By: @Chris Norden
Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District announced this week that they have received a $426,719,810 grant from the Federal INFRA grant program to support development of the “Humboldt Bay Offshore Wind Heavy Lift Marine Terminal Project” at the Redwood Marine Terminal site on the Samoa Peninsula.
The special district has worked closely with their federal legislators, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla, U.S. Senator Laphonza Butler, and Representative Jared Huffman, to help secure this crucial grant.
“The District is grateful for all the support we have received from our State and Federal partners. As this project moves forward, the District is committed to working with Tribes, fisherfolk, the general community, and other stakeholders to minimize the impacts and maximize the local benefits,” Greg Dale, Board President of the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation & Conservation District.
The project is designed to support offshore wind throughout the west coast of the US. This project is a massive opportunity for Humboldt County to be a national leader in addressing climate change, sea level rise, and green site development. The project will also conclude a decade-long process to clean up a contaminated site, while simultaneously providing high-paying construction and manufacturing jobs.
This grant is administered by the Federal Department of Transportation and will be used to finalize design/permitting and to fund project construction, including access roads, onsite utilities, a 40-acre upland staging site, a 1,200 linear foot wharf, and a several acre berth. The grant also includes:
- $51,000,000 for environmental restoration;
- $1,100,000 for a paved multipurpose trail adjacent to the site;
- $2,300,00 for an eco-shoreline transition from the bay to the upland site;
- $10,000,000 for a large on-site solar array to provide renewable energy to the project operations;
- $1,200,000 for public recreation access (fishing pier, kayak launch, or other);
- $3,000,000 for a dredge material dewatering area; and
- $6,000,000 for a Community Benefit Program intended to benefit local Tribes, fisherman, and nearby residents.
In 2022, the Biden Administration announced the goals of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by the year 2030 and at least 110 gigawatts of offshore wind by the year 2050. The State of California is seeking 5 gigawatts by 2030 and 25 gigawatts by 2045. In the past 10 months, port readiness studies have been published by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), the California State Lands, and the National Renewable Energy Lab. These three studies concur that a Staging & Integration port terminal project in Humboldt Bay is critical to the ultimate success of achieving state and federal renewable energy goals.
More about the proposed project can be found here: https://humboldtbay.org/humboldt-bay-offshore-wind-heavy-lift-marine-terminal-project-3.
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