In the News
Huffman, McGuire, Wood to Hold Virtual Last Chance Grade Town Hall
by Jessica Cejnar Andrews
Del Norte County’s state, national and local representatives will give an update on efforts to permanently fix Last Chance Grade at a virtual meeting Tuesday. Congressman Jared Huffman, State Sen. Mike McGuire and Assemblyman Jim Wood will be joined by county supervisors Gerry Hemmingsen and Susan Masten. Representatives from Caltrans and California State Parks will also provide input. The meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. RSVP by clicking here. Caltrans is in the process of … Continue Reading
July 06, 2022
Biden's offshore drilling proposal met with criticism
by Steve Bittenbender
U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday, 1 July, 2022, announced a plan for leasing offshore oil and gas drilling sites over the next five years, which was immediately met with criticism from both supporters of expanding domestic production and environmental groups. The plan calls for leasing up to 11 sites for drilling between 2023 and 2028. All but one of the sites would be in the Gulf of Mexico, with the other proposed site in Alaska’s Cook Inlet. That is a sharp reduction from the … Continue Reading
July 05, 2022
New Interior offshore drilling plan draws mixed reviews
by Benjamin J. Hulac
The Biden administration’s latest offshore oil and gas drilling plan drew swift pushback from environmentalists and Democratic allies in Congress over its proposals for potential new drilling sites and from at least one industry group for a "lack of clear signals" to energy markets. In a proposal issued Friday evening, the Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management sealed off the possibility of new leases in the Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific oceans. But it … Continue Reading
July 05, 2022
‘We are the overwhelming majority’: Huffman addresses dozens rallying in Fort Bragg for reproductive rights
by Kate Fishman
FORT BRAGG, CA, 7/5/22 – One week after the Supreme Court’s landmark decision effectively overturning Roe v. Wade, the number of protesters advocating for reproductive rights surged in Fort Bragg as more than 100 people gathered outside town hall on the Fourth of July weekend. Congressman Jared Huffman, who represents a swath of Northern California in Washington, D.C., was among their ranks. “Make no mistake,” Huffman said, addressing the crowd Friday evening. … Continue Reading
July 01, 2022
Del Norte Could Receive Additional Congressionally-Directed Spending Dollars for Dispatch Management, Pykes Field Renovation; County Still Waiting on $3.08 Million For Jail Renovations
by Jessica Cejnar Andrews
Del Norte County still doesn’t have the $3.08 million in federal funding to pay for the renovation of its jail facility. But once it does receive those dollars, it should be “relatively unencumbered,” according to the county’s lobbyist in Washington D.C. There’s also a potential for further Congressionally-directed spending dollars to be sent Del Norte County’s way courtesy of Congressman Jared Huffman and U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, Greg Burns, of Thorn Run … Continue Reading
July 01, 2022
'We don’t have to pretend anymore': Greens ready to bail on D.C.
by ZACK COLMAN
June 30, 2022
EPA's Power To Regulate CA's Carbon Emissions Curbed By Supreme Court
by Kat Schuster
CALIFORNIA - The Supreme Court on Thursday limited the Environmental Protection Agency's authority to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants, representing a significant blow to federal officials' efforts to fight climate change. The court ruled in favor of a handful of Republican-led states and coal companies and said that the EPA lacked the authority under the Clean Air Act to shift the nation's energy production away from coal-powered plants to cleaner alternatives … Continue Reading
June 30, 2022
'We Are Not Going Back'
by Kimberly Wear and Ryan Hutson
Hundreds gathered in Humboldt County to protest the U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade, joining hundreds of thousands across the nation in decrying the ruling that abruptly ended nearly five decades of constitutional protection. Until June 24, the 1973 landmark case was widely considered settled legal precedent grounded in the fundamental right to privacy afforded by the U.S. Constitution. While safe and legal access to abortion remains secure in California, the decision now … Continue Reading
June 29, 2022
Rep. Huffman seeks crackdown on ballast water
Marin Congressman Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) led over 30 of his colleagues in a letter to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael S. Regan requesting the agency establish ballast water discharge standards that conform with the Clean Water Act (CWA). Ballast water, which is carried by ships to adjust buoyancy and trim, is the primary mechanism introducing new invasive species and foreign pathogens into US waters. Ballast water discharges cause billions of dollars of … Continue Reading
June 29, 2022
USDA gives Yurok Tribe $1.4 million to bring solar power to the reservation
by CARLY WIPF
KLAMATH, Calif. - Today, the Yurok Tribe received a $1.4 million grant to bring solar power to residents who don't have access to grid electricity. This money will help the tribe buy portable solar units that will provide electricity for roughly 50 homes. The grant is funded by the USDA Rural Development program, which seeks to help improve the quality of life and economic conditions in rural communities. And as fuel costs hit record highs in California, tribal residents living off the grid … Continue Reading
June 28, 2022
Biden's IUU memo leaves some advocates wanting more
by Steve Bittenbender
U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday, 27 June, 2022, issued a broad memorandum calling illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing a threat to American economic competitiveness and national security, the global fishing industry, and to the fight against climate change. The announcement, though, left some advocates wanting more from the administration, particularly in terms of policies that still allow some fish harvested and processed by IUU means to enter U.S. ports. Biden's … Continue Reading
June 27, 2022
A far-fetched coal-by-rail export proposal stirred outrage in Northern California before fizzling. Was there ever anything to it?
