[env-trinity] Environmental groups to Humboldt County: no more new cannabis grows

[Tom Stokely]

http://www.times-standard.com/opinion/20171012/environmental-groups-to-humboldt-county-no-more-new-cannabis-grows&template=printart
Environmental groups to Humboldt County: no more new cannabis grows

Letter seeks restraint as county considers expanding industry
By Will Houston, Eureka Times-StandardThursday, October 12, 2017The heads of five environmental organizations are calling on Humboldt County officials to focus their attention on combatting illegal cannabis grows before permitting new farms. The Thursday letter signed by the Environmental Protection Information Center, the North Coast Environmental Center, Redwood Region Audubon Society, Humboldt Baykeeper and the California Native Plant Society’s North Coast chapter comes during the county’s environmental review of an ordinance seeking to expand the scope of the cannabis industry.“In short, until we deal with the existing environmental damage and the vast number of operations not in compliance, we should not increase the potential environmental risk by permitting any new grows,” the letter states.The county’s ordinance seeks to greatly expand the county’s commercial cannabis industry, which is currently limited to medical cannabis businesses. The ordinance would allow for recreational use businesses, larger farms and allows for new business applications to be submitted for the first time since December 2016. A draft environmental review of the ordinance offers several alternatives for how the county can proceed. One alternative drafted using recommendations from the Friends of the Eel River organization would prohibit any new outdoor and mixed-light cultivation that did not exist by the start of 2016 as well as limit indoor cultivation. The five environmental groups seek to take this a step further by having the county prohibit all new indoor grows as well.Of the nearly 12,000 cannabis grows estimated by the county sheriff’s office to be in the county, only 2,300 submitted applications to the county during the first of permitting between February and December 2016. The letter states the number of applicants has since shrunk to about 1,800 because of incomplete or withdrawn applications. The environmental groups argue the county continues to experience “unacceptable impacts” caused by illegal cannabis grows despite the county’s attempts to regulate it.“The likely culprit is inadequate enforcement of [county cannabis laws], particularly against cannabis grow operations that did not file an application with the county,” the letter states.The Board of Supervisors have implemented changes to address unlawful grows such as by increasing the time farms have to correct violations before fines are issued, increasing maximum fines for code violations from $10,000 to up to $900,000 and allowing code enforcement officers to self-initiate investigations into illegal cannabis farms rather than having to wait for a public complaint to be filed.But even with these measures, county staff admit they can only do so much with the staff they have. Code Enforcement Officer Jeff Conner said in July his office hopes to have five enforcement officers, but those officers will be responsible for thousands of grows.“If we’re working as hard as we can for the rest of the season, we’re — as you calculated out — going to hit less than 1 percent of the illegal grows,” Conner said to the board in July. “We just don’t have the resources right now to do much more than that.”The sheriff’s office is also seeking to hire three cannabis enforcement officers to deal with illegal grows. But the environmental groups’ letter says not enough has been done.“Despite this work, we are still too far from our goal and are making too slow progress,” the letter states.The public comment period for the cannabis ordinance’s environmental review are being accepted through Oct. 16. Comments can be emailed to the county Planning and Building Department at slazar at co.humboldt.ca.us or by mail sent to the Humboldt County Planning & Building Department, Attn: Steve Lazar, 3015 H St., Eureka, CA 95501.The Board of Supervisors is set to discuss the environmental review at an Oct. 19 special meeting in Eureka.More information on the cannabis ordinance and its environmental review can be found online at www.humboldtgov.org/2308/Cannabis-EIR.Will Houston can be reached at 707-441-0504.
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