News

8/20/15

Tucked near King Salmon, the Humboldt Bay nuclear power plant’s been shut down since 1976. It is part way to burial but, like rust, it will never sleep.

In a PG&E-sponsored Aug. 19 “open house” in Eureka, utility staffers were supposed to update the community on the nuke plant’s progress toward decommissioning. The event left many befuddled. PG&E made no presentation, so community members couldn’t hear the utility’s update, then feed off of each other’s knowledge in a group question-and-answer session. Loren Sharp, PG&E plant manager, declined to hold an open session for all.

Instead, the utility took a page from a public relations’ manual, using tactics from what PR people call the “10 Ds.” Those start with “deflect, deny . . .” and include “dividing” communities interested in a particular issue. Instead of addressing the crowd of about 50, PG&E offered one-on-one, semi-private sessions, pairing one staffer with each person who had a question. Many attendees, including Eureka City Manager Greg Sparks, ended up wandering through the Wharfinger building wondering just what sort of questions they should be asking PG&E staff.

Unlike the rest of the community, though, Sparks said that when he does come up with questions, he has a straight phone line to call and get answers from the utility.

Some who did have their questions prepared were disappointed.

“They got their answers down pat,” said Cutten resident Ed Dickinson. “They're telling me that they're building a 40-foot-high berm to protect the site from tsunamis.” But, he added that 40 feet above sea-level still appears to be in the tsunami warning zone.

At this point, PG&E plans on leaving all the high-level radioactive waste on site at the edge of the bay and in close proximity to three earthquake faults. Scientists estimate that spent nuclear fuel (plutonium) has a "half-life" of 24,000 years. That means that half of its toxic radiation is expected to expire by year 26,015.

That's only half. The rest, well, it will be around another 100,000 years.

By the bay is where all that toxic waste is going to stay. That's because, despite federal law requiring a long-term waste storage site, there is none. And nearly all observers say there will never ever be one. So, high-level radioactive waste is going to stay here. Forever.

While the high-level waste remains, there's less low-level radioactive waste now than when the plant shut down, said PG&E’s Sharp. He added that about 1,000 dump truck-sized loads of soil have been removed and sent to a facility in Idaho, with another 4,000 truck-loads expected to be dug up and disposed.

While some of the Wharfinger wanderers, like Arcata resident Jean Nobel, were concerned about monitoring soil removal for releasing radioactivity into the environment, others noted the three pesky earthquake faults near the nuke plant. The closest, the Buhne Point Fault, surfaces only 300 feet away. An earthquake that splits open radioactive waste containment would launch radioactivity into the atmosphere, where it would likely be deadly.

“It's an incredibly seismically active area,” said Kate Huckelbridge, California Coastal Commission senior environmental scientist by phone. Despite following decommissioning closely for the state, she said PG&E hadn’t notified her of its public update meeting.

The coastal commission is permitting the plan to restore the site to environmental acceptability. But, Huckelbridge said, PG&E has yet to address several of the state's outstanding questions on how to finesse that restoration.

Then, there's sea level change. Sea-level is expected to rise up to 4.7 feet in the area in the next century, according to PG&E. “Humboldt Bay is more susceptible to sea-level rise than elsewhere on the northern coast of California,” according to PG&E.

The radioactive waste is now stored 44 feet above the Bay, according to the coastal commission. So, long before the radioactive waste loses its toxicity, it could be underwater due to sea-level rise. The coastal commission also noted that the waste storage area “would be subject during a tsunami to wave energy from both incoming and retreating waves, which could result in substantial erosion and damage.”

Decommissioning doesn’t come cheap. According to recent figures from the state, Humboldt's decommissioning trust fund is at least $292 million short of what it will cost to finish the job.

PG&E forecasts full decommissioning will cost $983 million, although some think that number is too low. The utility's already spent $545 million, according to California Public Utilities Commission spokeswoman Terrie Prosper. The trust fund set up to pay for burial had only $146 million left at the end of 2014, noted Prosper.

