In the News
Huffman to Warren Buffett: 'Do the Right Thing' on Klamath Dams
by Thadeus Greenson
North Coast Congressmember Jared Huffman jointed two of his colleagues today in sending a letter to one of the world's richest people urging him to move forward an agreement to remove four hydroelectric dams from the ailing Klamath River.The letter comes as the hard fought agreement reached in 2016 to complete what would be the largest dam removal effort in the nation's history is in peril. In July, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ruled that PacifiCorp - the power company that owns … Continue Reading
August 27, 2020
Thompson, Huffman back bill boosting federal share of community disaster funding
by Guy Kovner
Sonoma County's two House members, Reps. Mike Thompson and Jared Huffman, are among the 19 lawmakers co-sponsoring a bill to boost to 90% the federal share of disaster recovery funds awarded to communities. In all, 18 Democrats and a lone Republican, Rep. Doug LaMalfa of Richvale, introduced on Tuesday the bill that would raise the current 75% federal share of Federal Emergency Management Agency grants for restoring public facilities, including roads, bridges, public utilities and … Continue Reading
August 22, 2020
Huffman Votes for Postal Service Act as Dozens Rally in Eureka
by Kimberley Wear
North Coast Congressmember Jared Huffman joined fellow House members in passing the Delivering for America Act, which includes $25 billion in funding for the U.S. Postal Service and prohibits any changes to "operations or level of service" in place on Jan. 1 of this year.Today's vote came as "Save the Post Office Saturday" rallies took place across the nation and in Eureka - where a group of about 35 held signs on the corner of Fifth and H streets and speakers noted the importance of mail … Continue Reading
August 20, 2020
Sonoma County braces for long fight against Walbridge fire
by Julie Johnson, Mary Callahan and Tyler Silvy
An exhausted and determined force of mostly local firefighters tried to strengthen their defense Thursday against two main fronts of the 20,000-acre Walbridge fire threatening communities west of Healdsburg and along the Russian River outside Guerneville in Sonoma County. Declaring the Walbridge fire the most critical of many major blazes in the region, Cal Fire officials began mustering a significant air attack, including a converted 747 Global Supertanker, the largest aerial firefighting … Continue Reading
August 19, 2020
‘Facelift’ of Humboldt Bay’s north, south jetties begins
by Sonia Waraich
The north and south jetties at the entrance of Humboldt Bay are getting a facelift after four decades of relentless battering from the North Pacific Ocean. "Over these last 40 years, these jetties have performed remarkably well and they held up admirably to the continuous onslaught of the ocean," said Peter Mull, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project manager. "Inevitably though the sea never grows tired and all works of man meant to pacify her will eventually need a bit of a … Continue Reading
August 18, 2020
North Coast reps grill PacifiCorp on Klamath dams removal, tribal chairs stress urgency
by Shomik Mukherjee
North Coast elected officials rang alarm bells Tuesday around what the region's congressional representative called a "slow-walk" on the removal of four Klamath River dams that have threatened fish populations and led to pollution. The effort to remove the hydroelectric dams was making steady progress until a federal agency in July ordered the energy company PacifiCorp to remain a licensee for the dams, an unwelcome move for both PacifiCorp and a nonprofit group that had sought to take over … Continue Reading
August 18, 2020
Rep. Huffman Meets With Local Postal Workers Outside Eureka’s West Clark Street Station
by Hank Sims
Earlier today, Congressman Jared Huffman - who is in Humboldt County for a forum on the Klamath Dam Agreement and to officiate at an Army Corps of Engineers event to celebrate the reconstruction of the North Jetty - met with local postal workers outside the main office on Eureka's West Clark Street. The subject, of course, was the Postal Service itself. In recent days, the national spotlight has been on the Trump administration's removal of mail-sorting machines at post office distribution … Continue Reading
August 17, 2020
'Monuments to Colonialism:' With Klamath Dam Removal at an Impasse, Huffman Calls Congressional Forum
by Thadeus Greenson
Since time immemorial, as summer turns to fall, the Karuk Tribe's fatawana, or world renewal priests, have gathered for a renewal ceremony that spreads across many days. They fast and hike to ancient prayer sites. They dance and ritualistically bath in the waters of the Klamath River, all in an effort to bring balance back to the world.But in the long hot days of August of a drought year with dense toxic algal blooms already forming behind a series of upriver dams, many fear that when it comes … Continue Reading
August 05, 2020
Marin census workers scramble to meet early deadline
by Richard Halstead
Already upended by COVID-19, the effort to count all of Marin's residents in the 2020 census suffered another blow this week by news the count would be cut short. U.S. Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham announced on Monday that the bureau will conclude all counting efforts for the 2020 census on Sept. 30, four weeks early. "Just weeks ago officials at the Census Bureau assured me that they were committed to a complete count and this new decision flies in the face of that commitment," … Continue Reading
July 30, 2020
Eureka to receive $5 million EDA CARES Act Recovery grant allocated by Congress
by Lisa Lebrenjak
EUREKA, Calif. - Eureka will receive a $5 million Economic Development Administration CARES Act Recovery grant to respond to the coronavirus pandemic. On July 29, North Coast Rep. Jared Huffman's office announced that the U.S. Department of Commerce's EDA is awarding over $5.5 million in Recovery Assistance grants allocated by Congress in the CARES Act to capitalize and administer Revolving Loan Funds that will provide critical gap financing to small businesses and entrepreneurs adversely … Continue Reading
