I agree that the Oregon legislature did some very good things,
as you noted. I, too, am proud of our progressive voting
mechanisms, and often note them when commenting on other
states' struggles with voting rights and processes. Your
whole list is good.
My fears remain in the area of climate change, which has
become such a battle in Washington DC, and accrued little
accomplishment in Oregon, even though there were good bills
available for passage. Where we are even in fear of
trade agreements establishing clear paths for climate damagers.
I know this is a subject you understand better than most,
but I want to stress the urgency.
I still believe that the 2-degree rise and 350 ppm CO2 are a good
first-cut stopping point. That means that:
We have a CO2 problem already at nearly 410 ppm and rising.
The problem is confirmed with year-on-year records during
the last decade, plus.
Some say we don't have any remaining fossil fuel to safely
burn -- because we are past 350ppm, and don't really know how
to get back.
Even if the budget established for the 350.org "Do the
Numbers" campaign in 2012 established a legitimate safe burn
of 565 gigatons was valid, at current burn rates, that would
mean we could hit a brick wall in 10 years.
The US share of that 565 is 53 gigatons in 10 years, or
about 5.3 gigatons in each year.
You already understand that we are pushing at tipping
points:
Ocean acidification threatening all animals with
exoskeletons such as oysters, shrimp and krill. Krill
feeding herring, feeding salmon, feeding larger fish is the
major basis of most of our fisheries, and the ocean phytoplankton contribute between 50 to 85
percent of the oxygen we breathe.
We are already leaking methane from the arctic, both the
permafrost, and the methyl-hydrate on the ocean floor.
The extremely strong climate-warming properties of the
methane and the extremely large quantities stored in the
arctic could lead to a catastrophic runaway.
In spite of our need to quickly reduce use of fossil fuels,
we stupidly encourage growth in fossil fuel markets:
The Obama Administration intends to allow new deep-ocean
oil drilling in U.S. waters.
New sources of fracked or tar-sand extracted fuels are
wanting to enter markets in the far east and compete against
their need to go green, too.
Oregon is being asked with great pressure to facilitate
exports. We are exporting oil, and should
stop. We have so-far escaped exporting coal.
But we have 2 huge LNG export terminals proposed, each of
which would export in excess of 16 million tons of CO2 per
year.
Portland was asked, and is still getting pressure to
host an LPG export terminal with as large a carbon
footprint as what the Portland Climate Action Plan
attempts to manage -- i.e. it would take the footprint
Portland has worked so hard at reducing by 15% and
increase it to 200%. http://www.climate-action-coalition.org/doku.php?id=bridge_fuels
Of course there is a list of projects for Washington
State, too.
The point is that West Coast (referred to by Sightline
Institute as "The Thin Green Line") should be
setting an example for saving the planet instead of
letting the billionaires destroy our climate
credibility and the planet.
OMG: In case you aren't seeing recent news;
Just see what's showing in today's Guardian:
Investment is supposed to be about the future,
and so is the divestment campaign. Yet ironically, the
whole debate is stuck in the present. People are bickering
about what companies are doing now and ignoring the plans
they are quietly putting in place for future emissions.
These plans either commit us to dangerous climate change,
or commit future taxpayers to a planetary scale
clean-up programmethat would make the great
bail-out of the bankers look like a gallic shrug.
Pass a version of a Climate Action Plan for Oregon with
teeth that will force the DEQ and other agencies to act
according to their charters instead of acting as permitting
agents for climate destroyers. HB 3470 was a good
start, backed by people of The Children's Trust.
Make it illegal to invest in fossil fuel projects,
especially export projects, that would do business with high
carbon footprint for more than 3 years, with no right of
extension.
Require transporters and handlers of fossil fuels to
purchase bonds against all the expectable risks to
climate, physical damage, and damage to people. For
example, the Lac Megantic disaster resulted in a payout of
something like $2.5 billion, which could have been covered
by a pre-purchased bond. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daphne-wysham/climate-risk-bonds-how-to_b_4899567.html
This could be in-lieu-of having transport laws that contend
with federal legal jurisdictions.
So, please, both in congress and in your interactions with
Oregonians, look hard for opportunities to push climate efforts in
the right direction. We now have the costs of green energy
at the right place, and should be switching as fast as we can
go. Lots of analysts say we could be mostly off of
fossil fuels in 2030. Then we'll have to figure out
what trees will reforest the various forests that we think of
as great carbon sinks, but are carbon emitters when they are
sick from climate change, now.
Thanks for your good work, and hoping you can make progress on
this big issue, too.
--Ed Averill
On 07/11/2015 10:01 AM, Suzanne Bonamici wrote:
Bonamici For Congress
Ed,
This week, the Oregon Legislature
wrapped up a historic session that
moved Oregon forward on many
critical fronts.
In an impressive string of
legislative accomplishments,
Oregon:
Became the first state
in the nation with automatic
voter registration,
known as the new Motor Voter law
Enacted universal paid
sick time for all workers,
becoming the fourth state with
such a law
Established universal
background checks on
all gun sales
Increased K-12funding andmade
universal all-day kindergarten a
realitystatewide
Reclassified most
major birth control as
over-the-counter medication
and required insurers to cover a
full 12-month supply
Banned “The Box”
on job applications that prevented
Oregonians who had served their
time from getting back on their
feet
Congratulations to the Oregon
Legislature and Governor Kate Brown
on a remarkable legislative session
that will make a real difference in
the lives of working families!
This email was sent to eda@acm.org.
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Bonamici to keep supporters like you
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lettertomsbonamici.txt · Last modified: 2015/07/12 09:33 by eda