Despite that apparent shortage, there will be enough money to finish the job, said Sharp. Any shortage would be added to monthly bills under the line item “decommissioning.”

The Humboldt nuke plant cost $60 million to build, and PG&E originally estimated it would cost $166 million to decommission.

When finished, “the site will have more natural areas than existed onsite before the start of decommissioning,” Sharp noted in a July 9 letter to the Coastal Commission. Decommissioning has included transferring spent fuel from the reactor to concrete casks. Cask storage is considered a safer method of temporary radioactive waste storage than leaving it in a pool of water in the reactor vessel. In his letter, Sharp noted that decommissioning has been “complicated and challenging.”

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7/16/15



Eureka police officers on Wednesday morning posted notices in the greenbelt area known as the Devil’s Playground and informed those residing there that they had 10 days to gather their belongings and move elsewhere.



“We contacted 113 people today,” Eureka Police Chief Andrew Mills said. “We went from north to south. We notified every person that’s out there. At some point in the future, we will do enforcement out there.”



Mills cautioned that does not mean a sweep.



He said the residents are being urged to begin making arrangements to live elsewhere and have been provided information about social services to accomplish that mission. Once the 10 days have passed, citations will be issued, the city attorney may seek stayaway orders and, if that doesn’t work, residents could face arrest.



“We (the police department) are a piece of this function,” Mills said. “We’re not the whole deal.” The illegal camping situation behind the Bayshore Mall has been discussed repeatedly at the department head level, he said, and the decision has been made to ask people to leave.

Redwood Empire Municipal Insurance Fund (REMIF) — the city’s insurer — has indicated it will not cover the city if any additional injuries occur at Devil’s Playground, Mills said, and environmental agencies have threatened litigation if the city doesn’t take action.

City Manager Greg Sparks confirmed in a city of Eureka press release press release issued Wednesday that the city has received complaints from the Environmental Protection Agency, the California Coastal Commission and residents about trash and pollution.

Sparks said in the release that the city “believes it is critical to enforce cleanup and end camping on public property in the environmentally sensitive marsh and greenbelt areas of the community. These areas need to be available for the enjoyment of all our residents and our visitors.”

The area is home to an estimated 100 to 200 people taking shelter in tents and other temporary structures. The site has also been the focus of past police attention to find and arrest suspects of various crimes believed to be hiding there.

Following an April 15 raid — in which more than 20 people were arrested — Mills, Sparks and Eureka Community/Development Services Director Rob Holmlund began to search for a site to establish a sanctioned and monitored camp. After a few months, that effort was abandoned and attention re-focused on the rapid re-housing model and the July 1 opening of the repurposed Multiple Assistance Center.

With this latest step, Mills said, housing information will be provided to the residents, but they will have to apply to get the assistance needed. At the same time, some $200,000 of the city’s Measure Z funds will be channeled through the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services to assist the homeless in acquiring housing.

The encampment has been a source of frustration for many.

“On top of it,” Mills said. “we’ve got scores of complaints from businesses, homeowners, community members, travelers ... I mean scores of complaints.”

EPD public information officer Brittany Powell said the notice to vacate informs residents it is illegal to camp on public or private property and that personal belongings must be removed within 10 days On the flip side of the postings, she said, is a list of contact numbers for social services.

The city press release states that while the city hopes that those needing assistance will take steps to obtain services, it hasn’t been happening.

“The Eureka Rescue Mission is a prime example of available services that go unused,” the release states. “In June, the Mission had a capacity for 60 men and 33 women; however, most days it operated at half of that capacity.”

During the process of notifying the residents, EPD officers arrested one man on an outstanding felony warrant.

Mills said he’ll be meeting with the residents of the encampment on July 22 to explain what is going on and why. It’s a message that has been delivered repeatedly, he said. EPD officers have spent 192 hours in the encampment since January.

“We’ve warned people countless times,” he said.

