News

Aiming to Ship Coal Out of Humboldt Bay, Shadowy Corporation Makes Bid to Take Over NCRA Line

Unidentified coal companies appear to be behind a new backdoor effort to acquire the North Coast Railroad Authority’s right-of-way between Eureka and Willits and rehabilitate the defunct railroad, all so they can export coal to Asian markets via the Port of Humboldt Bay.

State Senator Mike McGuire calls this development “one of the largest environmental threats to hit the North Coast in decades.”

On Aug. 16, a mysterious, newly formed corporation called North Coast Railroad Company, LLC, filed a pleading with the Surface Transportation Board. Ostensibly a proposal to submit an “Offer of Financial Assistance” to rebuild the line, the filing makes a number of surprising claims.

First District Supervisor Rex Bohn said he met with some of the interested parties. About six months ago, he had dinner with a group of people who said they were interested in restoring the rail line. The group included Utah State Senator David Hinkins.

“They had some Native Americans they were partnering up with,” Bohn said. “I know that they met with the Wiyots quite a bit. They were talking about just opening the rail line. … They thought it’s usable. They had some freight ideas that they could get out of here.”

Asked if they identified what type of freight they intended to ship, Bohn said, “They held it pretty close to the chest, I thought. Rightly so.”

Told that McGuire and Huffman had identified the interested parties as coal companies, Bohn said, “They did talk about clean coal cars, you know, completely covered, completely domed and everything.”

Officials: COVID in wastewater not harmful

Eureka city officials caused a bit of a stir last week after alerting the community to a report spotlighting significant levels of COVID-19 in the city’s wastewater. The report indicated Eureka has higher concentrations of COVID-19 in its wastewater than nearly anywhere else in the United States.

While data is limited, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there is no evidence to suggest someone could become sick with COVID-19 due to wastewater exposure.“Recently, ribonucleic acid from the virus that causes COVID- 19 has been found in untreated wastewater,” according to the CDC website. “While data are limited, there is little evidence of infectious virus in wastewater. … Standard practices associated with wastewater treatment plant operations should be sufficient to protect wastewater workers from the virus that causes COVID-19.”

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, wastewater treatment plants treat viruses and other pathogens, including COVID-19.

COVID Virus Concentrations in Eureka Sewage ‘Among the Highest in the Nation,’ Says City

Press release from the City of Eureka:

The City of Eureka has been notified of a higher-than-average concentration of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in wastewater flowing to the City’s wastewater treatment plant. Samples from the plant, which serves the greater Eureka area including Myrtletown, Cutten, and Pine Hill, were collected via the National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS), a federal program designed to help public health officials monitor COVID-19 spread. Out of all samples submitted nationwide in the last six weeks, local wastewater contained concentrations higher than 99% of all samples.

This report coincides with last Friday’s Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services announcement that cited that the county experienced its highest single day case count of confirmed COVID-19 last week and yesterday’s subsequent announcement that more than 90 additional cases were confirmed since last week’s report.

To view the full biobot report, visit this link.

For more information about COVID-19 conditions locally, including where to get vaccinated, visit this link.

Record Flooding in the 2030s, and it's Partly Because of the Moon

A new study on high tide flooding predicts that the mid-2030s could be catastrophically wet in U.S. coastal regions — and it could stay that way for an entire decade.

Led by members of the NASA Sea Level Change Team from the University of Hawaii, the study says that high tide flooding could happen more frequently on several U.S. coasts. Flooding at high tide, often called nuisance flooding, already occurs with regularity in many coastal communities as water routinely sloshes into streets, yards and businesses.

Two factors could converge to worsen flooding at high tide, the study says: rising sea levels fueled by climate change — and the moon.

The moon's orbit is due for its regular "wobble." That is entirely natural, NASA says, and it has been recorded as far back as 1728. Half of the moon's 18.6-year cycle creates lower high tides and higher low tides; the other creates higher high tides and even lower low tides.

Nordic invites community to tour fish farm site

Local officials and community members joined Nordic Aquafarms representatives for a site tour of the proposed onshore fish farm at the defunct Samoa pulp mill facility Thursday. The Norway-based seafood company launched the tour series last week in an effort to address community concerns surrounding the project.

Earlier this year, Nordic agreed to pursue an environmental impact report for the project in response to calls for further environmental analysis.

Although the Humboldt County Planning and Building Department had already released a mitigated negative declaration for the project, a coalition of environmental groups argued that the assessment didn’t go far enough, citing concerns of energy use, fish feed, fish waste disposal, water use and transportation impacts.

If all goes according to plan, Naess said the EIR will be out for public review in September.

“Then it goes for a 45-day public comment period and then, of course, we will need to respond to everything,” she said. “Then hopefully we will receive the final approval. Depending on whether or not it’s appealed, the project would go before the Board of Supervisors.”

Those interested in scheduling a tour of the project site can contact local liaison Lynette Mullen via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..