Good Afternoon Partners,
Here is your last newsletter of 2025. Wishing you a peaceful end of the year!
Upcoming learning opportunities:
- Virtual lunch series: A History of Native California
- Friday, December 19, 12:00-1:00pm
- Chapter 1: A People of the Land, a Land for the People: A ten-session monthly series; each webinar will focus on one chapter of Professor Bauer of UC Riverside’s book, We Are the Land: A History of Native California.
- This lunch series is part of the California Natural Resources Agency’s Tribal Stewardship Policy and Toolkit. The Toolkit and the webinars are intended to increase the capacity of tribes, state agencies, and non-tribal entities to advance tribal stewardship, including tribal access, collaboration, and ancestral land return. A recording of this webinar will be posted online at Tribal Stewardship Policy and Toolkit.
Local Climate and Offshore Wind Planning Efforts:
- The Humboldt County Regional Climate Action Plan passed unanimously at the Board of Supervisors at their December 16th meeting.
- The plan aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across Humboldt County by addressing emissions from vehicle travel, electricity use, natural gas consumption and other local sources. It outlines measures related to carbon-free energy, building energy use, transportation, waste, water/wastewater and carbon sequestration.
- The board set a new greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions threshold for future development projects. The GHG threshold determines when a project’s emissions are considered significant and must be reduced or mitigated. A consultant hired by the county recommended a lower , more ambitious GHG threshold, 50% below what is mandated in the RCAP. The Humboldt County Planning Commission worried that a low emissions threshold could stymie development and recommended a more conservative threshold of 25% below RCAP levels. The Board of Supervisors took a middle ground and adopted a threshold of 35% below the mandated levels.
- Lost Coast Outpost reports
- “The plan identifies 12 strategies for reducing emissions, largely focusing on transportation-related measures such as transitioning government fleets to cleaner-running vehicles/fuels while reducing the number of vehicle miles traveled. Land use planning will encourage growth in areas where services and transit already exist, and local governments will promote efficiency upgrades and electrification in homes and businesses.”
- Humboldt County Association of Governments (HCAOG) Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) is open for comments (deadline is Sunday 12/28/25; you can also complete a survey to provide input using the link above).
- The RTP (known as the Variety in Rural Options of Mobility (VROOM)) is a 20 year planning document for the period from 2026 – 2046.
- Some of the changes to the plan include:
- Replace references to the ‘Climate Crisis’ with ‘Climate Change’
- Extension of timeline for ZEV infrastructure charging goal, housing access goal, and general plan zoning goal
- Timeline for ZEV fueling infrastructure targets were changed from 2025 and 2030 to 2030 and 2035
- Timeline for the following goal was changed from 2022 to 2030: “80% of all new permitted housing units are in places with safe, comfortable, and convenient access to employment, shopping, and recreation by walking, biking, rolling, or transit.”
- Timeline for the following goal was changed from 2023/4 to 2027/8: “all jurisdictions have adopted GP/zoning incentives for building in “highly connected” areas and for other climate-friendly housing development.”
- Extended timeline for governments to start converting fleet vehicles to zero-emission from 2022 to “as early as possible” to meet 2035 goals.
- Removal of school buses from ZEV transition
- Removal of active transportation education goal (had been part of ‘Safe and Sustainable Transportation Targets’)
- Extension of timeline for investment in complete streets from increasing regional discretionary funding set aside by 10% by 2023 and by 25% by 2028 to 2028 and 2032.
- Removed Policy Tribal-2 (supporting legislation that would remove limited waivers of sovereign immunity from Streets and Highways Code and expanding eligible projects to allow Caltrans to enter into direct contracts with Tribes for the Active Transportation program) because state legislation (AB 630, Ramos 2023) addressed the issue of waiving sovereign immunity in transportation contracts
- Elimination of the Funding Consistency Analysis, a tool that ensures transportation projects align with the plan’s climate, safety, and mobility goals
- Humboldt County Board of Supervisors Support Offshore Wind Supply Chain and Workforce Recommendations
- At the December 9 meeting of the Board of Supervisors, they received the following reports and recommendations produced by the Xodus consulting group: Humboldt Offshore Wind Community Engagement and Mapping Redwood Coast Region Offshore Wind Workforce Assessment, Redwood Coast Region Offshore Wind Supply Chain Assessment, and the Redwood Coast Region Offshore Wind Supply Chain and Workforce Assessment Strategic Recommendations.
- The County of Humboldt commissioned the Xodus Group to assess local and regional workforce and supply chain readiness for offshore wind in June 2024.
