Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:17] Speaker B: Good evening and welcome to the local news. Today is Wednesday, February 5th. I'm Lauren Schmidt reporting for KMUD. In tonight's news, winter weather advisory reissued for interior north coast. PG&D is moving forward with Eel River Dam removal. Public comment period open and missing woman triggers feather alert in Humboldt. Stay tuned. News on those stories and more coming right up.
The National Weather Service has issued another winter weather advisory for much of the interior north coast. However, major winter weather impacts are not expected below 3,500ft. That's according to Doug Boucher, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Eureka.
[00:01:18] Speaker C: Yes, snow levels have risen just ever so slightly. We still got some scattered showers out there. And so, yeah, we did have a system that moved through yesterday and today. And then snow levels were pretty low. We got some reports of Snow down to 1,000ft even, I think some flakes and some light snow there in Fortuna. But for the most part, the snow levels have risen and we're still looking at scattered showers. However, we're still not out of the woods yet. There's another storm system, wet storm system coming in tomorrow. We think the snow levels are going to be higher with this one, anywhere between 2,500 to 3,000ft. You might see some snow and some lower elevation, but for the most part, the heavier snow is going to be above about 2,500 to 3,000ft. And so we do have another whole, another list of warnings and advisories for heavy snow above those elevations, mostly into Trinity county and then some heavy rain as well as we get, especially as we get into the late morning, into the afternoon hours on Thursday and into the evening. And then the upshot is, you know, we'll still see some precipitation lingering through the day on Friday. And then we should start to see a little bit of drying as we get into the weekend. It will get colder. And we're not completely out of the woods yet. We're still not out of it yet. We're looking at another storm coming in on Thursday, lingering into Friday and Saturday. And it'll get colder over the weekend and dry out for a couple of days and then we'll probably get some more precipitation, that is some snowfall in the mountains and then rain in the lower elevation.
[00:02:50] Speaker B: This week's rain, snow and subsequent flooding and landslides. Temporarily closed highways 1 away, 299 and 254. But all routes have since reopened with more winter weather expected. Those in higher elevation areas could see additional impacts and motorists are advised to prepare accordingly.
[00:03:14] Speaker C: At Berry Summit and Then definitely as you get into, you know, Trinity county, but the levels about 2,500 to 3,000ft and then those, you know, on Thursday with that. And then further south the snow levels should be higher, but then they'll drop back down as we get into the weekend. But the precipitation quantity or the amount of precipitation will fall off as we get into Friday. So the snow levels will have a, we'll see a roller coaster ride here in snow levels and then it will drop down again on Friday and stay pretty low even into Saturday.
But the precipitation amounts are going to drop off. So we're still scattered, you know, shower activity, scattered show snow shower activity as we get into, you know, especially as we get into, you know, Saturday where we're looking at snow levels probably getting down to about a thousand, you know, a thousand feet. But by that time it's just cold and it gets really dry and then the shower activity is far few between. But you could still see, you know, a little bit of light snow even in through Saturday.
[00:04:15] Speaker B: For the latest weather updates and forecast, you can visit weather.govEKA the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office is asking for the public's help in locating 22 year old Marianne Robinson of Scotia who has been reported missing under unknown circumstances. Marianne was last seen on January 29th at the Humboldt Bay Inn by an employee who contacted the Eureka Police Department for a welfare check. However, she left the area on foot before officers arrived. Her family reported her missing on February 3 at 6.20pm after she failed to return from Lolita. Due to the circumstances, the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office have requested a feather alert which was approved by the California Highway Patrol. Feather alerts are issued for missing indigenous people who may be at risk. Marianne Robinson is described as a Native American woman, 5ft 2 inches tall, wearing a hoodie and leggings. She is an affiliated tribal member of the Bear River Band of Ronnerville Rancheria. Anyone with information about Marianne Robinson's whereabouts is urged to contact the Humboldt County Sheriff's office at 707-445-7251. You can see a photo of Robinson at Tamud.
After more than a century of diverting water from the Eel river to generate hydropower and support agriculture, the Potter Valley Project is now moving toward full decommissioning. PGE has taken another major step towards removing the Eel river dams by releasing its final draft Surrender Application and Decommissioning Plan. The plan outlines the process for dismantling the Scott and Cape Horn Horn dams, a move that would make the Eel River, California's longest free flowing river. A public comment period is now open until March 3, and PGE is hosting a virtual meeting on February 6 to discuss the regulatory process.
