BRIEF OVERVIEW: In 2022, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) awarded two lease areas 20-30 miles west of Humboldt Bay to offshore wind developers. BOEM’s environmental review process for offshore wind development is separated into two analyses. First is environmental impact assessment of the impacts of the studies that need to be done, such as the use of buoys, radar, and sonar. Next, after studies of the lease areas are complete, Environmental Impact Statements will analyze impacts from construction and operation of the wind turbines. These processes will be done separately for the two lease areas.Also in 2022, the California Coastal Commission reviewed plans for studying marine life in the proposed Humboldt Wind Energy Area, 21 miles west of Humboldt Bay. We submitted these comments and these comments. The plans for studies were approved with seven conditions, including a vessel speed limit of 10 knots (11.5 mph) to decrease the likelihood of collisions with whales and other marine mammals.In 2023, the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation, and Conservation District issued a Notice of Preparation for the proposed Heavy Lift Terminal in Samoa. We submitted these comments on the potential impacts that must be addressed in the Draft EIR, which is being developed. For more info, check out the website we developed with colleagues at EPIC and CORE Hub: FAQs on Offshore Wind Energy.LATEST NEWS on Offshore Wind Energy:
To reduce noise, air, and water pollution from fossil fuels, Humboldt Bay's port redevelopment must be as electrified as possible. Thanks to broad support for this concept, the Harbor District voted unanimously to develop a "Green Terminal Strategy" by March 2025.
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The wind resource beyond Humboldt Bay is among the best in the United States, with strong, consistent wind speeds that are ideal for commercial development. There’s just one problem: electrical transmission.Getting the power from the floating offshore turbines to the shore is one thing; getting the power to communities throughout the region and across the state is another. Wind developers can run big, subsea cables from their offshore wind projects to land with relative ease, but once that power comes ashore it encounters an electrical grid that wasn’t designed to handle it.
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Between January 1, 2019 and February 8 of this year, 613 stranded gray whales have been found along the west coast of North America between Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and the Chukchi Sea in northern Alaska. Eight were found along the coast between South Humboldt Bay and the Oregon border. This has been declared an Unusual Mortality Event (UME)... Photo credit: NOAA Fisheries.
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On Tuesday, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved forming two ad hoc committees to work on offshore wind-related issues, authorized the County Administrative Officer to execute a $851,500 grant agreement for offshore wind activity, and enacted agreements with the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation, and Conservation District, the city of Eureka and other local and tribal agencies to collaborate on port and wind development.Offshore wind in Humboldt County is still in a very early stage, though California North Floating LLC placed the winning bids for the area where turbines would be placed roughly 20 miles off the coast of Eureka. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is still reviewing the bids, but once the leases are granted, the site must be surveyed and a plethora of permits must be issued.“There’ll be a couple years of site assessments and surveys. After that, the concept of operation plan process will begin,” Scott Adair, Humboldt County’s director of economic development, said. “We are many years away from actual turbines being put into the water.”Read More
In the United States 17 offshore wind sites are under development in the Atlantic, from Cape Cod at the north end down to North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Once completed these wind farms will create a network of turbines along the East Coast continental shelf like nothing else on Earth.While nobody knows what toll the looming structures might take on seabirds, scientists say gannets may be especially vulnerable. North American populations have stopped expanding over the past decade. Scientists pin the leveling off on warming oceans near their breeding grounds that have altered their prey base. Here, on their wintering grounds, climate change is evident, too. A decade ago Patteson and I would never have seen shrimp boats in January: Back then the North Carolina shrimp harvest was negligible in cold winter waters. Now nearly 40 percent of the annual harvest is caught between December and March.
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To reduce noise, air, and water pollution from fossil fuels, Humboldt Bay's port redevelopment must be as electrified as possible. Thanks to broad support for this concept, the Harbor District voted unanimously to develop a "Green Terminal Strategy" by March 2025. 