- High level summary:
- The Xodus reports outline Humboldt County’s potential to become a major hub for floating offshore wind on the West Coast, while emphasizing that the region faces significant workforce, infrastructure, and supply‑chain challenges. The report highlights that the local labor pool is currently too small to meet projected demand for offshore wind construction, operations, and maintenance, and that substantial training and recruitment efforts will be required to build a qualified workforce. It also notes that the region’s port and industrial facilities around the Samoa Peninsula will need major upgrades to support turbine assembly, staging, and long‑term operations.
- The reports also identify economic opportunities, such as potential for hundreds of jobs, local manufacturing, and strengthening long‑term economic resilience if Humboldt County invests early in workforce development, Tribal partnerships, and supply‑chain coordination. Community engagement is highlighted as essential, especially given concerns about environmental impacts, cultural resources, strain on local services, and equitable access to new jobs.
- The reports note that success will depend on coordinated planning, investment in training and infrastructure, and strong collaboration among local governments, Tribes, educational institutions, and industry partners.
- Lost Coast Outpost Reports
- December 9, 2025
State and Federal Updates:
- Items of Interest Moving into the 2026 Legislative Session
- CEQA streamlining: AB1083, authored by Assemblymember Damon Connolly, is a corrective bill responding to concerns about SB131, a 2025 budget-trailer bill that allowed exemptions to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for a range of projects from housing to those in the state climate adaptation plan, daycare facilities, advanced manufacturing, certain water and sewer system projects, and more. SB 131 also prevented public access to certain agency administrative records. A network of state environmental organizations is supporting AB 1083 for how it could strengthen transparency in the administrative record, further help protect endangered species habitat, and refine CEQA exemptions for advanced manufacturing. Click here to learn more about the coalition supporting AB 1083.
- California Energy Commission (CEC) draft of Transmission Infrastructure Development Guidebook published
- Senate Bill 319 requires the California Energy Commission (CEC), the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), and the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) to jointly create a clear, public explanation of how transmission lines in California get planned and permitted. The guidebook explains the transmission development process, provides estimated timeframes for each stage of planning and permitting, and clarifies agency roles and responsibilities. SB 319 also tells the agencies to coordinate their transmission related responsibilities.
- 1 Document(s) filed in Senate Bill 319 Transmission Infrastructure Development Guidebook, 23-SB-319, Draft Electrical Transmission Infrastructure Development Guidebook
- Draft linked on webpage
- Published December 12, 2025
- Comments due January 22, 2026
- Federal Court Strikes Down Offshore Wind Ban
- Lost Coast Outpost, December 9, 2025
- On December 8, “Judge Patti B. Saris of the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts ruled that President Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order halting permits and leasing for new wind energy projects is “unlawful,” vacating the order and ruling in favor of the plaintiffs, which include 17 states and Washington, D.C.” (Note: California and Oregon were part of the suit) “A group of environmental advocacy groups, including the Arcata-based Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC), filed an amicus curae brief in support of the suit.” The Administration is likely to appeal.
- The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has launched the 11th National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program (the current plan runs through 2029). The draft plan, released in November 2025, proposes 34 lease sales across Alaska, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Pacific- including lease sales for central and southern California in 2027 and northern California in 2029. The comment period on the plan closes January 23, 2026, and can be submitted to the docket (Regulations.gov (Docket ID: BOEM-2025-0483).
- Next phases include a publishing of the proposed program (will have a 90 day comment period) and then a final program plan to be approved by Congress and the President. These next phases also include opportunities for public comment.
- State and Local Reps React to Trump Administration Plan to Open More than 1 Billion Acres to New Offshore Oil and Gas Drilling
- Lost Coast Outpost, November 20, 2025
- ‘The Trump administration proposed opening nearly 1.3 billion acres of U.S. coastal waters to new offshore oil and gas leases. The plan includes opening federal waters off the California coast to drilling operations for the first time in four decades, along with a remote region off Alaska in the northern Arctic where drilling has never before taken place.’
- Trump administration proposes opening waters off California and Florida to oil drilling
- Politico, November 20, 2025
- ‘The Trump administration has unveiled an aggressive new five‑year offshore oil and gas leasing plan that would open federal waters off California and parts of Florida’s Gulf Coast to drilling for the first time in decades. The proposal includes up to 34 lease sales between 2026 and 2031, making it one of the most expansive offshore drilling plans in modern history.’
Resources, Information and Academic Articles:
- Strengthening Offshore Wind Community Engagement: Recommendations for State Agencies
- November 2025
- Report by the Clean Energy States Alliance (CESA)
- “The current pause on offshore wind development offers an opportunity for state agencies to build stronger relationships with potentially impacted and adjacent communities and create the conditions for offshore wind to provide durable, tangible benefits in the long term.”
