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Now more than ever we need a people powered movement to take on corporate polluters and climate deniers.
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Zenith Tar Sands Testimony & Demands to City Council
/in Announcements, Fossil Fuel Resistence /by Chris PalmerThis testimony was delivered by Jessica on July 15 2019 to a packed public hearing about the Zenith tar sands terminal in NW Portland. It was co-written by Jessica, Dineen and other 350PDX staff and volunteers.
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My name is Jessica Beckett and I’m the Executive Director at 350PDX. Thank you for this opportunity to share our deep concerns about Zenith Energy’s operations in our city.
Right now, our City is complicit in the expansion, storage, transportation, and burning of the most destructive form of energy on Earth. We appreciate the City’s recently-proposed plans to address the problem of tar sands and toxic crude oil, but we must be moving more boldly and quickly if we are ever to reach 100% renewable energy – and to redress the harms done to frontline communities who must every day breathe and live in this injustice.
350PDX urges you to do the following:
The Northwest Industrial District is where Portland’s just transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy can become reality. This industrial zone can become a model for community-driven renewable energy projects — like those made possible by the Portland Clean Energy Fund! — which can power our city on affordable clean energy and provide jobs to thousands of Portlanders. We have a vision for our community. We ask you, our elected leaders, to join us in this vision by following our demands and putting an end to Zenith.
We have ten short years to save this planet. The time for incrementalism is over. We need action that we’ve never seen before. Mayor Wheeler, Commissioners, what will our legacy be?
Thank you.
The Green New Deal: creating the care infrastructure for a just transition
/in Announcements, just Transition /by Chris PalmerOpinion blog post from Rachel Slocum, co-facilitator of our Green New Deal Team
“Life after a Green New Deal would be a world of free healthcare and childcare, cheap and beautiful public housing, first-class public transport infrastructure, well-funded arts programs and ample leisure time.” Clare Hymer, Novara Media
The Green New Deal: creating the care infrastructure for a just transition
What do Medicare for All, universal child care, child care subsidies for low income households (HB 2348) and paid family and medical leave (HB 2005-3) have to do with climate policy? They represent parts of the ‘care infrastructure’ we need to allow people to live with dignity now, survive climate change tomorrow, and fully decarbonize our society over the next ten years.
As the Pacific NW climate movement takes aim at fossil fuel projects, many advocate a just transition for workers who would no longer build LNG plants and pipelines, but instead would install solar panels or build high speed rail lines. But being able to build green infrastructure requires a scaffold of care: someone to take care of the kids while you’re at work, the time off you need to help your father, health care you can afford.
That scaffold is largely missing in the US. Among OECD countries, the US is second to last, just ahead of Turkey, in public spending specifically aimed to benefit families and children. Consequently, in the US, the net child care costs of a couple earning minimum wage amount to 65% of household income. For a lone parent, it’s much worse.
In the home, US women do the majority of care giving and housekeeping tasks. With paid labor, household labor, and emotional labor, women do a triple shift. Across society, the absence of a care infrastructure weighs disproportionately on women, indigenous, Black, and people of color. Indeed, the failure to dedicate spending toward family benefits in this country sends younger, lower income households with children toward poverty.
Read more
Perspective on HB2020: “We Support HB2020 the Clean Energy Jobs Bill”
/in Announcements, State Legislation /by Chris PalmerThis blog post was written by 350PDX volunteers on the State Legislation team. Given the broad range of convictions, analyses, and strategies within our community, 350PDX is neutral on HB2020 as an organization, but we encourage our volunteers and supporters to continue to engage in the crucial work of crafting just, ambitious, precedent-setting climate legislation for Oregon.
You can find a companion blog post discussing critiques of HB2020 here.
350PDX State Legislative team and other climate justice groups in Oregon are working together to achieve passage of a strong Clean Energy Jobs bill (HB 2020) that will accomplish these four key objectives:
HB2020 was developed by some of the most progressive legislators in Oregon, guided by lessons learned from cap and invest programs elsewhere. The process included a wide array of environmental and social justice groups, members of impacted communities, economists and scientists, public officials, and the general public.
The proposed HB2020, as sent to the Ways and Means committee will:
Big emitting industries criticize the bill as too much regulation despite economic projections of increased growth resulting from the shift to cleaner energy. Some social justice groups criticize it based on experiences elsewhere where weak caps, low allowance prices and loose offset programs delivered less than hoped for results. Total emissions decreased with these early programs but left some communities with the same or slightly more local emissions. The State Legislation team has watched this bill develop and studied the issues in depth. We see how this bill is different from the earlier versions with a strong declining cap, limited issue of allowances, and controls on pricing and hoarding allowances. Many environmental justice groups around the state participated in work groups and provided advice to the Joint Committee on Carbon Reduction.
