In the News
Proposed Federal Law Targets Plastic Barrage; Follows Similar National Efforts
by Arlene Karidis
If a newly proposed federal bill passes, companies that make, use, package, or transport plastic pellets will be in violation of the law if they discharge plastic pellets into waterways, storm drains, or sewers. The Plastic Pellet Free Waters Act (HR 7634) leverages the Clean Water Act to establish zero-discharge limits for these microplastics— also called nurdles— which are the second largest source of ocean microplastics after tire dust (by weight), according to 5 Gyres Institute, … Continue Reading
September 25, 2024
Capitol Hill Hearing Exposes Project 2025 as an Extreme Republican Agenda
by Sara Hossaini
North Bay Congressman Jared Huffman’s Stop Project 2025 Task Force held its first congressional hearing on Tuesday focused on exposing the nearly one thousand-page conservative playbook many see as a sweeping MAGA manifesto. For two hours on Capitol Hill, Congressman Huffman joined the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee in a multimedia presentation and testimony that directly targeted the blueprint fueled by former Trump administration officials and led by the Heritage Foundation, a … Continue Reading
September 24, 2024
California House Democrats seek to tie Trump to conservatives’ controversial Project 2025
by Andrea Castillo
California House Democrats — seeking to connect former President Trump to the ultraconservative policy blueprint Project 2025 — held a public hearing Tuesday to lay out “its devastating impact on hardworking American taxpayers.” Rep. Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) founded the Stop Project 2025 Task Force in June, designating it a “central hub” for preempting what members see as a “right-wing plot to undermine democracy.” Democrats see bringing attention to Project 2025 as a winning election … Continue Reading
September 24, 2024
California House Democrats seek to tie Trump to conservatives’ controversial Project 2025
by Andrea Castillo
WASHINGTON — California House Democrats — seeking to connect former President Trump to the ultraconservative policy blueprint Project 2025 — held a public hearing Tuesday to lay out “its devastating impact on hardworking American taxpayers.” Rep. Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) founded the Stop Project 2025 Task Force in June, designating it a “central hub” for preempting what members see as a “right-wing plot to undermine democracy.” Democrats see bringing attention to Project 2025 as a … Continue Reading
September 24, 2024
California House Democrats seek to tie Trump to conservatives’ controversial Project 2025
by Andrea Castillo
California House Democrats — seeking to connect former President Trump to the ultraconservative policy blueprint Project 2025 — held a public hearing Tuesday to lay out “its devastating impact on hardworking American taxpayers.” Rep. Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) founded the Stop Project 2025 Task Force in June, designating it a “central hub” for preempting what members see as a “right-wing plot to undermine democracy.” Democrats see bringing attention to Project 2025 as a winning election … Continue Reading
September 20, 2024
SMART Pathway proving convenient for bicyclists
The SMART Pathway is the southern portion of the Great Redwood Trail, which provides first and last-mile connections to SMART stations and offers a safe way to travel along the rail corridor, particularly in areas where the SMART Pathway is the shortest path of travel between communities. The pathway allows cyclists of all abilities to make local trips or longer journeys by bicycle or by bicycle in combination with the train. In the past year, more than 784,200 pedestrian and bicycle trips … Continue Reading
September 20, 2024
Marin City Has Long Felt Its Flooding Woes Were Neglected. That’s About to Change
by Ezra David Romero
Marin City is one step closer to a solution for the floodwaters that often block the neighborhood’s only entrance and exit after the federal government formalized a partnership with local advocates to completely fund a potential fix of up to $13.5 million. Residents in the unincorporated Marin County community — a bowl of a town sandwiched between steep mountains and Highway 101, just 5 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge — have advocated for solutions for decades. But with a historic Black … Continue Reading
September 19, 2024
House Democrats plan multimedia Project 2025 hearing
by Jacqueline Alemany and Marianna Sotomayor
House Democrats will hold their own hearing next week to illustrate potential impacts of Project 2025 under a hypothetical Trump administration, according to people involved with the planning. The hearing, which will be held by a committee made up only of Democrats, will feature lawmakers and testimony from people across the country who have been or could be affected by far-right policies like those proposed by the conservative Heritage Foundation in a 922-page policy document that former … Continue Reading
September 19, 2024
Democrats seek public’s help in learning about Project 2025 launch plan
by Mike Lillis
House Democrats are seeking outside help in deciphering conservatives’ plans for launching their Project 2025 agenda under the next Republican president. Leaders of the Democrats’ Project 2025 task force — a group formed in June to push back against the expansive right-wing policy document — launched a confidential tip line Thursday designed to glean the details of that nebulous rollout strategy, which the groups behind Project 2025 are pushing to deliver in the first six months of the next … Continue Reading
September 18, 2024
Lawmakers propose sweeping measures to help an unforeseen victim of overfishing: 'This bill introduces stronger protections for seabirds'
by Lindy Whitehouse
In July, lawmakers introduced the Sustaining America's Fisheries for the Future Act of 2024, which will help provide protection not only to fish but to the many animals that rely on them, including seabirds. As reported by Audubon, the act was introduced by U.S. Reps. Jared Huffman, Ed Case, Mary Peltola, and James Moylan. The bill reauthorizes the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, a primary law that governs marine fisheries management in federal waters, and adds new … Continue Reading