For more, we spoke with Alicia Heyman, the executive director of Friends of the.
[00:06:45] Speaker D: Eel river, and all of the listeners should know by now that Friends of the Eel river works for the recovery of the wild and scenic Eel river. And we are just incredibly excited about the progress that's been made toward dam removal and have some actually exciting news to share on that front.
[00:07:04] Speaker B: Since the early 1900s, the Potter Valley Project at the headwaters of the main stem Eel river in Mendocino and Lake counties has diverted water to generate hydropower and support agriculture. However, concerns over aging infrastructure, seismic risks and devastating impacts on fish populations have driven a long standing movement for dam removal.
Now, after decades of advocacy from groups like Friends of the Eel river, the Wiat Tribe and other conservationists, PG&D has confirmed its plans for dam removal.
[00:07:45] Speaker D: There are two dams in the headwaters of the Eel Scott Dam and Cape Horn Dam, and collectively they're known as the Potter Valley Project. Those dams also include an out of basin diversion that takes water from the Eel and diverts it into the Russian river. And back in 2022, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which is the federal agency that regulates hydropower projects, the license for these dams through that commission expired and since pge, who owns the Potter Valley Project, has been working to prepare to decommission and remove the dams.
[00:08:25] Speaker B: Despite being designed for power generation, the Potter Valley Project's capacity is outdated, operating at only 50% efficiency over the last decade. But for over a century, the project has diverted water from the Eel river to the Russian river watershed, benefiting agriculture in southern Mendocino, Sonoma and northern Marin counties.
However, environmentalists and tribal members argue that this has come at a high cost, blocking Anadromous salmonid species from accessing vital upstream habitat due to the Scott Dam. In 2019, PG&D determined that renewing the project's license was not in the best interest of its customers and withdrew its intent to renew the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. FERC then sought new applicants to take over the project. However, no suitable candidates came forward. As a result, FERC directed PG and D to submit a surrender application in December of 2023. And just last week on January 31, PG&E released its final draft surrender application and decommissioning plan.
[00:09:44] Speaker D: You know what we've seen thus far from PGE is a lot of plans to make plans and I have to say that this draft license surrender application is a little bit of that same planning to make future plans, but it is a bit more in depth.
[00:10:02] Speaker B: You can view the two 100 page document on PGE's website dedicated to the surrender process at pottery valley surrender proceeding.com you can use the password capital PV surrender to access the final draft surrender application and decommissioning plan in full. We asked Heyman if Friends of the Eel river has reviewed the document and to share her takeaways.
[00:10:33] Speaker D: The document does confirm that PGE is going to use the rapid removal process to remove Scott Dam. This has been outlined in previous documents, but essentially rapid removal would take about two years. It would result in flushing a very large volume of sediment downstream, roughly 12 million cubic yards. And this is likely to cause some serious impacts, but the impacts will be limited in temporal scope. So the impacts will happen over a really short period of time, which we believe is a better option for the river than say a phased removal which would happen over three to four years and result in sediment releases that extend for a much longer period of time.
[00:11:21] Speaker B: Bordering a portion of the northern Eel river watershed is the Klamath Watershed, which recently made history with the largest dam removal project ever undertaken. We asked what lessons can be learned from this historic effort.
[00:11:38] Speaker D: You know, as we saw in the Klamath, they had a similar process that resulted in a really high suspended sediment yield during short periods of time. And as we saw there, these fish are really resilient. And so I think we need to keep that in mind and not over engineer a solution, so to speak.
[00:11:58] Speaker B: On Thursday, February 6, PG&D is hosting a virtual meeting from 10am to 11:30am to share information on the final draft surrender application and discuss the regulatory process process. Tribal representatives, resource agencies, non governmental organizations and the general public are encouraged to attend. While Haman doesn't expect to learn anything new from the meeting, she encourages the public to submit comments on the document before the early March deadline.
[00:12:33] Speaker D: They said that they will be doing a present an informational presentation on the layout of their document. So I don't honestly expect to learn too much. It sounds like they're kind of going to walk people through the table of contents, make sure that the information is accessible to everyone as far as how people can provide meaningful content. By the March 3rd deadline, we have information on our website and on our social media feeds on Facebook and Instagram where people can find the email address or the mailing address to provide comments to PG&E. I do want to make sure people understand that just like when PG and E released a previous draft. These comments are only going to PGE and in previous times they did not share anyone else's comments with the public. And so we we may see that PGE just takes in these comments and we're not really sure what they do with them as they prepare their final application that's due in July.
