U.S. Must Back Nuclear Treaty (12/9/17 letter to The Oregonian from John Pearson, MD)
Read the December 9th, 2017 letter to The Oregonian from Oregon PSR Board Member John Pearson, MD regarding the UN's nuclear weapons ban treaty.
Economist Warns of Impending Financial Cliff for Bonneville Power Administration
"The short-term and long-term danger to Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) begins and ends with the fact that its rates are higher than the market rate for electricity and are likely to remain there if it continues on its current path," writes economist Robert McCullough in his latest report detailing hurdles faced by the Northwest's federal power marketing administration. The challenges faced are not insurmountable, particularly if BPA closely scrutinizes its contracts with the Columbia Generating Station, the Northwest's only nuclear power plant.
Read moreTrump's Small Modular Reactors: the "Clean Coal" of the Nuclear Industry
By Damon Motz-Storey, Oregon PSR Clean Energy Organizer
It was a strange year for the United Nations Climate Summit in Bonn, Germany. Par for the course after declaring intent to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement, Donald Trump's official United States representatives to the climate talks in Germany were representatives from the coal, gas, and nuclear power industries. Lenka Kollar of NuScale Power (a nuclear reactor designer) sat directly to the left of Holly Krutka of Peabody Energy, the largest private-sector coal company in the world. The panel's title, “The Role of Cleaner and More Efficient Fossil Fuels and Nuclear Power in Climate Mitigation,” sounded like something out of a satirical newspaper.
Read moreWashington State Board Recommends Denying Oil-By-Rail Terminal in Vancouver
Today the Washington State Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC) unanimously recommended denial of the Tesoro Savage oil terminal in Vancouver, Washington. The final decision now falls to Governor Jay Inslee, and community leaders from around the region are calling on Gov. Inslee to deny the proposal swiftly, ending a four-year saga over the massive, 360,000-barrel-per day oil train terminal. A final written recommendation will be issued on December 19th.
“The future safety, well-being, and public health of our community depends on the choices we make today. Rejecting the proposed Tesoro-Savage oil terminal should be first on the list, “ stated Dr. Stan Freidberg, who has spent 37 years practicing cardiology and internal medicine at The Vancouver Clinic.
Read moreStrike Four for Millennium Coal Exports
On Tuesday, November 14th, the Cowlitz County Hearing Examiner denied two shoreline use permits for the proposed Millennium coal export terminal in Longview, WA for causing significant unavoidable harm and failing to meet the requirements of the Shorelines Management Act. This decision marks the fourth independent denial of project permits; without these permits, Millennium cannot go forward.
Read moreOregon PSR Endorses Measure 101
Oregon PSR has joined over 160 groups in endorsing Measure 101, a coalition that includes doctors, nurses, healthcare advocates, hospitals, local businesses, and more. Join us in supporting health care for all Oregonians.
Read moreWater is Life: Youth Speak Against Fracked Gas Export
Join us on Thursday, November 16 to hear a unique perspective on the proposed Jordan Cove liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility and Pacific Connector Pipeline and their implications for the health of our water and climate.
Spent Nuclear Fuel Costs at the Columbia Generating Station Soar After 2019
On October 25th, Oregon and Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility released a report indicating that the public could save as much as $1.18 billion in radioactive waste management and disposal expenses if the Columbia Generating Station (CGS) in Washington would close by 2019. The plant is the region's only nuclear power plant, operated by Energy Northwest and licensed to operate until 2043. If allowed to operate that long, the metric tons of spent nuclear fuel at the plant is projected to nearly double.
Read moreDecolonizing Our Activism Workshop
We are honored to cosponsor Idle No More Washington’s Decolonizing Our Activism Workshop presented by Sweetwater Nannauck. All are welcomed to attend this FREE life-changing training which incorporates traditional Native American teachings through stories, exercises, and discussions that are even more relevant and needed today. We are all hurt by systems of colonization.
Oregon PSR Board of Directors Approves Equity and Justice Statement
Following a series of conversations about how best to communicate our organizational values of equity, diversity, inclusion, and justice, Oregon PSR's Board of Directors recently approved the following statement:
Oregon PSR recognizes that diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice are crucial to healthy individuals, vibrant communities, and thriving organizations. We understand that our society has deeply embedded in it centuries of white supremacy and dominance, from the massacre and dispossession of native peoples, economies built on enslavement and disproportionate imprisonment of people of color and poor people to the concentration of wealth in the hands of a small, mostly white, elite power structure.
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