If you live in Beaverton (or if you know anyone who does and who cares about environmental issues), then you can help determine the outcome of a key hurdle in the fight to stop Liquefied Natural Gas in Oregon. Beaverton is the home district of Representative Tobias Read (Dem), who chairs the Sustainability and Economic Development Committee in the Oregon House of Representatives. This is the committee charged with determining the fate of two bills - one anti-LNG, which would protect the public interest from giant energy companies seeking a profit; the other a piece of pro-LNG legislation that would make it even easier for corporations to seize private lands from small farm-owners. Unfortunately, Rep Read is not on our side on this issue. He is actively trying to kill the anti-LNG bill, while pushing the pro-LNG, pro-corporate profit one forward.
Tobias Read needs to hear from his constituents. According to Columbia Riverkeeper, which has been working tirelessly to stop LNG since this issue first arose, Read tried to avoid even holding a hearing on the anti-LNG bill - the LNG Public Protection Act - in his committee. When the hearing finally happened, he kept it as short as possible; he also let the representative from Northwest Natural (the company which wants to build the Bradwood LNG Terminal) speak for 25 minutes, while everyone else testifying was limited to three (yes, three) minutes. I was in Salem watching this hearing unfold when it happened; and I can only report that it was a farce at best, and completely rigged at worst.
And though Read can't seem to find the time to move the LNG Public Protection Act forward, he's had no problem pushing forward House Bill 3058 - a bill that would allow energy companies to begin taking over private land without even resorting to use of eminent domain. Columbia Riverkeeper is working to organize Beaverton residents to let Read know what they think of his actions. If you live in Beaverton, please contact Tobias Read at Rep.TobiasRead@state.or.us Tell him what you think of him using is position as a Committee Chair to favor the interests of the LNG industry.
-Nick Engelfried
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