The effort to clean up the area has already begun and will continue once the area is no longer an illegal campground.

The city of Eureka’s marsh maintenance program — an every-Thursday cleanup area that rotates between four sections west of Broadway — will be active today in an area designated as section 3. The section’s boundaries follow Vigo Street west, veer south and back toward Broadway, skirting the rear of the Six Rivers National Forest headquarters.

The city launched the program July 2, announcing that routine maintenance such as trash and invasive plant removal would rotate weekly through the four identified sections between Del Norte Street to the north and Truesdale Street to the south.

Those camping in those area are given 72 hours notice to remove personal belongings prior to the cleanup.

“This routine clean-up program is not for criminalizing houseless or solving our homeless issues,” the release states. “This program is designed to address the city’s responsibility as a property owner ... Parks and Recreation is responsible for maintaining the greenbelts and will be the lead on illegal dumping encampment remnant cleanup. EPD presence is just to insure compliance with the notification process and make sure order is maintained.”City staff and SWAP (Sheriff’s Work Alternative Team) will do the cleanup.

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6/11/15

As Eureka continues to re-envision its waterfront, making incremental improvements, a power player is emerging: The Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District. An often quiet elected body, the district rose into the public spotlight several times in the last few years when it took ownership of the Samoa Pulp Mill, spurring a cleanup of the caustic materials left behind.

That purge continues — the Environmental Protection Agency has been working on the site since last year, first trucking the toxic liquors left at the mill to Washington and then beginning the process of dismantling the tanks that housed them. Now, according to Harbor District CEO Jack Crider, only the three tall tanks remain and, when it's all finished, the EPA will have hauled nearly 10,000 tons of material off of the pulp mill grounds.

The district is still negotiating with a company to purchase the mill's boiler, but little headway has been made. Meanwhile, the smokestack, one of the Eureka skyline's trademarks, is slated to be blown up by the military in a controlled demolition.

And when the military comes to demolish, the motto is "'P' for plenty," Crider said. "Lots of powder, lots of dynamite — there's a probability that we'll end up breaking some windows," and the district is working out how to handle that.

Another key part of the district's rising tide is the evolution of Woodley Island, the home of the district, Eureka's National Weather Service Station, a large public marina, a more than 40-acre wildlife area and the Café Marina restaurant.

Crider said plans are already in the works to add a second dining option to the scenic island, but the Harbor District, in a unanimous vote, also just asked the city of Eureka to consider changing the island to a more permissive land use designation — a plan that has raised some concern in the commercial fishing community.

In a letter to the city of Eureka, harbor commission board President Richard Marks asked the city to consider changing the zoning of 17.3 acres, comprising much of the developed area of the island, to waterfront commercial, the same designation as much of the south side of the bay, including the waterfront along Old Town. The majority of the island, nearly 45 acres, would remain a natural resource designation, and about 20 acres — the marina itself and the National Weather Service station — would remain public-quasi public. Currently, much of the island's developed area is public-quasi public and the city allows restricted types of development on the land.

The requested change represents a bit of a turning point, said Harbor Commissioner Mike Wilson. "When the general plan was last updated, there was a perception that there was this conflict between working waterfront activities and what attracts citizen tourists to the waterfront," he said. "But a lot of that's changed."

The city used to think there was a dichotomy between a "working waterfront" — where fishing and other industrial activities created a bustle of activity, including noise, smells and perceived eyesores — and a tourist-friendly waterfront. But now, more and more people are realizing that industry and recreation are not opposing forces; a working waterfront is a tourist draw.

Wilson said the district is trying to bring Woodley Island out of an operating deficit, and that a zoning change could "create more diversity in our revenue streams, ... create the vitality that supports the use of the marina."

And while the district's current land use designation on Woodley Island allows for many types of businesses — retail, restaurants, etc. — the land use changes would allow for a "mix of visitor serving, commercial and recreational fishing, and natural resource land uses," according to Marks' letter.

