Intel to Stick Up for the Climate?

Intel Corporation is the largest private employer in Oregon, with one of their largest campuses in the state located right in Hillsboro - the county seat of Washington County. In the last few years, Intel has also said a lot about their commitment to Oregon's environment, and to combating global warming. But this month, we will have a chance to see just how far Oregon Intel is willing to go to uphold its green promises.

On March 31st, college students from all over Oregon will be converging on the state capitol in Salem to push for bold state-level policy on global warming. And we've challenged representatives from Oregon Intel to support us as a means of demonstrating their environmental commitment. Specifically, a March 31st will also be the day of a committee hearing on SB 80 - the bill that would set a firm cap on Oregon's total greenhouse emissions - and we want Intel to testify in favor of it. If the company is really serious about securing a green future for our state, then what could be more natural than pushing for a cap on greenhouse emissions? The response we've received so far from Intel has been fairly positive, but the company has yet to commit for certain that they will join us in lobbying for SB 80. Will you help make sure they say yes by sending an email here to Intel's head lobbyist?

The support of a big employer like Intel could make all the difference to a bill like SB 80. Please take a minute to send an email to the company and ask them to do the right thing!

-Nick

Will Senator Starr Protect the Public from LNG?

I've already made the point on this blog that Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) represents one of the biggest threats to sustainable living in Washington County. So it's great news that one of our county representatives in the Oregon State Legislature - Rep Chuck Riley, is one of the chief sponsors of the LNG Public Protection Act (HB 2015). The Act, if passed into law, would not ban LNG in Oregon; however, it would give state agencies much more authority to say no to LNG if they determine that LNG development is not needed in Oregon, or that it is not consistent with the state's goals for reducing global warming pollutants. For a complete summary of the LNG Public Protection Act, please see here.

Representative Riley is already working to protect his district from irresponsible fossil fuel development. Now, however, we need to get the rest of Washington County's legislative delegation on the same page. In particular, State Senator Bruce Starr, who represents the cities of Forest Grove, Cornelius, and Hillsboro in the state legislature, could be a swing vote on this issue. In 2007, Senator Starr supported passage of Oregon's Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard. This year, however, not much has been heard from him on the issue of LNG versus clean, renewable energy. In fact, the preliminary investigations of myself and other suggest that the LNG Public Protection Act is not yet a big issue in Starr's office. When I called up his office to urge Starr to support the Act, I had to explain to the legislative assistant who answered the phone what this bill would even mean for Oregon. This doesn't mean Senator Starr doesn't care about protecting his constituents - it simply means that we need to let him know how important the LNG Public Protection Act will be to the people of Washington County, and to Oregon's clean energy future.

If you live in Senator Starr's district, you can help educate him about the LNG Public Protection Act. Please call his office, and urge Senator Starr to clear the way for clean energy in Oregon by supporting the LNG Public Protection Act.

You can reach Senator Starr's office at 503-986-1715

Then, once you've called Senator Starr, please let me know in a reply to this blog post so I can keep track of the total number of calls to his office!

-Nick Engelfried

Why We're Never, Ever Alone

At times, it's easy to feel isolated in your efforts to create a greener and more sustainable future; especially in a place like Washington County, which has not exactly been a hub of environmental progressivism in the past. This past weekend, however, I was reminded that we are far from alone - indeed, those of us attempting to "sustain Washington County" are just one small part of a green wave that's sweeping across this country.

From Friday evening through this past Monday, I attended Powershift 2009: the largest-ever gathering to oppose global warming in US history. While the event - held in Washington, DC - was organized by young people, and while the vast majority of the more than 12,000 participants were youth, it was heartening to see activists of all ages unite to take on the most pressing problem of our time. Speakers from Congressman Ed Markey, to EPA Director Lisa Jackson, to civil rights leader Van Jones, to writer and activist Bill McKibben reminded us that 2009 is a critical year to pass policies at all levels of government which will signal to the international community that the United States is ready to take on a leadership role in combating the climate crisis. On Monday, we descended on Capitol Hill itself for a giant rally on the West Lawn, and to meet with our elected representatives in Congress and urge them to support bold climate policy.

