Humboldt County halts broadband drilling over slurry disposal concerns

Humboldt County has stopped horizontal directional drilling in Southern Humboldt after drilling slurry from a broadband project became the center of a disposal dispute near Redway. The county’s order puts the work on hold until contractors can show where the waste went, how it was handled, and why the only known disposal site has drawn scrutiny.

The halt lands in the middle of California’s Broadband for All buildout, a statewide effort tied to SB 156 and a $3.25 billion open-access middle-mile network investment. The broader state program totals $6 billion when middle-mile, last-mile, loan-loss reserve and technical-assistance funding are combined, and local officials are now treating the Southern Humboldt job as a test of whether that push can meet county land-use and water-quality rules on the ground.

The conflict sharpened after a Cal OES hazardous materials spill report was filed around 7:30 p.m. on June 2, documenting an opaque white substance in Redwood Creek between Seely Creek and the Eel River along Briceland Thorn Road west of Redway. Community members said the water first looked discolored over the prior weekend, then cleared, and then turned white again. Local reporting says a drilling subcontractor had been hauling thousands of gallons of drilling waste to private land near Redway without permits on record, and that an excavated pit at Meadows Business Park in Redway was used for slurry disposal around June 1.

State and local agencies are now sorting out the chain of custody. The North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and Humboldt County all said they were investigating the disposal and sampling sites, while county officials were also trying to determine how the slurry moved from the drill site to the disposal location. John Ford, Humboldt County’s Planning and Building Director, was reportedly not notified until midday June 8, six days after the discharge was first reported, which deepened concerns about communication as the spill response unfolded.

For Southern Humboldt, the practical question is whether the broadband buildout takes a short detour or a longer delay. Residents near Redway, Redwood Creek and the South Fork Eel River are likely to see continued agency scrutiny, possible site visits and more questions about nearby property use before any construction resumes. The county’s permitting system makes clear that an application does not guarantee approval, and officials are signaling that a disposal plan, along with the needed permits and inspections, has to be in place before drilling starts again.

The episode also exposes a larger oversight gap in projects meant to speed rural connectivity. California has celebrated early broadband milestones, including Gov. Gavin Newsom’s April 2 announcement that the state had turned on the nation’s largest public broadband network and connected its first rural community. In Southern Humboldt, that promise now depends on whether the project can satisfy the most basic local expectations: where the waste went, who allowed it, and whether the water can be protected while the internet line is built.