July 30, 2020
House Democrat introduces bill to block oil drilling near polar bear dens
by Rachel Frazin
Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) has proposed a new bill aiming to prevent oil and gas drilling near polar bear dens, targeting the Trump administration's plans to open up a wildlife refuge in Alaska for drilling. The bill, introduced Thursday, would prohibit oil and gas exploration within one mile of a polar bear maternal denning habitat. "Proposed oil exploration would further threaten this species, crushing and destroying their dens and cause some mother polar bears to abandon their … Continue Reading
July 28, 2020
Park Police chief testifies protesters were not cleared from Lafayette Square for Trump visit
by Rachel Frazin
The head of the Park Police on Tuesday said he knew that President Trump was going to Lafayette Square on June 1, but denied that this was why protesters were cleared from the area before the president's visit, which ended with him posing with a Bible outside St. John's Church. "We were notified earlier in the day that the president was going to visit Lafayette Park to view the damage that was done to the park over the course of the preceding days, but we were not given a time on when he was … Continue Reading
July 27, 2020
Humanist in the House: An Interview with 2020 Humanist of the Year Jared Huffman
by Rachel Deitch
The American Humanist Association (AHA) is pleased to honor Representative Jared Huffman (D-CA) as the 2020 Humanist of the Year at its 79th Annual Conference, "Distant but Together: A Virtual Celebration of Humanism," streaming live online on August 8, 2020. The only humanist and agnostic serving openly in Congress, Representative Huffman founded the Congressional Freethought Caucus in 2018 to promote sound public policy based on reason, science, and moral values while protecting the secular … Continue Reading
July 24, 2020
North Coast Rep. Jared Huffman cosponsors legislation to block federal policing in cities
by Marissa Papnek
WASHINGTON, D.C. - North Coast Rep. Jared Huffman on Thursday announced he joined legislation to block what he called federal paramilitary occupations in Portland and other American cities. Huffman announced his support as an original cosponsor of H.R. 7719, the Preventing Authoritarian Policing Tactics on America's Streets Act. In a press release, his office said the bill would block the Trump administration from deploying federal forces as a "shadowy paramilitary against Americans." The … Continue Reading
July 23, 2020
Congress approves landmark Great American Outdoors Act that has bolstered Sonoma County parks
by Guy Kovner
A bill that sailed through the House on Wednesday and appears headed for President Donald Trump's signature props up funding for federal grants that have helped develop some of Sonoma County's most beloved parks, pools and trails for the past 50 years. The little-known grants, funded by royalties from offshore oil and gas production, have contributed $7.5 million to outdoor recreation projects ranging from 5,000-acre Trione-Annadel State Park to a Russian River boat ramp and city swimming … Continue Reading
July 17, 2020
Democrats say Interior botched polar bear study in pursuit to drill ANWR
by Rebecca Beitsch
Democratic lawmakers are pushing back against Department of the Interior plans to drill in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR,) arguing the agency wasn't thorough before concluding that drilling activity wouldn't harm local polar bears. A review of the environmental impacts of drilling in the area "makes the unsupportable conclusion that industrializing the entire Coastal Plain-including the most important terrestrial denning habitat for among the most imperiled polar bear … Continue Reading
July 16, 2020
Democrats target Confederate monuments in spending bill
by Rachel Frazin
House Democrats are seeking to get rid of Confederate statues and memorials from National Park Service (NPS) land by including requirements in a new appropriations bill to do so. A similar effort failed in 2015, but proponents feel they have a better chance this year amid the national reckoning on race following the May 25 police killing of George Floyd. The fiscal 2021 spending bill for the Interior Department, which oversees the National Park Service, would require NPS to remove all … Continue Reading
July 09, 2020
Northern California Congressmen Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Eradicate Illegal Cannabis Grows on Public Lands
From the office of Congressman Jared Huffman: Congressman Jared Huffman (CA-02) issued the following statement after he and Reps. Doug LaMalfa (CA-01), Salud Carbajal (CA-24), Hal Rogers (KY-05), TJ Cox (CA-21), and Doug Lamborn (CO-05) introduced the Protecting Lands Against Narcotics Trafficking (PLANT) Act. This legislation provides resources to help local, state, and federal law enforcement eradicate illegal marijuana grows on public lands and establishes a fund to restore land that has … Continue Reading
July 08, 2020
Democrats press for funding ‘restoration economy’ jobs
by Jennifer Yachnin
House lawmakers are urging support for a new class of "restoration economy" jobs - a number of services targeting the repair or protection of natural areas, from trail work to scientific research - as the nation looks to recover from the downturn triggered by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Democratic members of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands yesterday held a virtual roundtable on the subject, which focused on proposals for a new federal … Continue Reading
July 07, 2020
Lawmakers join fight over Pebble mine transport route
by James Marshall
A trio of Democratic lawmakers last week joined a chorus of tribal and fishing groups raising concerns about the transportation route selected in the Pebble mine plan. The Army Corps of Engineers Alaska District in May announced the least environmentally damaging practicable alternative (LEDPA). It includes a route north of Iliamna Lake leading to a port at Diamond Point where minerals from the proposed Pebble copper-gold mine can be shipped out. The selection came as a surprise to groups … Continue Reading