350PDX Weekly Update – Zenith Blinks – May 27 2020

Hi everyone,

Big news! Zenith Energy abandons plans for new Portland pipeline. Zenith is the company that has been bringing Canadian tar sands into our city on oil trains and loading onto ships in NW Portland for export. After a year of public pressure the City of Portland is standing firm against this company, and Zenith blinked in calling off its plans. In possibly related news, a credit agency downgraded Zenith’s credit rating – it could be on the verge of default – and Warburg Pincus is considering selling off Zenith. They are stilling planning to expand their rail and unloading facilities, supposedly for “biofuels” and so the fight to stop Zenith for good is not over, but this is an important step that shows the power of our collective movement!

Here’s your 350PDX weekly update, starting with the good news.

• New York Rejects Williams fracked gas pipeline

  Multi-year campaign wins as New York State denies key water permits to $1 billion project. This dangerous and risky pipeline would’ve transported roughly 400 million cubic feet of fracked gas from the state of Pennsylvania to New York City every single day.

  Last spring, President Trump passed an executive order that would make it easier for the pipeline to be built. Its denial sends a signal to frackers and fossil fuel project backers everywhere that we don’t need more fossil fuel infrastructure in our country. The denial was “with prejudice” which means that Oklahoma-based Williams Company cannot reapply for this permit. The project is now effectively dead. A great victory for people power. Well done NY!

• Catch up on the Jordan Cove fracked gas pipeline fight

  Rogue Riverkeeper has put together this Spring review of what has been going on in the campaign to stop the southern Oregon pipeline, and how the pandemic has been impacting the campaign on both sides. Check it out here.

COVID-19 Resources

• Request Support Form / Offer Support Form

  Our biggest priority right now is making sure folks in the 350PDX community can get the support they need. Please use the request support form if you would like food and other supplies delivered to you, and the offer support form if you would like to volunteer to help. It is being run by an all-volunteer grassroots network that has sprung up to provide mutual aid across the city.

• 350PDX COVID-19 Resources Page

  Check it out for the full list of resources for self care, community care, tackling bias/xenophobia, volunteer opportunities, and organizing during this time. Take a look here.

Actions

All these actions and more are listed on the new 350PDX Actions page! Done all these actions already? Share them with the people in your life!

• Call the Federal Reserve Chairman about the Fossil Fuel Bailout

  The Trump administration just gave fossil fuel companies their complete wish list of changes to the new federal loan program, without adding any requirements to aid workers. While first responders work without hazard pay or PPE gear, polluters are looking for a lifeline from taxpayers for their failing, climate-wrecking industry.

  We’re asking you to call Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell and tell him not to bail out big oil — click here to get talking points and get connected to Powell.

• Tell Congress: Pass the REWIND Act

  As Trump and Mnuchin contemplate sending taxpayer dollars to prop up the faltering, failing, morally bankrupt oil industry and its multi-millionaire and billionaire CEO’s and shareholders, Congress must respond. The REWIND Act can help: it prevents the Trump administration from using CARES Act funds to bailout fossil fuel corporations, and blocks several executive actions the President has taken or may attempt to take to benefit the fossil fuel industry at the expense of our health and welfare. Click here to send a message to your Senators and Representative asking them to support the REWIND Act.

• Tell DEQ: No more oil trains on the Columbia River

  The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is currently accepting comments on the draft air pollution permit for Global Partners’ Port Westward facility, also known as the Columbia Pacific Bio-Refinery. Located in the Columbia River estuary, Global Partners’ crude oil transloading facility threatens public safety, salmon, and clean water. Learn more about how oil trains endanger Columbia River communities, then tell DEQ to keep oil trains off the Columbia. Deadline June 5!