[00:13:32] Speaker B: Friends of the Eel river says it will be closely reviewing the document and sharing their comments with PG and the public.
[00:13:40] Speaker D: Folks can stay tuned to eelriver.org or like I said, our social media accounts at Friends Eel river to to see some more tips from us. But you know, really I think what PGE needs to hear is that it's important that they start developing their aquatic management plans and really start thinking about and and putting resources into planning for dam removal as soon as possible. PGE keeps saying that this will be the fastest FERC dam removal on record and that they're going to start taking those dams out in 2028 and I would love to see that happen. But 2028 is coming up very quickly and PGE has a lot of work to do between now and then to make sure that dam removal is done correctly.
[00:14:26] Speaker B: KMUD News will be covering the meeting and sharing highlights and updates on a later newscast. In closing, the Executive Director of Friends of the Eel river says she is cautiously optimistic about Eel river dam removal.
[00:14:42] Speaker D: There is so much hope for recovery on the Eel river and that soon we are going to see the eel's native fish return to the hundreds of miles of excellent habitat in the upper basin and I just want to encourage everyone to keep their eye on that prize.
[00:14:57] Speaker B: KMED News reached out to PG and D for comment to learn more about the final draft surrender application and detail decommissioning plan. However, we have not heard back as of news time. Public comments on the final draft must be in writing and are due to PGE by March 3. In a press release, PGE stated that it will review comments received and expects to file its final surrender application and decommissioning plan with FERC in July of this year. You can find a link to that document and tomorrow's public meeting by visiting kmud.org in state news. Louisiana wildfires leave risks of future problems from toxic pollution to floods and landslides, Vic Bodoyan reports.
[00:15:49] Speaker A: There's been of course, so much work over the last three weeks fighting these horrific fires and then helping those that were victimized by those fires. Secretary Wade Crowfoot leads the California Natural Resources Agency, a state cabinet level agency responsible for Stewarding California's historic cultural and natural sites. Joined by a group of experts, Crowfoot looked at the fires that ravaged Los Angeles earlier this month, assessing the extent of the destruction and outlining the work needed to clean up and rebuild. I think we all just need to continue to recognize the human impact of these fires.
Several thousand homes were lost in these two fires and several hundred thousand people were evacuated. And we were with a pastor in Altadena, which is one of the impacted communities last week, who reminded us that every time we talk about loss of a structure or loss of a home, we're talking about devastation for a family. The damage is stunning. In the Palisades fire, over 6,800 homes and other structures were destroyed. In Altadena, the Eaton fire destroyed more than 9,400 buildings. Cal Fire Chief Joe Tyler reported that an absence of rain since April 2024 dried out vegetation across Southern California. That combined with extreme Santa Ana winds to create perfect fire conditions. Now, there were nine fires between that period of time. I've been discussing starting with the Palisades on the 7th of January, the Eaton Fire on January 7th, the Hearst Fire on the 7th. The Lydia Fire and the Sunset fire were on the next day on the 8th. Some of these are smaller fires that we were able to contain. The Kenneth fire occurred on the 9th in Ventura county, followed by the Lilac fire in San Diego, the Hughes fire in Los Angeles and Castaic, and then finally the Border two fires. Tyler also confirmed that regional reservoirs were full of water and supply was not a problem. There was a problem with water pressure early on due to broken water lines and the competing demands for water. Now the task of cleanup takes precedence. Laura Hollander is Deputy Director of Flood Management and Dam Safety at the California Department of Water Resources, or the dwr. She warned of future dangers that could occur as a result of the damage caused by fires. In the hilly Southern California terrain, debris.
[00:18:16] Speaker D: Flows, mud flows carry down soil, rocks, other debris at high speeds and at high velocities and can cause a lot of damage. And so we are working to mitigate against that threat with our partners. It can take two to five years for the burn scar areas to revegetate to sort of lessen the risk.
[00:18:41] Speaker A: Hollander said that DWR experts have evaluated burn scars to find areas at highest risk. DWR cleanup crews are already combining forces with the California Conservation Corps, working to help prevent mudflows and maintain debris basins. They are also pre positioning mobile barriers to contain landslides.
[00:19:00] Speaker D: So what this looks like on the ground is straw wattles and compost, socks and other materials that prevent the ash and other toxic materials from entering the environment in other ways that can affect sensitive habitats, drinking water in other ways that can contaminate both the urban environment.