From the national to the city level, we will push our elected leaders to be real leaders when it comes to environmental issues. Now it's time to build a movement here in Washington County that will harness the energy I saw at Powershift and transform our region into one with a brighter and greener future. More coming soon!

-Posted by Nick Engelfried

Images of Permaculture in Washington County

According to the Washington County Farm Bureau, our county is home to some of Oregon's most precious and productive farmland - a result of the nutrient-rich soil and crop-friendly climate in this area. Add to that the fact that this rich land is located right next to the largest urban center in the state, and the potential for providing a large block of Oregon's population with local, sustainable food becomes obvious. Of course, all is not perfect in Washington County's current farmland arrangement: we need more of these local foods to be produced without petroleum-intensive fertilizers and pesticides, and for giant monocrops dedicated to growing ornamental lawn grass to be replaced with land dedicated to actual food production. However, an often-overlooked facet to our region's struggle for sustainability is the need to preserve what farmland is left as a safeguard that will ensure our area's ability to feed itself for decades to come.

There are several important models of sustainable food production in Washington County already. However, the one I'm most familiar with is the Pacific University B. St Permaculture Project, located a twenty-minute walk from the Pacific campus in Forest Grove. The constantly-evolving Project, certified as organic by Oregon Tilth, produces vegetables without synthetic fertilizers, and uses only natural methods of pest control. To prevent weeds from encroaching into B. St's vegetable beds, we farm workers have dug shallow ditches along the edges of some beds, providing a simple barrier to the underground roots of grasses attempting invade. Meanwhile, vegetable beds are readied for planting in spring with a "chicken tractor" - a portable device containing several chickens, who do a great job preparing the soil by devouring weeds, scratching through the dirt, and fertilizing it chicken droppings.

Below are a few images of B. St in late winter. I know that for me, an hour of weeding thistles at the Permaculture Project, smelling damp earth and listening to the Canada geese and occasional group of tundra swans fly overhead, always serves to restore my belief that humans and nature can co-exist peacefully. Let's preserve Washington County's farmland to provide food for people in a way that complements natural landscapes and preserves ecosystems for the future.

Fighting LNG in Washington County

Washington County has two major factors on its side when it comes to creating a new and greener future. One is our county's plentiful farmland - the perfect base for local, sustainable food production in our area. The other is our proximity to Oregon's burgeoning clean energy economy. By protecting and utilizing these two assets effectively, our local leaders can position Washington County to become a true leader in sustainability. And yet both are threatened by a project summed up in three words: Liquefied Natural Gas. Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) represents the largest fossil fuel energy project proposed for the state of Oregon. I don't have space in this post to go into all the many reasons why LNG is a bad idea for our state, but you can find a good summary at http://oregonfirst.net/. What I want to do here is explain what LNG means for Washington County specifically, and how you can help stop the project in its tracks.

Oregon is already fast-becoming a leader in renewable energy, and this has meant the creation of new jobs in communities like Washington County. Considering the state-level commitment to investments in renewable energy and reductions in global warming pollutants, our area seems poised to continue drawing the solar and wind industries to set up shop here. But all that will change if large energy corporations are allowed to flood the market with imported LNG fuel. The minute a giant new fossil fuel project manages to take possession of the Oregon market, our state will become less attractive to renewable energy investors. Renewable energy has the potential to continue bringing hundreds of new jobs to Oregon, as facilities like SolarWorld have already done in Washington County. But to see these jobs materialize, we need to keep LNG out of the state.

Second, one of the proposed pipelines for LNG, the Palomar Pipeline, would cut straight through Washington County, devastating prime farmland in the Forest Grove area. Farmers like Anne and Rene Berblinger, owners of the Gales Meadow organic farm, could be put out of business, their land seized by private companies making use of "eminent domain" laws. At a time when we desperately need Washington County's farmland to produce local, organically grown foods for our community, sacrificing farms for fossil fuel infrastructure is not only counter-productive - it's nonsensical.