by ANDREW GRAHAM
Nearly a year ago, a company newly registered in Wyoming set off alarms and political outrage in Northern California with a filing at a federal rail agency. The company outlined a plan to restore a long-abandoned rail line running north from Sonoma County for high-volume freight cargo. Though the filing did not specify the cargo or where it would come from, the few public and reported comments of its chief representative indicated the plan was moving Montana and Wyoming coal for export out … Continue Reading
June 27, 2022
Huffman: Supreme Court ruling ‘took a wrecking ball to the critical separation of church, state’
by Sonia Waraich
Another controversial Supreme Court decision is drawing ire from one of the only humanist members of Congress. On Monday, U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) issued a statement condemning the Supreme Court's ruling on Kennedy V. Bremerton School District, which he said "took a wrecking ball to the critical separation of church and state, and with it the legitimacy of the highest court in the land." "In America, Freedom of Religion includes the freedom to not participate in a religious … Continue Reading
June 24, 2022
How California lawmakers reacted to the Roe v. Wade decision
by Emma Murphy and Pauline Pineda
The Supreme Court on Friday overturned Roe v. Wade, a decision that had been in place for nearly 50 years that provided a constitutional right to abortion. The ruling comes more than a month after a draft opinion indicating the court planned to do away with protections for reproductive health care leaked and after a decades-long push from abortion opponents to overturn the case. Regulating abortions now lies with state governments. Friday's ruling is expected to lead to abortion bans in … Continue Reading
June 24, 2022
Dems toe delicate line on assault weapons ban
by MIKE LILLIS
House Democratic leaders are toeing a delicate line with their promise to consider legislation this summer banning assault weapons - a politically explosive concept that divides both the Congress and the country. The issue has been front and center in the national gun reform debate following a recent string of high-profile mass shootings, including the May 14 massacre at a grocery store in Buffalo, N.Y., and another 10 days later at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 children and … Continue Reading
June 24, 2022
New legislation could give Karuk Tribe uninterrupted access to sacred land
by CARLY WIPF
WASHINGTON D.C. - Yesterday, U.S. lawmakers introduced new legislation to put sacred land back into the hands of the Karuk Tribe. Senators Alex Padilla and Dianne Feinstein introduced the Katimiîn and Ameekyáaraam Sacred Lands Act to transfer ownership of sacred lands in Humboldt and Siskiyou Counties from the U.S. Forest Service to the Interior Department. The department will then place those lands into trust for the federally-recognized Karuk Tribe. This means the tribe will … Continue Reading
June 22, 2022
Progressives Say Windfall Profits Tax a 'Better Solution' Than Biden's Gas Tax Holiday
by Kenny Stancil
As President Joe Biden on Wednesday prepares to urge Congress to temporarily suspend federal gasoline and diesel taxes in a bid to ease pain at the pump, progressives are calling instead for the passage of Democratic lawmakers' overwhelmingly popular bill to impose a windfall profits tax on Big Oil. "Congress should take the president's call and answer it with the windfall profits tax legislation already proposed in the House and Senate," Jamie Henn, a spokesperson for … Continue Reading
June 16, 2022
Fish and Wildlife Service backs 4 water, coastal bills
by Hannah Northey, Jack Forrest
A top Fish and Wildlife Service official expressed administration support for water and coastal conservation legislation during a Senate Environment and Public Works hearing yesterday. Stephen Guertin, deputy director for program management and policy, said his agency supports bills to reauthorize conservation efforts in the Delaware River Basin, restore the Great Lakes and address other coastal concerns. "These coastal habitats are threatened by climate change, rising sea levels, … Continue Reading
June 16, 2022
Inaugural Mendocino Coast Purple Urchin Festival seeks to help rebalance troubled marine ecosystem
by Mary Callahan
They'll be serving purple urchin this weekend on the Mendocino Coast, offering creamy seafood morsels cooked up in a variety of preparations, savory and sweet. It's part of an effort to spread the word that the abundant urchins - the edible parts of them - are delicious, and that consuming more of them can help restore balance to a troubled North Coast marine ecosystem. Known in the food world as uni, the yellow-orange meat will be featured on menus of at least eight restaurants … Continue Reading
June 15, 2022
Oil-state governors lay out different paths on methane
by Heather Richards
Two governors from states with the highest fossil fuel production from federal minerals championed their efforts yesterday to rein in methane emissions. At a hearing before the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, however, the state officials, one Republican and one Democrat, disagreed on whether the federal government should strengthen rules on oil and gas companies to curb releases of the powerful greenhouse gas. "Wyoming does not need additional layers of federal regulation to … Continue Reading