[00:19:23] Speaker A: And also our sensitive habitats. In addition to fire response and rebuilding efforts, fire prevention efforts have been a priority for the Natural Resources Agency. Forrest Schaefer, state coordinator for the California Governor's Wildlife and Forest Resilience Task Force, reported on their progress. Collectively, the partners of the task force have treated almost 2 million acres over the last three years. Another particularly exciting piece is that more and more of these acres are prescribed fire, delivering all the kind of co benefits that come along with it. Michael O'Connell is president of the Irvine Ranch Conservancy. He has seen a lot of wildfires in Orange County. He said the major challenge in these fires were the embers hurled over distance with explosive force. This is like a volcano sending out sparks all over the landscape, being lit on fire by embers blown by these winds over an extremely wide area. That makes it nearly impossible for the fire department to respond when this many homes are being lit on fire at the same time. Southern California fires have a unique character, according to O'Connell, and he suggested a new approach is needed to reckon with them. Fire in Southern California is different. It's unconventional. It's not what we think of in terms of forest fires where there's a lot of overgrown trees and dead trees like we see in the Sierras. We have shrublands in Southern California and our fires behave very, very differently. In fact, as we've seen in the last three weeks, it's radically different, o'connell said. Different fire prevention tactics are necessary for the region in the future. Cal Fire Chief Joe Tyler cautioned that in the future, Californians will need to pay closer attention to the fire dangers and prevention measures where they live. We have found ourselves in a situation in which California needs to become more resilient. But it's not just about fuels reduction, fire breaks. It is about community risk reduction. It is about hardening our homes, making homes that were built in the 50s, 60s and 70s, brought up to date in today's fire and building codes. Now that costs money and I recognize that that costs money and that is a heavy, huge ask of people. Chief Tyler warned that the continued forecast of mostly dry weather will require ongoing vigilance by state agencies and residents alike. Vic Medoyan reporting for KPFA News and KFCF Radio.
[00:21:56] Speaker B: In national news, Trump's Mexico tariffs delayed for a month President says Americans may feel some pain from the tariffs. Teresa, Where's Bianca Reports.
[00:22:09] Speaker E: Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum reached an agreement with the Trump administration to postpone state tariffs originally set to take effect on Tuesday, for one month as both nations negotiated border security measures.
She says he made proposals and we ultimately reached an agreement that was formalized increasing the presence of National Guard personnel at the northern border to protect the border and prevent drug trafficking, particularly fentanyl trafficking, from Mexico to the US in this regard, we reached an agreement, but I also explained to him the severity of the large number of high powered weapons that enter Mexico illegally from the U.S. these weapons arm criminal groups and give them firepower. We asked him to help prevent arms trafficking from the US To Mexico. He agreed.
As part of the deal, Sheinbaum committed to deploying 10,000 troops to curb the movement of migrants and illegal drugs across the U S. Mexico border. The agreement followed Trump's recent announcement of 25% tariffs also on Canada and 10% on China, fueling concerns about potential disruptions to the global economy and triggering volatility in stock markets worldwide. Canada and Mexico ordered retaliatory tariffs on American goods in response, and businesses and consumers in both countries questioned Sunday how the new trade war might affect them. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed the American people over the weekend.
[00:23:49] Speaker A: Tariffs against Canada will put your jobs at risk, potentially shutting down American auto assembly plants and other manufacturing facilities.
They will raise costs for you, including food at the grocery stores and gas at the pump.
[00:24:07] Speaker E: Trump says Americans could, quote, feel some pain from the emerging trade war triggered by his tariffs. He's also claiming that Canada would, quote, cease to exist without its trade surplus with the United States. The trade penalties Trump signed Saturday at his Florida resort are causing a mix of panic, anger and uncertainty. Shortly after Mexico's negotiation announcement, White House adviser Peter Navarro announced the administration's motives to apply tariffs and it has little to do with trade.
[00:24:36] Speaker A: The Mexican government understands this, that this is a drug war, not a trade war. This is a drug war, not a trade war. We have an unprecedented amount of Americans dying every year from fentanyl alone.
[00:24:53] Speaker E: The leader of Canada's most populous province of Ontario, Doug Ford, said Monday he's ripping up a contract with Elon Musk's Starlink Internet services in response to President Trump's tariffs with Canada.
[00:25:06] Speaker A: And I'm just so disappointed in him. I'm so disappointed that he's chosen to walk away from a trading relationship that for decades has made life better for millions of workers on both sides of the border.