• Tell Congress that New LNG and Fracked Gas Pipelines are not Essential during COVID-19

  A couple weeks ago the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved a key permit for the Jordan Cove fracked gas project. While the pipeline company is still missing all three of the key Oregon state permits it needs for construction, this federal approval should still be challenged. Last week 29 members of Congress called on FERC to declare a moratorium on the approval and construction of new fracked gas pipeline projects and Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) export facilities for the duration of the FEMA-declared public health emergency.

  Will you send an email to tell Oregon’s Congressional Delegation to urge FERC to halt approvals and construction during the coronavirus outbreak?

Opportunities​​​​

• Indigenous Land & Water Protectors Webinar
  TOMORROW Thurs May 28, 2:00PM – 3:30PM @ Online – Register here

  Across the Pacific Northwest, Indigenous land & water protectors are fighting back against the threat of oil & gas exports through their traditional lands. From Wet’suwet’en territory to the Klamath River and beyond, these battles to protect communities from the harm of the fossil fuel industry are connected.

  On Thursday, May 28, from 2-3:30PM PST join Indigenous leaders from across the region for a discussion about their communities’ fights against fossil fuel export projects including the Coastal Gas Link pipeline, Jordan Cove LNG, Tacoma LNG, and the Trans Mountain tar sands pipeline.

  Speakers include Ka’ila Farrel-Smith (Klamath-Modoc Artist), Kanahus Manuel (Secwepemc and Ktunaxa), Brook Thompson (Yurok Tribal member), Dakota Case (Puyallup Water Warriors), Thomas Joseph (Hoopa), and a representative from the Gidimt’en Camp. Facebook event here.

Art & design by Ka’ila Farrell-Smith

 

• Jobs with Justice 2020 Virtual Summer Solidarity Celebration
  TOMORROW Thurs May 28, 6:00PM – 7:00PM @ Online – Register here

  Join Portland Jobs with Justice for their annual summer celebration with inspiring worker stories and musical entertainment, livestreamed on their website or on Facebook.

• Portland DSA Training – Building an Escalating Campaign
  Sat May 30, 2:00PM – 4:00PM @ Online – RSVP here

  From Portland Democratic Socialists for America – “Whether you’re a workplace troublemaker or a neighborhood leader, we win our demands with smart campaigns. Join us for this essential training from the guidebook “Secrets of a Successful Organizer” on what makes a successful organizing campaign, including choosing the right issue, the right target, and the right tactics. Prepare to make a GAME PLAN for your next fight!”

• The Long and Twisted Tale of Jordan Cove LNG – Zoom Documentary Slideshow Premiere
  Fri June 5, 6:30PM – 8:00PM @ Online – RSVP here

  Barbara Bernstein & Damon Motz-Storey host with Rogue Climate, No LNG Exports, Power Past Fracked Gas, Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility are excited to invite you to a Zoom premiere on Friday, June 5th from 6:30-8:00 pm presenting “The Long and Twisted Tale of Jordan Cove LNG,” a slideshow that accompanies Part Two of Barbara Bernstein’s “Holding the Thin Green Line” radio documentary series. Please join us for a viewing of the slideshow (57 minutes) plus a Q&A session immediately afterwards with impacted landowners, community organizers and land and water protectors who are featured in the documentary.

  Panel Speakers: Taylor Tupper (life-long Klamath County resident and individual tribal member), Stacey McLaughlin (impacted landowner), Larry Mangan (impacted landowner), and Allie Rosenbluth (Rogue Climate).

  This slideshow was conceived originally to show at community gatherings to educate the wider public about what’s at stake for the people of Southern Oregon – as well as our entire region – and the planet – if the Jordan Cove LNG Export Terminal and Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline get built. This slideshow puts faces to the people whose stories are told in the radio documentary and shows the landscapes that would be destroyed by this fracked gas pipeline and export terminal. But until the COVID-19 pandemic is over we are resorting to Zoom to create these community gatherings. Facebook event here.

Thank you all for the work that you do, stay safe, and we’re all in this together,
Ashley, Chris, Chuck, Dineen, Lucy – the 350PDX staff