In the News
Studies continue for Last Chance Grade Project
by Jackson Guilfoil
Caltrans is working to assess the environmental impacts of two proposed construction projects which aim to find a solution to the routine landslides and storms damaging Last Chance Grade, a three-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 101 between Klamath and Crescent City. The reports, which are expected to be completed in 2023, are assessing the impact of two alternatives. Alternative F, which would build an estimated $1.3 billion tunnel, and Alternative X, which would move the road inland, install … Continue Reading
December 10, 2021
‘It’s grotesque’: Inside the Hill methane fight
by Nick Sobczyk and Heather Richards
Progressives set out to write a reconciliation bill that would scrap special tax treatment for fossil fuel companies. Instead, they might hand the oil and gas industry a new subsidy. Democrats struck a deal in October with Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chair Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Texas moderates to pair a methane fee with $775 million in grants, loans and rebates for oil and gas companies to monitor and reduce methane pollution, which accounts for 20 percent of all global emissions, … Continue Reading
December 08, 2021
Climate and the parliamentarian
by Matthew Choi
SHARING THE COST OF WATER: A group of House lawmakers are hoping to make it easier for American Indian tribes to get access to federal water relief. Reps. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.), Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-N.M.), Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Huffman, Tom Cole (R-Okla.) and Grace Napolitano (D-Calif.) are introducing the WaterSMART Access for Tribes Act today, which would allow the Interior secretary to reduce or waive cost-share requirements for tribal governments … Continue Reading
December 08, 2021
House Democrats ask DC Circuit to vacate Interior's latest offshore lease sale
by Meghan Gordon
Three top Democrats in the US House of Representatives have asked a federal court to vacate the Interior Department's latest oil and gas lease sale, which opened some 80 million acres of the Gulf of Mexico. The suit to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit argues Interior's Nov. 17 Lease Sale 257 violated the National Environmental Policy Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. It said Interior should have performed a greenhouse gas emissions analysis. House Natural … Continue Reading
December 06, 2021
Big week for reconciliation as Dems look to finish changes
by Manuel Quiñones
Senate Democrats are looking to finish changes to the budget reconciliation bill in the coming days before moving it to the floor as soon as next week, if Majority Leader Chuck Schumer gets his way. But the New York Democrat will have to deal with persistent concerns from Energy and Natural Resources Chair Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) - including on climate portions of the $1.7 trillion bill. And Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), who has said she supports the budget reconciliation effort but has also … Continue Reading
December 02, 2021
Huffman in D.C. for Lighting of U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree
by CHRISTOPHER AU-YOUNG
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Dec. 1st was marked by the lighting of the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree, Rep. Jared Huffman joined the California delegation in Washington D.C. for the event. Harvested on Oct. 23rd, the 84-foot long white fur tree was shipped from the Golden State on a cross country road trip to the nation's capital. It made plenty of stops along the way, including various parks and plazas, schools, as well as memorials and monuments before arriving on Nov. 19th. Representative Huffman … Continue Reading
December 02, 2021
From Orleans to the Capitol
by Malcolm Terence
I never forget watching a crew starting a prescribed burn in the woods near my neighbor's home back in late spring 2008, in an era when wildfires were just starting to get crazy and often unstoppable. I remember Will Harling handed me a drip torch and told me where to safely light the undergrowth, so when wildfire came, and it surely would, this intentional burn scar might protect the neighborhood. Harling is now a director of the Mid Klamath Watershed Council, a fast-growing nonprofit based … Continue Reading
December 02, 2021
Democrats want to prevent new oil and gas drilling in most U.S. waters. Their plan might work.
by Maxine Joselow and Alexandra Ellerbeck
Democrats might be able to halt most new offshore oil and gas drilling A slew of climate provisions in Democrats' roughly $2 trillion social spending bill face an uncertain future in the Senate. But there's one big exception: limits on offshore oil and gas drilling. Democrats, aides and environmentalists feel confident that the prevention of oil and gas drilling in most U.S. waters will survive scrutiny in the Senate, including from key centrist Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.). Under the … Continue Reading
November 29, 2021
Huffman: Infrastructure bill isn’t a big carbon reducer without passage of Build Back Better Act
by Sonia Waraich
MENDOCINO Co., 11/29/21 - A traditional infrastructure bill dedicated to fixing roads and bridges has made it through Congress and across President Joe Biden's desk, but North Coast Rep. Jared Huffman says that package won't mean much for addressing the climate crisis if the Build Back Better Act isn't passed alongside it. The bill passed by the House of Representatives the past Friday, Nov. 19 includes a host of programs that would benefit Mendocino County residents, including funding that … Continue Reading
November 25, 2021
Preserving a Way of Life
by Kimberly Wear
At the confluence of the Klamath and Salmon rivers stands a small mountain known as á›uuyich to the Karuk people, for whom it is the center of the world. Close by is the historic village of Katimiîn, where the Karuk Tribe's annual world renewal ceremony to restore balance to the universe takes place, and down river is Ameekyáaraam, site of the Jump Dance and First Salmon Ceremony. Sacred to the Karuk people since time immemorial, these lands will be among some … Continue Reading
November 19, 2021