Some of those expansions have at least one fisherman worried. Ken Bates, in his May newsletter on commercial fishing, wrote that the harbor district hasn't mentioned the "hundreds of other non-water-dependent activities permitted under their proposed waterfront commercial zoning request."

Among those uses are Christmas tree sales lots, beauty shops, dentists offices, churches and more — businesses, Bates seems to suggest, that wouldn't directly benefit the fishing industry.

Bates also warned that the waterfront commercial designation would permit fishing fleet activities but that "these activities can be restricted because of 'heavy truck traffic, noise, air or water bone odors, dust, dirt, elimination, smoke, glare, vibrations, exhaust or other objectionable influences by industry.'"

Perhaps responding to these concerns, Wilson proposed a right-to-fish ordinance, which, if adopted, would protect fishing operations from the complaints of nearby tenants.

Crider said these types of ordinances aren't uncommon in other areas — imagine the concerns of fishing boat operators if new condominiums were being developed next to the marina. But, Crider said, it's less of an issue if the tenants — fishing boats and whatever retail, restaurant or office space might set up on Woodley Island — all rent from one landlord: the Harbor District.

"Plus," Crider said, "people come to the island to see the activity. They enjoy the commercial activity and what [the fishing boats] do. They're actually an attraction."

At last month's harbor district meeting, Commissioner Aaron Newman said the ordinance would clear up the "angst of the fishermen" and Marks said it shows the district's commitment to the industry, according to the meeting's minutes.

In an email, Eureka Community Development Director Robert Holmlund said the city — under council direction — is looking at expanding commercial use on the island based on the harbor district's request and "well-coordinated" land use and zoning regulations in similar marinas in Fort Bragg and Crescent City. Commercial fishing, Holmlund emphasized, will remain a priority.

"Under all scenarios, the marina portion of Woodley Island will continue to be primarily dedicated to ensuring a thriving fishing industry," he wrote. He said he hasn't received any complaints from the public regarding the land use designation change.

Movement is underway off of Woodley Island as well. Holmlund referred to an extension of the Hikshari' trail, slated to break ground in 2016, that will reach north past Target and inland to Open Door Community Health Center. And, earlier this month, the Eureka City Council awarded architect Kash Boodjeh $30,000 to come up with a design charrette for the long-dead stretch of waterfront property between F and C streets.

Back on Woodley Island, Crider is excited about a new oyster restaurant he's proposing for the recently cleaned up storage yard on the western end of the island. The district is coming up with preliminary designs and looking for an operator for a restaurant that Crider says will be part oyster bar and part East Coast clam bake, where people can rent a grill and barbecue their own oysters.

He says a couple of bivalve businesses — Tomales Bay Oyster Company and Hog Island Oyster Co. — have expressed interest in operating a Humboldt Bay bar.

As Eureka staff analyzes the possible effects of land use designation changes on Woodley Island, the harbor district pushes along. Smokestacks fall, restaurants rise — if the district's able to continue on its path, will Eureka's mainland be able to keep up?

EDITOR'S NOTES: After this story was published, Community Development Director Robert Holmlund told the Journal that he "personally received two comments in which people are concerned about potential land use changes on Woodley Island."

When first published, this story misidentified the ending point of the waterfront trail expansion.

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6/7/15

The Humboldt Waste Management Authority is putting a lid on the Cummings Road Landfill.

Some 15 years after taking over ownership of the property northeast of Eureka, HWMA’s contractor will begin work on Phase II to cap the landfill that once accepted solid waste from throughout the county. HWMA is a joint powers authority comprising the county of Humboldt and the cities of Arcata, Eureka, Ferndale, Blue Lake and Rio Dell.

Phase I of the landfill closure plan was completed late in the summer of 2012 at a cost of $4.4 million. Phase II, estimated to cost $2.28 million, begins in about a week with all work expected to be complete by Sept. 30. Both came with the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board’s approval of a Joint Technical Document for Closure, a document approved after years of information sharing and back-and-forth negotiation.