[00:25:20] Speaker E: Ford, who said he's also banning American companies from contracts with the province, signed a $68 million deal with Musk's company in November to deliver high speed Internet to remote residents in rural and northern Ontario. Musk responded, quote, oh well. On his X platform, many economists warn costs will rise for American consumers. Canada leads exports of grain, livestock and meats, poultry and more. The president said tariffs on the European Union could follow, quote, pretty soon. EU leaders met in Brussels on Monday for a defense summit. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk says it would be a cruel paradox if the EU and the United States find themselves in conflict with a war raging in Ukraine. Poland currently holds the EU's rotating presidency. Tusk says Trump's threats amount to, quote, a serious test of European unity. Russian President Vladimir Putin praised President Trump on Sunday, saying his second administration would, quote, restore order in Europe. Trump said he will speak with China, quote, probably over the next 24 hours regarding the tariffs during a signing from the Oval Office on Monday. I'm Theresa Rezbianska, Pacifica Radio, kpfa.
[00:26:37] Speaker B: Trump Musk shutdown of US Foreign aid agency sparks chaos Democrats call it an illegal power grab. Christopher Martinez reports.
[00:26:48] Speaker A: The United States is the biggest donor of humanitarian aid and development assistance in the world, but there seem to be some changes afoot. President Donald Trump and ally Elon Musk, head of Trump's new Department of Government Efficiency, or doge, are moving to shut down the foreign aid agency, the Agency for International Development. Dozens of senior agency officials have been put on leave. The agency's official website and its account on the the social media platform X have been taken offline. And Monday employees were told not to enter the agency's Washington, D.C. headquarters. Democratic lawmakers were outraged. Ilhan Omar is a congressmember from Minnesota. I am exceptionally upset about usaid.
I lived in a refugee camp for four years as a child surviving civil war.
It is the essential programs that USAID provided that kept my family and I fed and safe.
It is the resources that so many people around the world rely on and it is our soft power. She says Trump and Musk are trying to take away the power of Congress. It is really, really a sad day in America. We are witnessing a constitutional crisis.
We talked about Trump wanting to be a dictator on day one, and here we are. This is what the beginning of dictatorship looks like when you gut the Constitution and you install yourself as the sole power. That is how dictators are made. Several Democratic lawmakers tried to enter the USAID headquarters Monday, but they were blocked by Homeland Security officers. So outside the yellow tape around the headquarters, they vowed to take action. Senator Chris Van Hollen is a Democrat from Maryland. To our colleagues at AID and across the government, stay strong. We have your back. We will do everything in our power in the Senate and the House to stop this outrage. And in the meantime, since we don't have many Republican colleagues who want to help us, we are doing everything we can with our colleagues through the courts to make sure that we uphold the rule of law, stop this illegal shutdown of aid, and stop the other illegal actions around the country. Around the government. USAID was created in 1961 under the Kennedy administration. Maryland Senator Jamie Raskin says Congress created USAID and Elon Musk does not have the power to destroy it, adding, we do not have a fourth branch of government called Elon Musk. On Sunday, Musk had posted a social media message saying, USAID is a ball of worms. There is no apple. And when there is no apple, you just need to get rid of the whole thing. On the same day, President Trump told reporters the aid agency had been, in his words, run by radical lunatics. And we're getting them out, and then we'll make a decision. The administration says it's evaluating the agency, but Democratic Senator Jamie Raskin of Maryland doesn't buy it. This has nothing to do with evaluation. This is about termination and obliteration of the major foreign aid programs of the United States of America, all of which together total less than $40 billion. We have a Pentagon budget of $900 billion. The Pentagon budget is where the defense contractor Elon Musk, who became the richest man in the world, off of our money he collects his payments from. And now he's trying to shut down U.S. aid. We're not going to allow this to happen. It will not stand. The Democrats say the Trump administration's action is sparking a constitutional crisis. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been put in charge as acting head of the agency, and Rubio says he's delegated that authority to Peter Morocco. Morocco had briefly served at USAID during Trump, Trump's first administration, where he generated protests over pushing program cuts. Reporting for Pacifica Radio News, kpfa, I'm Christopher Martinez.
[00:31:19] Speaker B: That's all for tonight's broadcast. Thank you for listening. Thanks to our engineer, Larry Lashley, and thanks to our reporters, Vic Bodoyan, Teresa Morzbianska and Christopher Martinez, reporting from our studio in Redway. Hi, I'm Lauren Schmidt.
