Humboldt residents voice opinion, concern about potential wind energy project

Ferndale, Ca., (KIEM) An area of the Humboldt Bay may become the site of the first offshore wind energy project on the West Coast.

Last year, a San Diego based energy company Terra-Gen LLC proposed construction and operation of a wind energy project close to 150 megawatts.

The project will include nearly 120 parcels beginning West of state highway 101, South of Rio Dell and Scotia, and ending East of state highway 101 in Bridgeville at the PG&E substation.

In Tuesday’s presentation residents brought up several issues such as a complete and accurate E.I.R report, the species of bird and animals that will be impacted, and for some, a huge issue, the noise.

“Noise studies were done using instrumentation that measures ambient levels of noise like the rest of the draft E.I.R,” said organizers. “The Maximum impact scores were assumed. So, the ambient noise levels that are measured were increased to assume higher-level ambient noise and therefore a bigger impact. What was found is that long range noise is not something that is not going to be measured. There’s only one location on the project site where noise can be an issue.”   

The developer’s ask that the public continues to send their questions and concerns to the Board of Supervisors and attend the Town Hall meeting at Winema Theater in Scotia, June 3 at 6:30 PM.

Specific components for the project can be viewed at humboldtgov.org/humboldt-wind-energy-project.