HWMA Executive Director Jill Duffy said the Phase II contractor, Meyers Earthwork of the Redding area, will have equipment on site by June 15. Their task is to install what Duffy described as “a burrito wrap,” an impermeable liner that will be attached to the site’s existing liner. The contractor also will create a haul road to transfer clean fill dirt, re-contour the land slightly, and cover the project area with 18 inches of clean fill dirt, Duffy said.

Getting to this point, Duffy said, was not exactly easy.

The Cummings Road Landfill opened in the early 1930s and was, for many years, a burn-and-shove operation. Garbage collected in and around the city of Eureka was transported to the site, burned and the remaining material pushed into surrounding ravines — a practice that continued until 1969, at which time the site became a cut-and-cover unlined facility. City Garbage took over management in 1974 and began accepting waste from throughout the North Coast. The facility stopped accepting solid waste in 1998.

Humboldt Waste Management Authority purchased the property in 2000, a move that came with the responsibility of permanently closing the landfill and an $8 million trust fund to accomplish that objective. City Garbage, which had since changed its name to NorCal Waste Inc, retained ownership of property surrounding the authority’s 33-acre landfill site. HWMA owns a total of 107 acres, including 1.23 acres of the burn dump area — where for decades what remained after the open-burning process was deposited.

Heavy storms in the winter of 2005-06 brought the residue of the burned refuse to the surface on property adjacent to the permitted landfill. In April 2013, the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board issued a Clean Up and Abatement order to HWMA and Recology-Humboldt to clean up the site in 18 months.

Previously, the Humboldt County Local Enforcement Agency determined in October 1999 that the site posed “no regulatory concern,” and no follow-up was required.

With the winter 2005-06 storms, the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board took a second look at the burn ash site. The burn ash covered 6.2 acres, and stretched across property owned by Recology Humboldt (formerly NorCal Waste, Inc) and Humboldt Waste Management Authority. What was originally thought to be some 58,000 cubic yards of burn ash, ended up to be 91,600 cubic yards.

“It was all pulled out and trucked to Phase II at the top of the landfill,” Duffy said. The ash was then covered with 6 inches of clean fill dirt with straw added for erosion control. The total project cost was about $3.5 million, but it could have been much higher. The ability to transfer the burn ash to the section of the landfill not yet capped, allowed HWMA and Recology to avoid some $12 million estimated to haul and dispose of the material elsewhere, Duffy said.

In some areas, she said, the burn ash was 20 feet deep.

“Much of the burn ash site was covered with dense (in some places impenetrable) brush and small trees with no drivable access,” according to a booklet Duffy put together to explain the process.

“This was a huge project,” she said.

By October 2014, the work was complete. As there was considerable land disturbance, Duffy said, HWMA will monitor vegetation and mitigate for erosion for a period of five years.

Humboldt Waste Management Authority then returned its focus to completing Phase II of the Cummings Roads Landfill closure. During the process, Geo-Logic Associates of Nevada City will provide Construction Quality Assurance Services, which includes a daily report to the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board. Once the existing liner and the new liner are attached, and the fill dirt covers the site, HWMA is still responsible for monitoring the site for 30 years following the closure with expected costs of $400,000 per year. Part of that expense comes in the operation of extraction wells that pump water out of the site into a storage tank. The contents will be transported to the city of Eureka’s wastewater treatment plant on a daily basis. The cost to haul and dispose of the leachate is $120,000 per year, Duffy said. Other expenses include monitoring, testing, and staff time to accomplish those tasks.

“The authority has been working for the last 16 years to close the landfill,” Duffy said. “There have been some pretty significant geologic and legacy sites challenges. We are really excited to be closing the landfill and moving into monitoring action. It reduces our liability pretty significantly.”

Duffy said she did not anticipate adverse impacts to Cummings Road neighbors. A water truck will be used to reduce dust, workers will be advised to drive carefully, and the equipment noise shouldn’t be disruptive, she said.

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