September 17, 2024
Democrats go all in on tying Project 2025 to House GOP
by Mike Lillis
House Democrats have adopted an aggressive strategy of linking Project 2025 to House Republicans in the final stretch of this year’s campaign, hoping the controversial conservative document will help them flip control of the lower chamber in November’s elections. The Democrats are invoking Project 2025 at every turn — in leadership press conferences, chamber-floor debates, public committee hearings and private hallway conversations — warning that Republicans in Congress are already pulling … Continue Reading
September 16, 2024
55 Democratic lawmakers ask Biden administration to expand Arctic protections
by Zack Budryk
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) led a letter from more than 50 congressional Democrats calling on the Interior Department to expand federal protections in the Arctic. The Interior Department in July solicited comments on whether further protections should be imposed within a 23-million acre swath of the western Arctic. The Interior Department first began designating so-called Special Areas within the region in the 1970s, most recently in April, when … Continue Reading
September 12, 2024
The River Runs Free
by Thadeus Greenson
For the first time in more than a century, the Klamath River began flowing unobstructed on Aug. 28 from the river's mouth to Keno Dam, just below Upper Klamath Lake, opening hundreds of miles of salmon habitat and bringing a generational effort to the brink of completion. The moment an excavator broke open the last coffer dam holding the river back at what used to be Iron Gate Dam, letting the Klamath River spill into its natural path, it was met with cheers and tears by more than 100 tribal … Continue Reading
September 12, 2024
Westerman’s NEPA bill shakes up permitting talks
by Kelsey Brugger
Sens. Joe Manchin and John Barrasso injected momentum into the protracted permitting and grid negotiations when they secured bipartisan support for their bill before the August recess. Now House Republicans are adding another layer of complexity to the talks with a sweeping plan to overhaul the National Environmental Policy Act. A House Natural Resources subcommittee hearing Wednesday on Chair Bruce Westerman's (R-Ark.) draft NEPA legislation showed how difficult getting a final deal will be … Continue Reading
September 11, 2024
$7 million grant to pay for SMART Pathway completion from Santa Rosa to Sonoma County airport
by Anna Armstrong
A new $7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Safe Streets and Roads for All program will go toward the completion of a segment of the SMART Pathway/Great Redwood Trail that stretches from Santa Rosa to the Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport. The funding was secured by U.S. Reps. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, and Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena. The segment will close a nearly 5-mile gap in the pathway network, which was created to enhance mobility for bicyclists and … Continue Reading
September 10, 2024
Westerman talks permitting, plans to file ESA bill
by Garrett Downs and Manuel Quinones
House Natural Resources Committee Republicans will introduce long-awaited legislation Tuesday to overhaul the Endangered Species Act. The bill is coming at an active time for Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.), who released National Environmental Policy Act legislation last week. During a chat with reporters Monday, he also discussed his views on Republican plans for the Inflation Reduction Act. The "ESA Amendments Act of 2024," obtained by POLITICO, would require agencies to … Continue Reading
September 06, 2024
$11 million EPA grant will restore Humboldt Bay shoreline, fund land buy for Blue Lake Rancheria
by Sage Alexander
The Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday the Blue Lake Rancheria was awarded a $11,498,810 grant to buy and restore land around Humboldt Bay in the name of fighting climate change. The project will both multiply the tribe’s land holdings many times over and restore wetlands around the bay. Bill Matsubu, environmental director of the Blue Lake Rancheria, said this project is “using the oldest technology since time immemorial, nature and tending to by Indigenous people, to address … Continue Reading
September 04, 2024
Global Illegal Fishing, Forced Labor Sparks Bipartisan Concern
by Kellie Lunney
House Republicans and Democrats want answers from several federal agencies on how they are addressing illegal fishing and human rights abuses in the multibillion-dollar international seafood industry. Natural Resources panel members today sent letters to officials at eight agencies seeking information and documents related to news reports alleging abuses in the global industry. Those illegal practices threaten American seafood production and consumption, as well as marine … Continue Reading
September 04, 2024
US lawmakers, NGOs continue push against IUU in wake of Outlaw Ocean reporting
by Chris Chase
Agroup of U.S. government representatives, including U.S. House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Arizona), and a pair of Canada-based NGOs are pushing the U.S. and Canadian governments to step up enforcement against illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and human rights violations identified in an Outlaw Ocean report. Outlaw Ocean first published its report on seafood being processed with Uyghur labor in China making its way into U.S. supply chains … Continue Reading
September 03, 2024
Del Norte County Airport Receives Grant to Resurface Runways
by ROGER GITLIN Country Media, Inc
The Border Coast Regional Airport Authority will soon be receiving a $7.26 million grant from the Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration. The funds will be directed to restore the runway at the Del Norte Regional Airport (CEC). The Grant was announced by 2nd District Representative Jared Huffman who stated,“ investing in airport maintenance is essential for the safety of travelers and to the economy (of Del Norte county). I’m glad to have delivered this funding to boost … Continue Reading