Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: For many in Humboldt and Mendocino county, living off grid is a privilege and a choice.
However, there are parts of rural Northern California where poverty and high fuel costs have turned living off grid into a serious burden.
One such community is Post Mountain in Trinity county, which is located around 40 minutes east of Mad river on Highway 36.
Post Mountain is unique among communities in the Emerald Triangle due to its hmong population, with 55% of residents reporting Asian ethnicity during the 2020 census. Recently, residents have pleaded for Trinity county to assist in bringing in electrical infrastructure and moving Post Mountain onto the county's electrical grid.
Pleas from Post Mountain community members were heard before the Trinity County Board of supervisors back on September 1st with the with many residents utilizing a translator I
[00:00:59] Speaker B: will advise you, board Director or some of your colleagues stay in the gas station for at least two hours. See how long the gas the propane line, how long the gas tanks lined up just to get the power source in force. Post Mountain, most of the line, the people in the gas stations, it was front Postmom.
So please, you guys have the power to support what we need research and also I would advise imagine if your power source shut down for weeks. How would you live without a power source?
[00:01:43] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:01:45] Speaker D: I'm begging you, please hear my voice out.
We live in the community in Postmount where my family, my whole family relocate to Postmount and we have children. They need milk. The milk can be rotten in days because no power because we only use the generator as our power source and when the generator is our gas then our food goes bad, then we just waste the whole a load of food in the fridge.
So I please ask you for your support.
I know that there is a lot of fire going up in Post Mountain and it's because we don't have power. We have used alternative powers and that's why it caused power. It's so I don't want that to happen again. And if we have electricity, maybe we can reduce some of those unnecessary hazards.
[00:02:43] Speaker A: Those pleas from Post Mountain residents were answered at last week's September 15th Trinity Board of Supervisors meeting. With Post Mountain Electrification firmly on the agenda, discussion centered on a Transformative Climate Communities grant application that would be submitted to the State of California. The state's website for that grant program states the Transformative Climate Communities program empowers the communities most impacted by pollution to choose their own goals, strategies and projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and local air pollution. End quote.
The group Cannabis for Conservation agreed to be the lead signer on the grant application and Director of Development Chris Moore made a presentation at the Trinity Supervisors meeting.
[00:03:31] Speaker E: So this project is building on the existing feasibility study that was completed earlier this year and candidates for conservation is moving forward with the grant application. I am recently started with CFC in May and so some of the timeline that we're seeing consolidated on this is a result of. I'm fairly new to the organization. However, my background is in watershed restoration throughout the north coast, working in Trinity, Siskiyou, Humboldt, Del Norte, Mendocino, Nevada county and others for the last 20 years.
So I'm bringing some experience and want to help support the community out there on this project.
So we are looking for the county to join as a co applicant.
The purpose of this is to reduce greenhouse gases and help support the electrification and support of the community of Post Mountain.
[00:04:37] Speaker A: Post Mountain community members also spoke at last week's Trinity Board of Supervisors meeting on electrification, with many pleading the county to co sign on the prospective Transformative Climate Communities grant. While sign off from Trinity county is not a requirement of the grant, signage would greatly increase chances that the power infrastructure grant would be approved.
[00:04:59] Speaker C: I know that I have a lot of friends and families live in Post Mountain who are suffering in the last decades, you know, and with the gas price and all that diesel price are going up. They're squeezing everything they could just to survive up there.
My name is Sai Vang.
I live in postmortem.
Back in 2024 we conducted a survey and 80% of the residents respond that the do want to have electricity.
Also we survey the community.
Roughly about 200 will be immediately connected to the grid if electricity is available.
[00:05:45] Speaker F: What we're asking, we don't ask for luxury life. We're asking for the basic infrastructure needs in this community out in the world in the Post Mountain.
We liked Trinity county to take these considerations to be the third co applicants.
[00:06:04] Speaker A: Trinity County Supervisors voted unanimously to be a co applicant on the State of California grant to help bring electrical infrastructure to the Post Mountain area.
However, approval is contingent on a collaborative governance agreement.
That grant application is due on September 30th. Reporting for KMUD, I'm April Lewis.
