Blog Jammin’ ENERGY INDUSTRY / BY CARRIE PEYTON DAHLBERG / JULY 10, 3:23 P.M.
Shell Out Well, looks like that pretty ridge view is safe from those nasty turbines now. This from Shell: Shell exits Bear River Ridge Wind Project We would like to inform you that Shell WindEnergy Inc. has decided to exit the Bear River Wind Project due to unfavorable market conditions and issues pertaining to the transportation logistics. ● ACTIVISM, COURTS / BY CARRIE PEYTON DAHLBERG / JULY 10, 12:35 P.M.
Jury Ponders … And Ponders A jury is taking plenty of time thinking about a new law — specifically about whether it should convict three people accused of defying county limits on courthouse protests. Jurors went home at midday Tuesday with no verdict, and now have deliberated for longer than it took to try the three, who stood with lighted candles outside the courthouse after 9:30 p.m. “I can’t believe they’re still deliberating. … The jury is working very hard,” said Deputy Public Defender Casey Russo. “It’s hard to tell what it means. They’re asking a lot of questions,” said Deputy District Attorney Jackie Pizzo. The case is the first criminal trial stemming from Humboldt County’s attempt to limit protests outside the courthouse in Eureka. (That law is also being challenged in a civil suit, and critics have contended that it is so broad it violates the Constitution.) The three people being tried, Peter Camacho, Kimberly Starr (aka Verbena) and Amanda Tierney, are accused of violating a provision that prevents most people from being on the courthouse grounds after 9:30 p.m. ● ENVIRONMENT, TRANSPORTATION / BY RYAN BURNS / JULY 9, 3:42 P.M.
Judge backs Caltrans on Richardson Grove A Humboldt County Superior Court judge today ruled that Caltrans’ Environmental Impact Report for the Richardson Grove Improvement Project does not violate the California Environmental Quality Act.
The ruling (follow a link on our blog to read it in full) reads as a systematic repudiation of the major claims from the petitioners, including a trio of nonprofit environmental groups: the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC), the Center for Biological Diversity and Californians for Alternatives to Toxics. In a nod to the high level of public interest in the case, Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Dale Reinholtsen begins with a rather unorthodox message to the general public, warning against the kind of hyperbole that has surrounded the project thus far: Caltrans is not going to cut down or otherwise remove any old-growth redwoods from Richardson Grove State Park. There is absolutely no basis is reality for believing that Caltrans “wants” to “destroy” old-growth redwoods. … The evidence is quite obviously and overwhelmingly to the contrary. There is also no evidence that the project was undertaken to satisfy the needs of “big-box” retailers or “corporate giants.” [Emphasis included in original.] Meanwhile, a similar battle in federal court remains on hold pending mapping revisions. In his ruling, Reinholtsen starts off diplomatically enough, saying both sides presented “thoughtful, well-researched arguments meriting serious consideration.” But the even-handed compliments end there. From that point the decision goes into exasperated smack-down mode: The judge calls petitioners “less than forthcoming.” He describes one argument as a red herring and lambasts another as “nothing more than an exercise in wordplay.” Point by point, he dismantles their case. For example, the judge dismisses the notion that Caltrans had a “secret agenda” to widen the roadway for STAA truck access by pointing out that Caltrans’ made this justification clear from the jump, even going so far as to include EPIC on its mailing list. As for the old growth redwoods in question, Reinholtsen says their value stems mostly from their visibility and symbolic meaning, rather than any ecological importance. Statistically, he says, they’re an insignificant portion of the state’s remaining old growth stands (decimated though they are). He concludes that the project won’t ruin the “profound aesthetic experience” provided by these trees. The judge even goes so far as to suggest that some of the petitioners’
allegations may be disingenuous. The petitioners suggest that Caltrans essentially admitted some degree of guilt simply by preparing an Environmental Impact Report, which by definition addresses significant environmental impacts. On page 16 of the 30-page decision, Reinholtsen dismisses this canard with the tone of a disapproving schoolmarm: “That is simply untrue, as Petitioners must know.” The level of detail that the petitioners would like to see in the environmental documents is “uncalled for in CEQA [the California Environmental Quality Act], and indeed possibly unlawful,” Reinholtsen concludes. As if scolding naughty children, the judge then launches this rebuke: We are simply not talking about effects that ‘when taken in isolation, appear insignificant, but when viewed together, appear startling.’ … We are instead talking about effects that when taken in isolation, appear absolutely trivial (or even non-existent), and when viewed together appear a little less trivial. The only potential impact of the suit on Caltrans is a requirement to adopt “a reporting or monitoring program … designed to ensure compliance [with CEQA] during project implementation.” The judge ordered the parties to meet up and work out an agreement on the particulars to ensure this happens. Caltrans heralded the ruling in a press release, writing: Today’s ruling brings the challenges to the project a major step closer to resolution. Route 101 at Richardson Grove has been under study for more than ten years and Richardson Grove Improvement Project has been actively in development since 2006. Minor changes to the existing alignment will be made without removal of any old growth redwood trees in order to allow industry-standard sized truck access along this portion of Route 101. As the court emphasized in its decision, the project was planned and designed to avoid removing any old-growth trees. Natalynne DeLapp, development director for the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC), said in a phone interview that the petitioners are disappointed in this ruling, though she stressed that the case is not over, partly because of the reporting and monitoring
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required. More significantly, DeLapp said, the project remains on hold pending the remapping that was ordered by a federal judge last year. “For us, I take solace and comfort in the fact that the grove is still protected because of the federal injunction,” DeLapp said. ●
CRIME, CURIOSITIES / BY RYAN BURNS / JULY 3, 1:25 P.M.
Female Cage Fighter Tackles Eureka Transient The Journal moved its offices to Old Town Eureka two years ago to be in the middle of the action, but this morning’s events weren’t exactly what we had in mind. I’d just stepped outside our door to make a phone call when a group of young people sprinted past, hung a left at the corner and disappeared. Okay, whatever. It’s Old Town. Then they reemerged, carrying a guy. Now I was interested. Turns out Nikki Owen had just gotten her ring resized at the goldsmith’s shop across the street from us. When she walked out the door onto F Street she saw a man having something of a temper tantrum. He kicked the sandwich-board sign outside the Old Town Market and ran away, Owen said. The proprietor of the store, Jay Joh, emerged and yelled something to the effect of, “Stop him!” And here’s the thing about Nikki Owen: Not only does she value properly fitting bling; she happens to be a cage fighter from Hoopa. Owen took off after him. Some friends joined in. “I had to citi-