KZYX Community News

October 20, 2021 — With the repeal of the latest cannabis ordinance and deadlines looming, legacy growers are facing more uncertainty than ever. Growers have until the end of the month to submit their applications — again — through an online portal, and the end of the year to get licenses from the state. The moratorium on Phase III growers under the original cannabis ordinance, which has been reinstated, expires in March.

October 19, 2021 — As the difference between safety and security in the Jackson Demonstration State Forest is parsed with utmost refinement, one thing remains clear: the logging sites are dangerous. Two activists have complained of significant threats, one of them caught on video. EPIC, the Environmental Protection and Information Center, has sent a letter to Wade Crowfoot, the California Secretary of Natural Resources, asking him to restore peace.

October 18, 2021 — Efforts to take over the license for the Potter Valley Project have had some significant setbacks lately. One is an expensive equipment failure that could take up to a year and a half to repair. The other is that the Two Basin Partnership, a coalition of entities seeking to take over the license from PG&E, has not been able to secure the funding it needs for studies that are necessary for a final license application. The Partnership asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for some extra time to come up with the money, but FERC refused.

*UPDATe* October 13 -- John Andersen, Director of Forest Policy at Mendocino Redwood Company, confirmed that MRC did hire Lear Asset Management as a safety contractor in Soda Gulch, but that Paul Trouette and his staff are unarmed in the state forest. A photo circulating of Trouette carrying a pistol was taken on private timberland. MRC's sister company, Mendocino Forest Products, purchased the contract to log the Soda Gulch Timber Harvest Plan. The logging contractor they have hired is Two Brothers Logging, which has been working in Soda Gulch since logging began there.

October 7, 2021 — The Board of Supervisors discussed applications for over $20 million in state-funded cannabis grants this week. 

The $2.2  million dollar equity grant was awarded to the county last year by the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development. 

October 4, 2021 — Projected construction costs for a new jail building have gone up more than 14% in the last three years, an unprecedented increase driven by steel tariffs, supply chain delays and shortages of skilled labor. In spite of several efforts to reduce costs, the architect on the project told the Board of Supervisors last week that there is a budget shortfall of $3.6 million. 

September 30, 2021 —  Mendocino County will receive $600,000 from the state for cannabis enforcement, possibly as soon as next month.

September 29, 2021 — Public Health Officer Dr. Andy Coren gave a sobering covid update to the Board of Supervisors yesterday. In the last two weeks, there have been eight covid deaths at two nursing homes, and the first child with the illness has been admitted to the hospital, leading to perhaps the most chilling possibility since late 2019. Though vaccines for children are just around the corner, Coren reported that the first pediatric hospital case “Raises the spectre of a pediatric pandemic.”