By Matthew Simmons

President Trump has been busy. From mistakenly sending people to Salvadoran prisons without due process to crashing the global economy, his chaotic and dystopian policies are being felt by just about everyone. I was incredibly proud to see so many Humboldt folks at the protest on April 6th. Often lost in the chaos, however, are his attacks on one area in particular — our climate. So, I wanted to write a bit about how Donald Trump is harming the climate and what Humboldt can do to fight back.

Climate change poses a significant threat to Humboldt. Humboldt Bay is experiencing the fastest relative rate of sea level rise on the west coast and increased ocean acidification and wildfire are dramatically changing our oceans and forests. Donald Trump does not believe in climate change. It’s a bit ironic since his home in Mar-A-Lago is projected to be underwater by the end of the century but it’s pretty clear that he’s not going to flip on this issue. In fact, on his very first day in office, he issued an executive order to expedite permitting for fossil fuel projects by ignoring environmental protections and has promised to give tax breaks to fossil fuel companies to further pad their profits. This despite the fact that fossil fuels are now more expensive than many forms of renewable energy. Donald Trump has also started the process to remove the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement. We are close to blowing past the 1.5 degrees warming limit the United Nations set for our planet and these policies are only going to frustrate that effort.

At the same time, Trump is sabotaging new technologies that could play an important role in decarbonizing our electricity grid. On the same day that he issued that executive order accelerating permitting for fossil fuel projects, he also issued another executive order pausing all permitting and leasing for offshore wind. I’ve written elsewhere about how offshore wind can help to achieve a zero-emission electricity grid by generating carbon-free electricity at times of the day when solar power isn’t available. For that reason, California’s projections of how we will reach zero-emission electricity by 2045, which we passed a law requiring ourselves to do, depend on offshore wind. It provides an essential bridge that allows California to generate new electricity at night without turning on any fossil fuel power plants.

Offshore wind will provide many additional local benefits to our community as well. Constructing the offshore wind heavy lift marine terminal will require site remediation of Redwood Marine Terminal One. The timber industry left a legacy of dioxins and other contaminants that threaten Humboldt Bay and are unlikely to be fully cleaned up without private investment. Humboldt currently draws most of its electricity from the Humboldt Bay Generating Station which relies on a natural gas pipeline. A strong earthquake could rupture that pipeline or damage or frailing electric transmission and distribution lines, leaving our communities vulnerable. New transmission, necessary to facilitate offshore wind, would also help connect Humboldt to the statewide grid, increasing reliability and protecting us from these kinds of disasters. And, of course, offshore wind would create high road careers and generate revenue for our local economy. We need a new, sustainable, industry to replace timber and cannabis.

EPIC believes that with the right environmental protections offshore wind will be a net positive for our local communities, our ecosystems, and the planet. But we can’t even work on securing those protections if the Federal Government is pausing all permitting on offshore wind. The North Coast has a strong legacy of banding together to protect our natural environment and we need the same commitment to clean energy through offshore wind development. Now is the time to tell our local and State lawmakers that we still support offshore wind — no matter who is President.

Matthew Simmons is the climate attorney for the Environmental Protection Information Center in Arcata.