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What is a Notice of Preparation, Why Should I Submit a Public Comment, and What Topics Should it Cover?

EPIC Staff
4 hours ago
6 min read
The information contained in this site is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be construed as legal advice on any subject matter.

Under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) (1) lead agencies issue a Notice of Preparation (2) and are encouraged to hold a public scoping meeting for projects of significance. The purpose (3) of scoping is for the lead agency to better understand what environmental impacts, mitigation measures, and alternatives should be analyzed in the Draft Environmental Impact Report.  In the case of the proposed heavy lift marine terminal, the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation, and Conservation District (Harbor District) is the lead agency. As part of the notice of preparation, the Harbor District has issued a project description (4) and asked the public for input on what potential environmental impacts ought to be considered in the District’s environmental impact report. The best scoping comments tell the lead agency what to study, where to look, and how to measure it, in terms the agency can act on before it writes the Draft Environmental Impact Report. The lead agency must consider information submitted by any person (5). When you comment at this stage, the issues you raised become part of the public record. However, agencies do not respond directly to scoping comments. You can also ask the lead agency in writing to send you a copy (6) of the Draft Environmental Impact Report when it is complete. 


The Humboldt Bay Offshore Wind Heavy Lift Multipurpose Marine Terminal Project Notice of Preparation & Project Description (7) was released on September 30, 2026. Comments were originally due on November 30th, 2026, but the due date was extended to December 7th, 2026. Comments can be submitted by emailing districtplanner@humboldtbay.org or by physically mailing them to this address:


Chris Mikkelsen

Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation 

District P.O. Box 1030 Eureka, California 95502-1030 

707-443-0801


The Harbor District will also be holding two in-person public scoping meetings. The first meeting will be held on November 4th at 5:30 P.M. at the Eureka Veterans Memorial Hall, 1018 H Street, Eureka, CA 95501. A second meeting will be held on Thursday, Nov. 5 at 5:30 P.M. at the Samoa Cookhouse, 908 Vance Avenue. The Harbor district has indicated that each person will have 90 seconds to give oral comments due to the expected large number of attendees and limited amount of time. More information about the NOP, project description, and CEQA process for this project is available on the project’s CEQANET webpage. (8)


The purpose of this scoping period is to help the Harbor District identify the range of actions, alternatives, mitigation measures, and significant effects to be analyzed in depth in the Draft Environmental Impact Report. As part of the Environmental Impact Report, the District is required to analyze relevant potential environmental impacts as well as strategies to mitigate them. If there is an environmental impact that you would like to make sure the District analyzes or if there is a strategy you believe could be used to avoid, minimize, or mitigate that environmental impact, this is your opportunity to let them know and inform the content of the Draft Environmental Impact Report. Where possible, include evidence that backs up the claims you are making in your comments. Refer to studies, photographs, or other substantial evidence (9) to substantiate the information in your comments. The following are particularly useful  topics to cover in your comments:


Environmental Setting (10): One section of the Draft Environmental Impact Report will include a description of the current physical environmental conditions in the vicinity of the project. Understanding these baseline conditions is necessary to determine whether an impact is significant. You can help inform the Environmental Setting by describing in your comments the current conditions at the site. You can also ask the lead agency to study a particular current condition that you are concerned about the project impacting. Be sure to describe in detail the method of the study that you believe will best capture the current environmental setting.


Environmental impacts (11): This section of the Draft Environmental Impact Report identifies the project's significant environmental effects. Direct and indirect significant effects of the project on the environment must be clearly identified and described, giving due consideration to both the short-term and long-term effects. The discussion should include relevant specifics of the area, the resources involved, physical changes, alterations to ecological systems, and changes induced in population distribution, population concentration, the human use of the land (including commercial and residential development), health and safety problems caused by the physical changes, and other aspects of the resource base such as water, historical resources, scenic quality, and public services. In your comments, you can identify what environmental impacts you are concerned the project will cause and how the project would cause them.