So what's to be done? This Valentine's Day, students from Pacific University took part in a "Lovers Against LNG" rally at the Portland headquarters of Northwest Natural - corporate backer of the Palomar Pipeline - organized by Cascadia Rising Tide. After taking public transportation into Portland, we set up across from the MAX line, and got lots of interested looks from folks getting off at the station. If you missed the rally, though, there's plenty of time to get involved. Next month will see such groups as the Columbia Riverkeeper and the Cascade Climate Network organize host a bicycle ride along the proposed route of the Palomar line, which will inform participants about the threat of LNG while attracting media attention to the issue. You'll have the chance to talk to local landowners whose livelihoods will be affected by the pipeline, and to visit some beautiful areas in Washington County who are organizing against LNG. I'll post details about the bike ride on this blog as soon as they're finalized. Stay tuned for more!

Press Release from the Washington County Sustainability Summit

Urgent Calls for Action Delivered at Sustainability Summit

FOREST GROVE – During the Washington County Sustainability Summit at Pacific University, a tangible feeling of urgency permeated the words of speakers who ranged from community organizers to locally elected officials. They touched on issues as diverse as peak oil, permaculture and sustainable food, Liquefied Natural Gas development, and nonviolent civil disobedience as employed by the climate movement. The Summit, organized by a group of Pacific students with support from faculty members Deke Gundersen and Terry O’Day, took place over the weekend of February 7th to 8th and was designed to bring together some of the most significant environmental movements in the County.

Saturday’s keynote speaker, Peter Lunsford of Washington County Peak Oil, urged County residents to prepare for a future in which energy will be more expensive and availability of liquid fuels will decline sharply. Lunsford called on local government officials to do much more to curtail energy use, pointing to a German city that now requires all new buildings to be energy neutral as an example of the kinds of steps our localities should be taking. “Now that’s what I call serious curtailment,” Lunsford said, referring to the city in Germany.

A panel of local government representatives from Metro, Washington County, and the cities of Beaverton, Hillsboro, and Forest Grove were quick to agree that they have a long way to go to satisfactorily address our energy problems. “But each of us is only one person on a board,” said Metro Councilor Kathryn Harrington, hinting that for every local official committed to sustainability, there are multiple others for whom peak oil and global warming still do not signify as priorities. On the issue of the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) fossil fuel project, County Commissioner Dick Schouten said, “I am probably one of two members” of the five-person Board who would stand up for the environment by opposing LNG development. Beaverton City Councilor Cathy Stanton, Hillsboro Sustainability Manager Peter Brandom, and Forest Grove Mayor Richard Kidd each spoke about energy-saving projects going forward in their cities, while acknowledging that much remains to be done.

Other speakers at the Summit focused on citizen activism as a way to jumpstart the government. Olivia Schmidt of Columbia Riverkeeper highlighted the coalition of environmentalists and landowners that has come together to defeat LNG in Washington County and across the state by pressuring government officials. Chuck Riley, who represents the County’s District 29 in the Oregon House of Representatives urged citizens to contact state officials who are still undecided on the LNG issue, as a means of turning the tide against this project.

Meanwhile a delegation from the climate activist group Cascadia Rising Tide pointed out how such tactics as street theater and nonviolent civil disobedience are being used call out companies like Northwest Natural Gas which are bottom-lining the LNG project. Rising Tide’s website states that “We believe climate change can only be addressed by exposing the intersections between oppressions of humans and the earth,” and this connection was apparent in the discussion of LNG. Washington County farms like the all-organic Gales Meadow Farm owned by Anne and Rene’ Berblinger are threatened by massive LNG pipelines that would render much of their land unusable. The Palomar LNG Pipeline “would wipe us out,” said Anne Berblinger at the Summit. Berblinger’s keynote speech on Sunday highlighted the role of organic, localized agriculture plays in reducing global warming emissions and preparing our community for energy instability.

Though Washington County’s plentiful farmland and the burgeoning clean energy economy in Oregon means our area is well-positioned to take on the challenges discussed at the Sustainability Summit, our community’s struggles were seen by many speakers as a microcosm of the nation as a whole. Peter Lunsford praised President Obama’s efforts to make the new clean energy economy a priority of his Administration.

However, Lunsford pointed out, it will take thousands of ordinary citizens changing their own lives and becoming politically active if Obama’s plan is to succeed. “We are allowing President Obama to fight, unsupported, against half the government to do what we should be doing ourselves,” Lunsford said. As one speaker after another confirmed as the Sustainability Summit, solutions to our most pressing problems will come ultimately from ordinary citizens in places like Washington County.