More than 450 million shellfish seed produced annually generate $31 million economic outputHumboldt Bay’s mariculture sector supported 57 local jobs while generating $31.1 million in total economic output in 2024, according to a new economic analysis prepared by the Schatz Energy Research Center at Cal Poly Humboldt, with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s California Sea Grant College Program, which funds marine research, education, and outreach throughout California.“Shellfish are an important piece of Humboldt County’s social, cultural, and economic fabric. Clams, cockles, and other shellfish have been harvested by the Wiyot people of Humboldt Bay (Wigi) since time immemorial,” the report states. “The Wiyot people continue these practices today, and with the return of ancestral lands such as Digawututklh (on the Samoa Peninsula), traditional harvesting of clams and other shellfish can resume. Commercial shellfish farming has been substantially present in Humboldt Bay since 1955, though attempts to build an industry in the Bay date back as early as 1896.”The Humboldt Bay Shellfish Mariculture Business Survey: Assessing Economic Conditions and Contributions report authored by Tanner Etherton, Kevin Johnson, and Arne Jacobson surveyed responses from seven of the eight local shellfish businesses and found Humboldt Bay produced 459 million individual shellfish seed, a 152% increase since 2016.“Humboldt Bay occupies a key position in the California and West Coast shellfish mariculture industry because of its longstanding high-health status, uniquely strong tidal exchange, and stable, healthy ecosystems. Its shellfish industry has produced more than half of California’s market-sized oysters annually since 2015 and more than half of all farmed shellfish in 2024,” the report states. “That same year, it supplied at least 177 businesses with market-sized shellfish, and 136 farms with shellfish seed. Because no other California bay currently possesses the same high-health status allowing it to export seed to other states, Humboldt Bay serves a unique role in the U.S. West Coast shellfish industry.”Tanner Etherton, a co-author of the report, said an aquaculture advisory committee was formed in response to the Heavy Lift Marine Terminal proposal for offshore wind, giving growers and Harbor District staff a venue to work through potential impacts and possible mitigation measures.“The Harbor District set up an aquaculture advisory committee to work with the Harbor District and the industry to discuss some of the implications of the project proposal. The objectives were to understand the project better, what the impacts might be to the industry, and to propose and evaluate mitigation measures. And so, through that advisory committee, they requested that an economic analysis be conducted to understand the economic conditions of the industry today prior to this proposed development.”Keep ReadingDownload the report: Humboldt Bay Shellfish Mariculture Business Survey: Assessing Economic Conditions and Contributions
From rare bacteria to ‘forever chemicals’, a series of cases of violations or alleged pollution has prompted alarm
When officials in Wyoming conducted a routine test on the water that was being discharged from a massive under-construction Meta datacenter, it was a shock to find it contained a rare and potentially hazardous bacterium.While the wastewater flushed into sewers in Cheyenne, Wyoming, was never destined for the public drinking supply, the presence of Cupriavidus gilardii bacterium in 801,000 gallons of water ejected by a contractor for the datacenter earlier this year was still unnerving.Concerned that residents could be exposed to the bacteria if they inhaled evaporating droplets of the water used for irrigation, Cheyenne officials took until July before deciding to stop taking wastewater from Meta’s contractor, Goat Systems – a decision that is now being appealed.“It was a big surprise,” said Frank Strong, water resources manager at the city’s board of public utilities, about the discovery. “Out of a sense of caution we’ve shut it down until we can find out more information.”Meta, which is behind the $800m, 960-acre artificial intelligence (AI) datacenter campus, said independent testing by its contractor found no evidence of the bacterium and questioned the validity of the city’s own tests.“Meta is committed to being a good neighbor in Cheyenne, which includes helping protect local water resources,” said a company spokesman. “We appreciate the board of public utilities’ detailed release of information, which confirms the board found no impact to the public or environment.”However, the bacteria-laden water in Wyoming is just the latest in a series of alarms raised across the US about datacenters and water – not just how much of it they are sucking up, but also what’s in the water when it is funneled back into rivers, streams and public water systems. In Virginia, authorities have brought enforcement actions against several datacenters for wastewater and wetland permit violations, in West Virginia stormwater runoff from an incomplete datacenter has twice flooded surrounding houses, all while locals and activists have campaigned against the discharge of heated water from an upcoming datacenter into Lake Seneca, in New York.The Waterkeeper Alliance, a network of environmental organizations, said 55 of its affiliated groups across the US were working on datacenter-related issues, with 80% of these campaigns centered on concerns that pollutants may be leaching into the environment via discharged water.Some of this backlash is now set to play out in the courts. In Georgia, Flint Riverkeeper has said it will sue the QTS datacenter in Fayetteville for allegedly ejecting “massive amounts of dirt [and] massive concentrations of metals” into the Flint River over the past two years.Keep Reading
