May 21st
Epic EPA Hearing in Seattle!
The Oregon Sierra Club came out in force to the EPA hearing in Seattle on May 21st to demonstrate the outpouring of public support for fast, scientifically-based, and substantial actions on climate change. The EPA had recently proposed its endangerment finding that global warming pollution is a threat to public health and welfare and they wanted to hear the public’s views, so we made sure to be there to support them.
People of all ages from little baby Maeve, to students from Corvallis and Eugene, to young professionals, to silver-haired heroes, filled three buses to Seattle. 101 of us came up from many parts of Oregon, like folks from Bend living in the shadow of the Boardman coal plant, to support our nearly 2000 of our friends in Seattle and to show the EPA and the nation that we must continue to take bold action to solve global warming.
This amazing turnout was achieved through the hard work of some very dedicated volunteers. Soon
after the announcement of the hearing, the Sierra Club formed the EPA Hearing Task Force, which was comprised of folks in Oregon new to the Coal Campaign who wanted to make a big impact on global warming. Those folks, along with many other Sierra Club volunteers, worked daily to spread the news of the hearing throughout Portland by tabling at Farmer’s Markets, flyering local businesses, phoning and mailing fellow Sierra Club members, and engaging in a fun pre-hearing event with Brent Foster from the Attorney General’s office.
We were also able to get some pre-hearing media buzz through letters-to-the-editor written by Sierra Club members, articles about the hearing from the Oregonian to Street Roots, and a really great Op-Ed written by former Secretary of State, Bill Bradbury. We also had KOIN news do a piece the morning of the event right from our bus pickup location!
We had a major impact – and it is only because people took the time to get engaged and do something positive to affect change in our world.
If you didn’t get a chance to participate in this great event, don’t worry–Check out our volunteer/events page for more ways to get involved!
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April 29th
Beyond Coal Kick Off Event with Jeff Goodall
Oregon’s Beyond Coal Campaign had a tremendously successful kickoff event earlier this week with nearly 100 people
packed into the Oregon Sierra Club office. The event featured Jeff Goodell, author of “Big Coal”, and contributing editor to Rolling Stone. Jeff discussed the urgency of solving global warming after describing his journey in documenting the coal industry’s role in American society, and the need for a dramatic shift in our over-reliance on coal. He called for a social movement and change in our economic approaches to end this dependency. Dan Ritzman, Sierra Club’s Western Beyond Coal Director, discussed the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign, our regional potential for energy efficiency and renewables in the Northwest, and how Oregon could lead the fight in tackling global warming by kicking the coal habit first by shutting down the Boardman coal plant, and then ending state imports of coal-fired power. Here is a video we made interviewing Jeff:
Following Jeff’s rousing talk, people mingled afterward, signing the photo petition to Portland General Electric asking for them to shut down the Boardman plant. 40 people signed up for upcoming activities including robust outreach efforts like phoning, tabling, and talking to community groups to rally Oregonians for the EPA Endangerment Hearing on May 21st in Seattle. 15 people expressed interest in a leadership role in the EPA effort.
Leading up to the event we had an ad in the local weekly paper, and a 15 minute spot on the local radio station discussing Jeff’s book and the Oregon Beyond Coal Campaign, and the upcoming EPA endangerment hearing in Seattle. We tabled at the Earth Day festival with the PGE photo petition, mailed and robo called 2,000 members, and volunteer phonebanked 300 members. Interest in our campaign was expressed from Senator Merkely’s office, Multnomah County Commission Chair Wheeler, and Portland City Council Commissioner Fritz.
A great start on a fantastic volunteer base to kick coal out of Oregon – look out PGE!