In addition to the energy efficiency and bill rebate programs through the utilities, the bill provides specific allocation of the Climate Investment Fund to impacted communities (40%), Tribes (10%) and natural and working lands (20%). Administration, rule making, and monitoring includes several citizen advisory groups and the Environmental Justice Task Force.
The many benefits that will be achieved with passage of HB2020 far exceed any potential harm. HB2020 will be a key addition to Oregon’s climate legislation, and a national model in progressive cap and invest legislation. It is not a complete solution; there is no single solution for a problem as complex as climate disruption. There will be more work to do.
We will push for the cap decline to ZERO by 2050, as well as a faster decline in free allowances. We must continue to work for additional legislation to stop all new fossil fuel infrastructure in Oregon; to change the State Constitution to divert more transportation funds to public and electric transportation; and to develop statewide legislation to significantly increase carbon stored by forests and agricultural lands.
Passing a strong HB 2020 is a good next step in the plan to reduce GHG emissions to net zero. This bill gives us a framework to improve as public will and momentum grows. Community oversight is built into the program, and will be essential. We will need to protect the declining cap on climate pollution when this law is challenged through the referendum process and assaulted by fossil fuel companies who want to see us fail. We have spent many years getting to this point; now more than ever we need to rally together and act with ongoing commitment and resolve.
The latest IPCC report gives only 10 years to get climate pollution under control, and we cannot afford to wait several more years for “better” legislation.
350PDX State Legislation Team / Capping Carbon Campaign
Perspective on HB2020: “We Oppose Harmful and Ineffective Offsets and Allowances Trading”
/in Announcements, State Legislation /by Chris PalmerThis blog post was co-produced by Khanh Pham with OPAL Environmental Justice Oregon and Adam Brunelle, a 350PDX Board Member. Given the broad range of convictions, analyses, and strategies within our community, 350PDX is neutral on HB2020 as an organization, but we encourage our volunteers and supporters to continue to engage in the crucial work of crafting just, ambitious, precedent-setting climate legislation for Oregon.
You can find a companion blog post in support of HB2020 here.
To our friends and allies in 350PDX,
We are deeply grateful to you for hearing us. When the 350PDX board chose to remain neutral on House Bill 2020, we felt that someone in the climate movement was finally acknowledging that important disagreements exist, and that frontline communities around the country and world believe we can and must do better.
Let us remember what we all agree upon. We share the urgency of the moment with all of you. Every one of us is terrified about the signs of climate breakdown. The warnings get worse, the impacts have been here for decades and now are undeniable, and there’s no national leadership on climate. But we must not let our sense of urgency turn to desperation to accept anything- especially not ineffective, false solutions. The economists behind carbon trading make bold claims that are not supported by the evidence or the experience of our communities.
HB2020 allows polluters to continue polluting by gaming the system. California’s carbon trading law, already 6 years old, has not done much at all to reduce emissions. 350 shouldn’t support an approach that fails to reach its emissions reduction goals. But beyond carbon reductions, there is also great potential for harm from carbon trading. Richmond, California’s refinery-impacted Black community members have seen emissions in their backyards rise under carbon trading. Refineries are pouring more carbon into the air than they were a decade ago. The health of Black people in Richmond is further decimated as a result. These frontline communities don’t support HB2020’s trading regime.
Replicating California’s harmful failure would be irresponsible. The world is watching Oregon. If we repeat their mistakes we set a bad example for Washington and everywhere else. Our fear, and the fear of international communities watching who signed the letter opposing HB2020, is that legislators replicate a system of offsets, allowances, and trading proven ineffective in California, and then declare victory.
What we learned from the Portland Clean Energy Fund campaign, which we won with nearly 2/3 of voters in favor, is that holding major corporations accountable and funding a transition to clean energy is possible, and voters will support it. The business community cried foul over PCEF for the exact reason it was so popular: it actually holds big businesses accountable.
A working proposal should include a diminishing cap. Polluters should pay for the harm their pollution causes, reduce pollution, and fund direct investments to frontline communities. Carbon regimes relying on trading, offsets, and allowances are unjust, ineffective and harmful. The negative impacts, potential for manipulation, and failure to reduce pollution tell us that carbon trading is the wrong approach to achieve climate justice here or anywhere. We have done our research to offer a list of resources for readers to better understand our position. We invite 350PDX members to engage with these resources so we can work toward a shared understanding of climate justice. Take action to support our position here.
Thank you,
Khanh Pham, OPAL Environmental Justice Oregon
Adam Brunelle, 350PDX Board Member