Action Alert: Ask Governor Jerry Brown to Support The Great Redwood Trail Act

Tell Gov. Brown the North Coast Needs the Great Redwood Trail For decades now, the North Coast Railroad Authority (NCRA) has failed both to restore rail service the North Coast evidently doesn’t need and to protect the Eel River and its fisheries from the impacts of the failed rail line through the fragile Eel River … Read more

Support for Great Redwood Trail Act, SB 1029

  May 10th, 2018 California Senators and Assembly Members State Capitol Sacramento, California Re: SB 1029 Great Redwood Trail Act — Support Dear California Legislators: As representatives of the California conservation and sustainable recreation communities, we offer our wholehearted support for Sen. Mike McGuire’s Great Redwood Trail Act (SB 1029). It is profoundly important that … Read more

Friends of the Eel River Cautiously Optimistic about Great Redwood Trail Act

This March, California State Senator Mike McGuire introduced the Great Redwood Trail Act (SB 1029) to simultaneously resolve the festering debacle of the North Coast Railroad Authority and advance a vision for a world class trail network for the Eel River Canyon and the North Coast. It is profoundly important that the California Legislature is … Read more

The NCRA’s ‘Plan’: A Grifter’s Pitch for Suckers

Friends of the Eel River has been confronting the North Coast Railroad Authority (NCRA) for many years over the agency’s plans to rebuild the failed rail line1 from Humboldt Bay to the San Francisco Bay area through the spectacular but unstable and vulnerable Eel River Canyon2. At the heart of this dispute is the Environmental … Read more

Cal. Supreme Court Rules CEQA Applies in North Coast Railroad Case

Case against North Coast Rail Authority brought by Friends of the Eel River and Californians Against Toxics to be reheard San Francisco – The California Supreme Court today agreed that the North Coast Rail Authority must comply with environmental review requirements under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) with respect to the reopening tracks that … Read more

Farm Bureaus Jump into Supreme Court High-Speed Rail Case

A case before the California Supreme Court over a freight railroad in the northwestern reaches of the state has drawn the attention of agricultural organizations in the central San Joaquin Valley, but not because they have a particular stake in trains running through Santa Rosa, Ukiah and Eureka. The Farm Bureaus in Madera and Merced counties last … Read more

California's high court takes up appeal by environmental groups in North Coast rail case

A three-year legal battle over the environmental impact of freight rail on the North Coast is headed to the state Supreme Court. The case involves two environmental groups who are pushing for more rigorous study of the effects of rail service in the ecologically sensitive Eel River Canyon in Mendocino and Humboldt counties. The groups … Read more

The Long Road to Marijuana Regulation

EcoNews October 2013 By Scott Greacen Under the latest so-called Cole memo, US Attorneys are directed to avoid marijuana prosecutions where there is a regulatory system in place that will keep pot away from kids, out of interstate commerce, and out of the hands of criminal organizations, among other specific measures. Of course, California does … Read more

Humboldt Bay Rail Concept Level Construction Cost and Revenue Analysis

Read the full report prepared by BST Associates and The Burgel Rail Group on behalf of the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District. Rail service to Humboldt County will require a major investment, through either a new East- West rail alignment or through reconstruction of the former North-South line. In order for this investment to be financially … Read more