June 11, 2023 – after weeks of anticipation, the day finally arrives. Teams of volunteers have spent hours getting ready: gathering kayaks, setting up tents, organizing food. At 11am, people start to filter into Cathedral Park. They’re here to “Paddle Zenith Out of Portland” – calling for an end to Zenith Energy’s oil-by-rail operations – and as part of People vs. Fossil Fuel’s national week of action.
I look out over the Willamette, take a deep breath. Already I can feel the excitement brimming. It’s a beautiful day, and we’re coming together to exercise our power, to show the City of Portland – and the whole country – that we are a movement to be reckoned with.
Top left, top right, and bottom right photos by Alex Milan Tracy. Bottom left photo by 350PDX.
Standing there by the water, I can’t help thinking back to another day – October 3, 2022. That was the day when the City released a statement that it had approved a Land Use Compatibility Statement (LUCS) permit for Zenith Energy, allowing the company to expand its oil-by-rail. The City hadn’t gathered public input on this decision, hadn’t held any forums or read public comments.
I remember reading that statement and feeling frustrated, betrayed. This city is my home, and I’m scared of a future where Zenith’s oil trains derail and explode, releasing toxic chemicals into the air. I’m scared that an earthquake will liquify the ground under the Critical Energy Infrastructure hub, spilling 194 million gallons of fuel into the Willamette (more than the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010). And like many people of my generation, I’m scared of what my future looks like if we continue falling deeper into climate crisis.
So to hear that City officials would ignore all that, ignore the voices of thousands of their own constituents just wanting a safe, healthy future – made me furious.
It’s around noon, and I’m watching organizers like Dineen O’Rourke and Eloise Navarro (350PDX), Kate Murphy (Columbia Riverkeeper), and Adah Crandall (Sunrise PDX, Youth Climate Strike) stand up in front of the crowd. Each of them speaks to why they’re part of the movement, and why it’s so important that we come together in huge numbers like this.
One thing Eloise says in particular really hits me: “We call these leaders ‘people in power,’ but we are the people in power, right? … When we have the people, we win.”
Top left and right photos by Alex Milan Tracy, bottom left photo by Katelyn Entzeroth, bottom right photo by Connor Ward.
Eloise goes on to talk about other victories – how we defeated the Shell Oil train facility project in Anacortes, WA, the proposed Jordan Cove LNG terminal in Southern Oregon, the Methanol Plant in Kalama, WA. The crowd cheers, and I look around at everyone there – at the many “Stop Jordan LNG” t-shirts, the raised fists in the air.
After hearing from speakers, we take to the water. The Brassless Chaps perform “Toxic” by Britney Spears (because Zenith’s oil-by-rail is toxic, get it?). Folks lift their Stop Zenith signs high into the air, spell Stop Zenith with floating letters tied between kayaks.
Oftentimes, it’s anger that’s driving me to do this work, and that’s one part of the story. But if I’m being honest, it’s really about the people who keep showing up every day for this movement, and the feeling I get when I’m at a rally like this and remember that despite everything – despite vast power-backed systems of violence and oppression, despite the broken promises of political leaders and how we’re facing down a future that can sometimes feel hopeless – the people are still here. We’re still fighting. And at the end of the day, I believe in this movement. I want to keep fighting, too.
After the rally, I came home to see posts of dozens of actions — from DC to Chicago, the Bay Area to Madison — as part of the People vs. Fossil Fuels (PVFF) national week of action. We’ll be keeping up momentum with PVFF leading up to September, when the UN Secretary General is hosting a first-of-its-kind Climate Ambition Summit to compel world leaders to stop all fossil fuels. Arm-in-arm with thousands in this vast, nation-wide movement, we’ll be calling on Biden to take bold climate action ahead of the Sept summit.
And closer to home, we’ll continue our fight to Stop Zenith once and for all. Over the next few months, we need to build the Stop Zenith movement bigger than ever before and exercise our power. We need people to be at the ready to mobilize on the Willamette – to fight Zenith head-on and keep making it clear to the City that our movement won’t back down.
Will you join us? Sign the Stop Zenith Pledge of Resistance!
There’s so much more to say about my love for this movement and about where we’re headed next this summer, but for now, I want to end by saying thank you. I know we say it a lot, but it’s true. I am truly grateful to be a part of this work with you all, and excited to see where we go next.
In gratitude,
Julia Fritz-Endres, 350PDX Communications Manager
P.S. After you’ve signed the Stop Zenith Pledge of Resistance, send this link to everyone you know who can stand with us – bit.ly/pledge-of-resistance.
