Action Alert: Support the Great Redwood Trail

Please attend the Humboldt County Supervisors meeting on October 5 and encourage the Supervisors to pass a resolution in support of the Great Redwood Trail and opposing coal storage and handling in Humboldt County.

Instructions for calling in to comment during the meeting, along with the agenda and draft resolution, are below.

Suggested talking points:

• Pass the resolution to oppose coal trains running through the Eel River canyon and Old Town Eureka to Humboldt Bay.
• I support the Great Redwood Trail, a 320-mile multi use trail which would connect Humboldt Bay to San Francisco and be a world class outdoor recreation destination.
• Each car on a coal train can release between 500 and 2000 pounds of coal dust, which contains arsenic, lead, mercury and other toxic heavy metals. A typical 125-car coal train could release up to 250,000 pounds of coal dust per trip.
• Coal dust is a public health hazard.
• Coal dust contains Particulate Matter 2.5, which can contribute to asthma, prenatal complications, respiratory illness, and cardiac disease.
• Exposure to PM 2.5 has been linked to increased mortality from Covid 19.
• There is no safe level of exposure to PM 2.5. Communities of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color and lower-income communities bear a disportionate burden from air pollution which would be worsened by the addition of coal dust in our communities from any sites storing and handling coal.
• Contamination from coal dust will negatively impact aquafarming and other businesses reliant on Humboldt Bay.
• Train derailments were common through the Eel River canyon when the line was active over 20 years ago, running coal trains along the river presents a high potential for environmental disaster and could contaminate the drinking water source of towns along the line.
• Reviving this train line will be prohibitively expensive due to the current state of the tracks and the geologic instability of the route.