Of interest in recent local news

Evergreen Pulp hit with another big fine

Wave energy effort nets big state funds

(Don’t forget: We’re hosting a Wave Energy community forum, Saturday, Feb. 21! Watch the blog for details.)

HSU hosts sustainability leadership conference

Navy training off the coast?

Ganked from the NCJ's Blogthing

The North Coast Journal’s blog has the story so far.

Concerning the proposed Northwest Training Range Complex, the department’s plan to designate most of the Pacific Northwest coast as training grounds for naval operations.

What sorts of training? According to this brochure:

Training Activities

Training activities involve activities in the range complex where Navy personnel learn skills they need to operate machinery or weapons. These activities provide realistic experience and include:

Operating vehicles, aircraft, submarines, and surface ships;
Conducting live fire training against surface and air targets at sea;
Conducting airborne surveillance activities;
Detecting, locating, and countering threat electronic signals;
Finding and removing underwater mines;
Training Navy divers in a cold water environment…

Thank you, NPK!

 

The NPK rocks Hum Brews

Huge thanks to the NPK for not only rocking Hum Brews last night, but for donating all the door proceeds to the Humboldt Chapter of Surfrider Foundation: $567!

Thanks also to the volunteers who staffed our table, signed up new members and sold T-shirts! That brought our proceeds up to over $600 – money that will be used to fund our upcoming projects, including a wave energy forum, water quality workshop, shower installation, beach clean-ups and more.

Thanks, as always, to Monty at Greenhouse for the help with T-shirts and stickers!

And thanks SO MUCH to all the folks who showed up to support the NPK – super, super fun! – and thereby supported the Surfrider cause as well!

Questions, comments about the chapter? Ask below!

Coastal Currents courtesy KHUM 104.3/104.7 FM

Surfrider Humboldt Chair Jennifer Savage filled in this week for Humboldt Baykeeper Exec Director Pete Nichols on KHUM‘s weekly feature Coastal Currents. (Thanks, Pete!)

Coastal Currents, KHUM, Jan. 14, 2009

Thank you to Mike Dronkers for providing the audio.

The NPK at Humboldt Brews!

Friday (tomorrow) night! $8 cover, all proceeds to benefit the Humboldt Chapter of Surfrider Foundation, thanks to the generosity of The NPK! Come dance, say hi to your fellow volunteers and otherwise get your party on!

The NPK

Bob Doran interviewed Tanner Speas for the North Coast Journal’s The Hum: column here, with more on their blog here.

Sharkity sharkity shark

Thanks T-S for the reminder.

Wave energy forum SET

Surfrider Foundation’s Humboldt Chapter hosts an informational wave energy forum for the community. Experts and stakeholders representing a variety of viewpoints and knowledge will present, discuss and answer questions regarding projects planned off the North Coast.

Saturday, Feb. 21, 6 p.m., Hotel Arcata conference room. Further details soon.

Yeah! Go, Mike!

From the T-S: Thompson floats no-drill bill

Rep. Mike Thompson has lodged legislation aimed at permanently protecting the North Coast from oil and gas drilling after recent moves by the federal government to pursue oil exploration.

The bill would prevent drilling along the Humboldt, Mendocino and Del Norte coasts outside the 3-mile state jurisdiction. A ban on drilling on the outer continental shelf died in the last Congress, and the U.S. Interior Department quickly moved to open some areas for exploration.

Thompson said that drilling off the California coast could threaten a critical area of ocean in which upwelling brings nutrients from the sea floor and energizes the food chain critical for fisheries, one of few such regions in the world.

Full story at the Times-Standard.

Press release from Thompson’s office.