews Sebastian Elrite of AquaRodeo Farms and Humboldt Bay Provisions to learn about Humboldt Bay oysters. Sebastian tells us all about how they are grown, why they're good for you, the importance of water quality, and how ocean acidification has led to a boom in the local oyster "seed" industry.Tune in at this link or wherever you get podcasts!
As a 20-year Manila resident and a member of the Peninsula Community Collaborative (PCC), I feel the winds of change blowing and am paying close attention to the offshore wind projects slated to come to Humboldt Bay.Humboldt Bay and its offshore waters are becoming an integral part in the reduction of our reliance on fossil fuels. Currently, our harbor district is in negotiations with Crowley, a logistics and maritime service company based out of Jacksonville, Florida, to develop land in Samoa into a marine terminal. This port will be an industrial manufacturing plant that builds and ships out various components of offshore wind turbines. Wind components will eventually be shipped out to wind energy farms off of Humboldt shores and throughout the coasts of California and Oregon.Living on the peninsula means living within the most amazing ocean, bay and dune ecosystems. I am lucky enough to walk directly to the beach and sometimes not see another person for hours. It is beautiful, peaceful, accessible, and unique. Other folks fish, surf, kayak, and otherwise enjoy these public spaces. As a lifelong environmentalist, I support the transition to renewable energy sources, but I also believe it is so important to keep this landscape and community safe during development.While developing a port in beautiful Humboldt Bay, it is essential and appropriate to expect commitments from the developers that stand to profit from the new industry. Even the most “green” companies have the potential to cause harm and exploit the people, land, and resources of a community. Now is the time to lay out expectations of how we want Crowley to integrate into the Humboldt region. While I do not expect them to resolve all the historic challenges of our community, I expect them to participate immediately in the ongoing efforts to address needed improvements, as well as mitigate potential harms from the construction and functions of the port.Keep reading
Last Thursday, the Coastal Commission unanimously approved a 5-year permit for Nordic Aquafarms to discharge tertiary-treated wastewater through the 1.5-mile long ocean outfall that was built for the pulp mill in the 1960s. The ocean outfall has attracted a number of potential developers since the pulp mill closed for good in 2008, including a quickly-withdrawn scheme to process gold ore with toxic chemicals like cyanide. 
