‘Terror-Gen’
North Coast Journal | October 31, 2019 | www.northcoastjournal.com
Whether if Halloween was just around the corner or not, I think we could still call the corporation that’s owned by the Energy Capital Partners “Terror-Gen”, as it’s a good representation of the havoc that the company’s 600-foot-tall bird, bat and soil decapitating wind turbines will have on one of Humboldt’s and the West Coast’s most diverse ecological transects, while opening up other ridges to future development and increased wildfire risk (Mailbox, Oct. 24).
The proposed project stretches over 30 miles along Bear River (Tsakiuwit) and Monument ridges, from our coastal prairies on Cape Mendocino through grand fir, Douglas fir, redwood and tanoak forests, all the way to the white and black oak woodlands of Bridgeville. The recent power outage shows why centralized grid-tied projects like this give us no benefit of energy security, and why home solar micro-grid projects shine as the direction we need to be taking to combat global climate change. In fact, all we would get from the TERROR-Gen project are unmitigable impacts to cultural and biological resources, and a new 25-mile transmission corridor through un-developed forestland along Shively Ridge, the functioning divide between the Eel and Van Duzen River valleys. Who will be responsible for maintaining and supervising these lines, especially when fire conditions are ripe?
Redwoods store more carbon per acre than any other forest type in the world, including the Amazon. The Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) for the project is out Nov. 1 and the first planning commission workshop is Nov. 7. The draft EIR contained much to be desired, with the impacts clearly being significant and unavoidable. Please get informed by visiting the Humboldt Wind Energy Project page and show up to voice opposition to a development project not suited for the prairies and forests of Humboldt County.
Adam Canter, Fortuna
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2019/11/01/terror-gen/