Humboldt County’s Planning Commission Public Hearing
Location: Board of Supervisors’ Chamber, Humboldt County Courthouse, 825 5th Street, Eureka, CA
Date: Thursday, November 7th at 4:00 PM
Humboldt County’s Planning Commission will be holding a public hearing to discuss the Humboldt Wind Energy Project and review the Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR). The FEIR will be available for public review on November 4 at https://humboldtgov.org/2408/Humboldt-Wind-Energy-Project.
The Planning Commission will be considering alternatives identified in the FEIR. At the hearing it is being recommended that the Planning Commission certify the Environmental Impact Report, adopt Statements of Overriding Considerations for the indicated project, adopt findings that the project is consistent with applicable policies, laws, and regulations, adopt a mitigation monitoring and reporting plan and approve the project as refined in the FEIR.
The public hearing will be continued on Thursday, November 14th at 4:00 PM at the same location to allow adequate time for review of the final FEIR.
We encourage everyone to attend both meetings!
About the Project
Humboldt Wind, LLC proposes the construction and operation of a wind energy project of up to 155 MW, with a project footprint involving 124 parcels, beginning west of State Highway 101, south of Rio Dell and Scotia, and terminating east of State Highway 101 in Bridgeville at the PG&E substation. Specific project components consist of:
- Up to 60 wind turbines with maximum height of 591 feet from base to highest point of blade rotation, set on concrete foundations.
- A 19 mile underground fiber optics communications system and electrical collection system linking the turbines to each other and to a substation for distribution into the General Transmission (Gen-tie) line.
- A 115 kiloVolt (kV) Gen-tie line of approximately 32 miles would transport the energy generated by the wind towers. The Gen-Tie line would begin at a new substation located west of Highway 101, span in an eastward direction, and cross under the Eel River. Once across the river, the Gen-Tie line would continue eastward as an overhead line and connect to the PG&E Bridgeville Substation for distribution into the power grid. PG&E substation expansion and improvements would be required.
- The wind tower and turbines with related components would enter Humboldt County via Humboldt Bay with anticipated port of entry at Fields Landing. No improvements to facilitate the offloading of turbine components from ships or barges have been proposed. There may be temporary off-ramps or other proposed modifications along Highway 101 to accommodate the oversized loads.
- Proposed throughout the project area are temporary and permanent operations, maintenance, and staging facilities, two temporary cement batch plants, and up to 17 miles of new access roads. Existing access roads will be widened to accommodate oversized truck-trailer loads.
- A permanent operations facility that includes related buildings and offices would be constructed on the west side of State Highway 101 at the Pepperwood/Avenue of the Giants exit.
Environmental Coalition Letter
Back in September, a coalition of local environmental organizations including: the Northcoast Environmental Center, Environmental Protection Information Center, Humboldt 350, California Native Plant Society, Redwood Region Audubon, and Redwood Chapter of the Sierra Club sent a letter to Humboldt County Planning Director Ford on the proposed wind project. You can read that letter here: https://www.wildcalifornia.org/blog/coalition-letter-to-terra-gen