- CORE Hub and the Pacific Offshore Wind Consortium (POWC) are mentioned in the report around information sharing, work to increase access to project planning forums for impacted communities, and developing frameworks and standards for investment in communities.
- Impacts of Offshore Wind on Reliability and Affordability in ISO-NE and NYISO. Webinar based on a new report from Charles River Associates through Turn Forward’s Energy Research Exchange.
- The full webinar recording can be found here
- Turn Forward released the second paper commissioned from Charles River Associates, “Impacts of offshore wind on reliability and affordability in ISO-NE and NYISO”. This analysis indicates that offshore wind can contribute to a reliable and affordable diversified electric grid, especially in high stress times like the winter. The report finds, for example, that without offshore wind, New England energy costs would rise roughly 10% and New York State blackout risks would increase roughly 25%.
- Here are the links to their press release, final report, and webinar recording, as well as the slides from the webinar.
- This report builds on the study released earlier this month on The Contribution of Offshore Wind to Grid Reliability and Resource Adequacy, which found that America’s growing electricity demand is outpacing current supply, creating new risks for grid reliability. The report shows that adding a diverse mix of energy sources – including offshore wind – can help keep the lights on and costs stable as demand from data centers, manufacturing, and electrification rises. For more information, check out the press release, webinar recording, slides and white paper.
In the news:
- The man behind the fall of offshore wind
- Canary Media, December 11, 2025
- A deep dive on conservative policy advocate David Stevenson, one of the most influential figures in the movement opposing offshore wind. Stevenson spent nearly a decade building a coordinated, multi‑state campaign to halt offshore wind development. Working through the Caesar Rodney Institute and a network of State Policy Network–aligned think tanks, he helped organize local opposition groups, guided lawsuits, amplified messaging about costs and environmental risks, and encouraged activists to use whales as a powerful symbol in public and legal battles.
- The article argues that Stevenson’s tactics exemplify a broader shift to “climate obstruction”: delaying or derailing climate solutions through misinformation, exaggerated risks, and coordinated political pressure.
- What Would a Future Without Offshore Wind Energy Look Like?
- EPIC blog, December 9, 2025
- A new California Public Utilities Commission analysis modeled a “no offshore wind” scenario and found the state would need massive amounts of alternative infrastructure: 4.1 GW of geothermal, 14.7 GW of solar, 8.3 GW of eight‑hour lithium‑ion batteries, and 2.1 GW of pumped‑hydro or compressed‑air storage. This would require more land, more lithium mining, and higher costs than a grid that includes offshore wind. Without offshore wind’s winter and nighttime generation, California would overbuild solar and storage, increasing environmental impacts and electricity prices.
- How China, not the U.S., became the main climate solution story in 2025
- NPR story that includes an interview with Chris Mikkelsen, Executive Director of the Humboldt Bay Harbor District, December 8, 2025
- China has spent two decades building a vast renewable‑energy ecosystem, from manufacturing supply chains to grid infrastructure. Regions like Zhangbei County now host enormous wind and solar installations, and China built more solar capacity in the first half of the year than the rest of the world combined. Renewables have become a major driver of China’s economic growth, helping flatten or reduce national emissions even as energy demand rises. China’s clean‑energy exports, from EVs to solar panels, are also helping other countries cut emissions. Climate analysts argue that China’s rapid expansion of wind, solar, and battery technologies has made it the central force in global climate progress, while the U.S., constrained by policy reversals and stalled projects … risks becoming a bystander in the global effort to slow warming.
- The Ocean Is Coming: King Tides Offer Preview of Rising Seas
- Jennifer Savage for North Coast Journal, December 5, 2025
- King Tides on the North Coast provide a glimpse of how sea level rise will reshape Humboldt County’s shoreline. These exceptionally high tides already flood roads, beaches, and low‑lying neighborhoods, highlighting the region’s vulnerability. Humboldt Bay is experiencing some of the fastest relative sea level rise on the West Coast. What is now occasional King Tide flooding is projected to resemble normal high tides by around mid‑century, when at least a foot of sea level rise is expected.
- As water levels climb, favorite beaches and coastal access points are likely to vanish, and key infrastructure such as highways, utilities, and industrial sites on low‑lying peninsulas will increasingly face chronic inundation. Traditional hard‑armoring responses, like seawalls and riprap, can worsen erosion and damage coastal ecosystems, this article emphasizes nature‑based adaptation strategies, long‑term planning, and respect for Indigenous stewardship.
Gratitude from the CORE Hub Team. We look forward to continuing our work together in 2026.