Fishing law needs to be more climate responsive, legislation moving forward
by Dave Monti
It's no secret: climate-change impacts of warming water, coastal erosion, habitat degradation, low oxygen and acidification are changing how we fish and how fish should be managed. One has to wonder: what happens when the water warms to the point that even the warm-water fish that have moved into our area like black sea bass, scup and summer flounder leave to go further north to cooler water? Our federal fishing law is not equipped to handle these impacts. On Wednesday, the House … Continue Reading
November 17, 2021
‘These guys pressure you to pay for the insurance.’ Health coverage buyers plagued by misleading marketing, studies show
by Eleanor Laise
A quick web search made Shazad Mohammed the target of a months-long marketing frenzy. Back in September, the 45-year-old systems administrator in Virginia Gardens, Fla., was uninsured due to a recent job change. He typed "private health insurance" into a search engine and landed on a site that promised to help him find coverage if he entered a few basic details. Within minutes, he says, his phone started ringing. And ringing. And ringing. The callers offered Mohammed a hodgepodge of … Continue Reading
November 17, 2021
Progressive Democrats test-drive new hardball tactics
by Nolan D. McCaskill
WASHINGTON - Progressive Democrats have never been shy about fighting for what they want. But their aggressive tactics in the recent fight over a massive social safety-net package surprised many in their own party, raising questions about whether the tougher stance was an anomaly or a sign of battles to come. Emboldened by Democrats' narrow control of the House and Senate, the 95-member Congressional Progressive Caucus for nearly two months delayed passage of a bipartisan $1-trillion … Continue Reading
November 17, 2021
Jared Huffman calls for continued climate action following COP 26
by Isabella Vanderheiden
Global leaders gathered in Glasgow, Scotland earlier this month for the 26th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference, more commonly referred to as COP 26, to explore adaptive strategies and creative solutions to the global climate crisis. After two weeks of negotiations, diplomats from almost 200 countries signed off on the Glasgow Climate Pact and agreed to ramp up carbon-cutting commitments. North Coast Rep. Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) joined United States representatives at this … Continue Reading
November 17, 2021
NOAA, groups back adding climate mandates to fishing law
by Rob Hotakainen
NOAA's top fisheries official yesterday endorsed a plan that would require the agency for the first time in its history to add climate change requirements to its management of the nation's fish stocks. "Fisheries management must continue to adapt as our ocean ecosystem faces unprecedented changes due to climate change," Janet Coit, the head of NOAA Fisheries, told a House Natural Resources panel. Testifying before the Subcommittee on Water, Oceans and Wildlife, Coit said NOAA appreciates … Continue Reading
November 17, 2021
Rep. Jared Huffman part of pair reintroducing bill to fully fund special education
by MICHAEL PATTERSON
EUREKA, Calif. - North Coast Rep. Jared Huffman and Sen. Chris Van Vollen (D-Maryland) say they have reintroduced a bill to fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The following is a press release from Sen Jared Huffman's office: Today, Representative Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) and Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) reintroduced the IDEA Full Funding Act, bipartisan, bicameral legislation to finally ensure Congress' commitment to fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities … Continue Reading
November 16, 2021
‘Not Just Wespac’: Federal Oversight Of Fisheries Is Under Scrutiny By Congress
by Nathan Eagle
The federal agency that oversees how the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council spends millions of taxpayer dollars told a congressional committee Tuesday that findings in a recent audit of mismanagement and questionable spending by the council were "deeply concerning." "You expect an audit to uncover some deficiencies but the extent and the percentage of grants that were deemed questionable for poor record-keeping or other issues identified was certainly out of line," National … Continue Reading
November 15, 2021
Schumer wants to pass Build Back Better as quickly as possible
by Theodoric Meyer and Jacqueline Alemany
Schumer wants to pass Build Back Better as quickly as possible Telephone tag: President Biden's massive social spending legislation hasn't yet passed the House. But Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is already telling House Democrats he wants to get it through the Senate - quickly. In a phone call last Tuesday with progressives, Schumer laid out how he plans to get the climate, child-care and health-care package through the upper chamber, three people familiar with … Continue Reading
November 15, 2021
After climate summit, House Democrats feel heat on budget vote
by Joseph Morton and Benjamin J. Hulac
House Democrats who attended last week's international climate summit in Glasgow returned describing a reception that combined sincere appreciation for a change in U.S. policy direction on the issue with real skepticism about the extent and reliability of America's commitment - especially as they meet resistance in their own party to emission reduction policies in their reconciliation package. "The hard questions that we consistently got were, you know, why didn't the United States sign on to … Continue Reading
November 15, 2021
Northern California leaders cheer funding infusion for infrastructure, but Huffman calls bill short of ‘transformative’
by ANDREW GRAHAM
North Bay officials hailed the prospect of long-awaited investments in the region's internet connectivity, roadways, transit systems and electric grid Monday as President Joe Biden signed a $1.2 trillion dollar infrastructure package into law on the White House lawn. Here at home, sums of federal money unprecedented in decades are expected soon to begin flowing to public transportation, roads and bridges. Though local leaders said it was too soon to put precise dollar figures on what might … Continue Reading