Thresholds of Significance (12): Part of the goal of a Draft Environmental Impact Report is to determine whether an environmental impact will be significant. Only significant environmental impacts need to be mitigated. To determine whether an environmental impact is significant, agencies develop, or borrow from other agencies, thresholds of significance. Thresholds of significance are identifiable quantitative, qualitative, or performance levels of a particular environmental effect, noncompliance with which means the effect will normally be determined to be significant by the agency. In other words, if the environmental impact is above the threshold, it’s considered significant, and if it’s below the threshold, it’s not considered significant. In your scoping comments, you can suggest thresholds of significance for particular environmental effects. Be sure to provide substantial evidence to substantiate your claims. 


Cumulative Impacts (13): Sometimes, a project’s environmental impact alone would be insignificant but when considered in the context of other past, present, or reasonably foreseeable future projects, it would be. Think of how one farmer drawing water from a river alone may not affect water level significantly, but if all of the farmers draw water together, it could. The Draft Environmental Impact Report must consider other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future projects, the cumulative impact of which, along with this project, would constitute a significant impact. In your comments, you can share information about past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future projects and how those projects could contribute to a cumulative impact if this project were to also be built. 


Mitigation Measures (14): The Draft Environmental Impact Report must describe feasible measures which could minimize significant adverse impacts. However, mitigation measures are not required for effects which are not found to be significant. Mitigation measures may be proposed by the project proponent, lead agency, other responsible agencies, or the public. Those measures must be Mitigation measures must be fully enforceable through permit conditions, agreements, or other legally binding instruments. You can use your scoping comments as an opportunity to suggest mitigation measures that the lead agency may not be aware of or considering.


Alternatives (15): Another section of the Draft Environmental Impact Report will consider alternatives to the proposed project. Alternatives must feasibly attain most of the basic objectives of the project but would avoid or substantially lessen any of the significant effects of the project, and evaluate the comparative merits of the alternatives. An EIR need not consider every conceivable alternative to a project. Rather, it must consider a reasonable range of potentially feasible alternatives that will foster informed decision-making and public participation. The discussion of alternatives shall focus on alternatives to the project or its location which are capable of avoiding or substantially lessening any significant effects of the project, even if these alternatives would impede to some degree the attainment of the project objectives, or would be more costly. One of the alternatives evaluated will be a “no project” alternative that evaluates the consequences of the project not going forward.


References:

  1. California Environmental Quality Act. California Public Resources Code, div. 13, secs. 21000 et seq. California Legislative Information, leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PRC&sectionNum=21000 

  2. “Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 14, § 15082 - Notice of Preparation and Determination of Scope of EIR.” Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/california/14-CCR-15082. 

  3. “Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 14, § 15083 - Early Public Consultation.” Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/california/14-CCR-15083. 

  4. “Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 14, § 15124 - Project Description.” Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/california/14-CCR-15124. Accessed 14 Oct. 2026. 

  5. “Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 14, § 15084(c)). - Preparing the Draft EIR”  Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/california/14-CCR-15084

  6. California Environmental Quality Act. California Public Resources Code, div. 13, sec. 21092.2, California Legislative Information, https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=21092.2.&lawCode=PRC

  7. Notice of Preparation of Draft Environmental Impact Report: Humboldt Bay Offshore Wind Heavy Lift Multipurpose Marine Terminal Project. Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District, 30 Sept. 2026, https://humboldtbay.org/sites/humboldtbay.org/files/NOP_PD_092826_ADA.pdf 

  8. “Humboldt Bay Offshore Wind Heavy Lift Multipurpose Marine Terminal Project.” CEQAnet, State Clearinghouse No. 2023060752, Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation, https://ceqanet.lci.ca.gov/2023060752/3

  9. “Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 14, § 15384 - Substantial Evidence” Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/california/14-CCR-15384

  10. “Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 14, § 15125 - Environmental Setting”  Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/california/14-CCR-15125

  11. “Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 14, § 15126.2 - Consideration and Discussion of Significant Environmental Impacts” Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/california/14-CCR-15126.2

  12. “Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 14, § 15064.7 - Thresholds of Significance” Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/california/14-CCR-15064.7

  13. “Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 14, § 15130 - Discussion of Cumulative Impacts”  Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/california/14-CCR-15355

  14. “Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 14, § 15126.4 - Consideration and Discussion of Mitigation Measures Proposed to Minimize Significant Effects”

  15. “Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 14, § 15126.6 - Consideration and Discussion of Alternatives to the Proposed Project” Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/california/14-CCR-15126.6

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