Finally–City of Portland and Multnomah County are set to Divest!
Thursday, September 24 is a Red-Letter Day: that’s the day both the Multnomah County Commission and the Portland City Council are scheduled to vote on divestment resolutions–the County in the morning and the City in the afternoon.
Please join us at these meetings for this significant victory! We’ll have some mini-banners available (large signs are not allowed). Wear orange, the divestment color, to show your support for divest.
The County Commission meets in Room 100 at the Multnomah Building at 501 SE Hawthorne Blvd; the Portland City Council meets on the second floor of City Hall, 1221 SW 4th Avenue. We anticipate 9:30 am at the County and 3 pm at the City but these times won’t be confirmed until Friday Sept 18th.
Members of 350PDX and the Climate Action Coalition show their support for divest.
It has taken over two years of work by 350PDX’s Divestment/Reinvestment Team to get to this point. The resolutions commit both entities to divest their portfolios of fossil fuel bonds issued by the 200 companies holding the largest reserves of oil, gas and coal, known as the Carbon Tracker 200. Scientific research tells us that we cannot afford to extract and burn the bulk of these fossil fuel reserves and maintain a livable climate.
The Mayor’s resolution puts the Carbon Tracker 200 list on the City’s Do-Not-Buy list. While we are happy to see this happen, we would have preferred a straight divestment resolution–we see this as a being engaged to divestment, but we’d like to get married!
Both resolutions are great victories but not the end of the struggle. The City also has money that is not in its control; the State of Oregon–the State Treasurer and the Oregon Investment Council, manage $46 million of the city’s long-term investments and most of their pension funds. The County is in a similar position.
The most important task remains: getting those local moneys invested with the state divested–money in PERS (Public Employees Retirement System) and the Local Government Investment Pool. Our team has been meeting with State Treasurer Ted Wheeler to that end but it may take other actions–a ballot initiative or a bill in the state legislature. California’s legislature passed such a bill shortly before Labor Day!
So please join us September 24th morning, afternoon or both.
For some history of how we got here read on:
Mayor Charlie Hales announced his support for divestment in June, 2013 during a press conference on UN World Environment Day and reiterated his commitment in person to 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben the next month.
Portland Mayor Charlie Hales talking with 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben
Our Team met with all the city councilors over that summer getting approval of 80% of the council, but despite this success, divestment was stalled by Councilor Steve Novick’s Socially Responsible Investment Advisory Committee initiative passed October 8, 2013 setting in motion a process that has taken until now.
During these two years, we testified at city council at every step and barraged Charlie Hales on Global Divestment Day with photo petitions from our 300 people-strong event in front of City Hall.
Divestment Love Letters (C) Rick Rappaport
Our Team turned its attention to Multnomah County in earnest in the summer of 2014, quickly obtaining a commitment for a divestment resolution. The initial hope was to pass it in time to announce at the People’s Climate March (one year ago). When that proved too optimistic for the bureaucracy, we tried for February’s Global Divestment Day. That too failed to materialize. Now, finally, the resolution will be heard on September 24th.
To learn more about 350PDX and divest, email divestment at 350pdx.org