My plan, just back from a trip to the East Coast, was to give California a well-deserved pat on the back for its unwavering commitment to coastal protection and public access.My travels had taken me to coastal areas in Connecticut and New York that are so privatized, you’d need a kayak or a parachute to make it onto a beach. One trick they use to keep you off the sand and out of the water is to limit parking to local residents, and typically, there is nowhere else to park within easy or safe walking distance.So here I was, eager to remind everyone that in 2026, Californians should all be lighting candles on the cake celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Coastal Act, which established guidelines regarding public access, conservation and development.But then Gov. Gavin Newsom, while nobody was watching, gave a swift kick to the cake.I’d barely unpacked my bags when a gaggle of sources and news reports grabbed my attention on what Newsom was up to. I’d say the CalMatters headline and story neatly summed things up:“Newsom pushes environmental carve-out for campaign donor’s Santa Monica project.”That’s right, folks. As the legislative session comes to a close over the next few days, Newsom is in the kitchen, stirring a foul chowder that stinks along the state’s entire 1,200-mile coast. He’s pushing a bill that would exempt one particular project from normal regulatory review by the Coastal Commission.Keep Reading
Gov. Gavin Newsom is pushing for an eleventh-hour legislative proposal that would give an environmental carve-out to a Santa Monica developer who is a Newsom appointee to state commissions and longtime donor.The draft proposal, obtained by CalMatters, would effectively exempt a mixed-use project on Santa Monica’s oceanfront, designed by the late architect Frank Gehry, from the state’s environmental regulations of coastal developments, unless the city adopts its own land use policies by Jan. 1, 2028.The project belongs to Jeff Worthe, who, along with his wife Kristin Worthe, has donated more than $274,000 to Newsom’s campaigns and inaugural fund between 2018 and 2022, according to state campaign finance records. Newsom appointed Worthe to the California Privacy Protection Agency Board in 2023, and then to the California High-Speed Rail Authority last year.The Santa Monica City Council and the California Coastal Commission both approved the $350 million project a few years ago after Worthe agreed to pay millions of dollars toward low-cost housing and city infrastructure. But the approvals lapsed, and the project never broke ground despite Worth’s promise to start building in early 2025.The new last-minute proposal shocked and angered a coalition of environmental advocates, who for months have urged state leaders to reject any backdoor deal to exempt any project from the California Coastal Act, a 50-year-old law that set the environmental standard for coastal development.Keep Reading
An unprecedented federal assault threatens the future of California's beautiful and environmentally fragile coastlineFrom rocket ships to oil rigs—how twisted does a tale have to be to connect the two? In this exploration, it will all come together, like a hospital gown.SpaceX, proposed oil rigs and the Commerce Department’s review of California’s coastal-management program are all pieces in the fight over who controls the California coast. Washington and California fundamentally disagree about what the coast is for. One would think it would be for California.The story picks up where Elon Musk decides to go to Mars. Musk poured money into SpaceX, and by 2024 Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County had launched 46 SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets. Musk aimed to push launches to 100 per year to speed deployment of the Starlink satellite internet constellation.The California Coastal Commission (CCC) was alarmed by this and began reviewing the proposed increases. California voters created the California Coastal Commission in 1972 to give the state a strong voice in protecting its coast.Alarmed, the commission began reviewing the proposed increase in space launches. SpaceX said it didn’t need the commission’s permission. A clash over who gets to greenlight a rocket turned into a struggle over who approves new oil rigs.The commission’s objections cited increased sonic booms, wildlife disruptions and public coastal closures. After reviewing the proposed increase and repeatedly seeking information that SpaceX and the Air Force did not provide, the commission objected to the additional launches, E&E News reported.Enter President Trump, no fan of California“I hate the way California is being run,” Trump said in January 2026. “Maybe we’re just going to have to make them pay … because they don’t listen to us,” he said in October 2020.Connected to Musk in the good-old-billionaire-boy network, Trump signed an executive order in August 2025 directing federal agencies to accelerate commercial space development. Two months later, the Air Force authorized the increase. But the order did something else. On May 20, 2026, the Commerce Department ordered a full formal review of California’s Coastal Management Program, the legal machinery that gives the state a voice when federal activities affect its coast.Emma Haydocy, senior manager of coasts and climate initiative at the Surfrider Foundation, says attempts followed in Congress to restrict the commission and weaken provisions of the federal Coastal Zone Management Act, but those legislative efforts went nowhere.Keep Reading
