Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility

Fossil Fuel Industry Puts our Communities and Climate at Risk

July 19, 2017 (Salem, OR) – Today, the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA) ruled that Portland’s Fossil Fuel Terminal Zoning Amendments, passed unanimously in December of 2016, is inconsistent with the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Portland’s fossil fuel policy intended to prevent new major fossil fuel infrastructure projects in the City. LUBA dismissed many of the other arguments brought by the oil industry and the Portland Business Alliance against the City’s policy. LUBA’s ruling is likely to be appealed to the State Court of Appeals.

In May, Oregon PSR caught wind of Senate Bill 990, which had passed in the State Senate, and immediately began working with a coalition of environmental groups and supporters throughout the state to defeat a bill that would have gutted Oregon's voter-passed nuclear power moratorium and allowed the construction of small modular nuclear reactors. Intense lobbying and hundreds of constituent contacts later, we won! SB 990 died in House Committee.

Former Oregon Governor Barbara Roberts co-authored an opinion piece to The Oregonian in response to the proposed legislation. Please read it to learn more about why we opposed this legislation, and contact us to learn more and to get more involved in preventing future nuclear power development in our region.

Oregon lawmakers withdrew a bill on Friday that would allow railroads to keep plans for oil train disasters a secret.

A year after a train derailed, caught fire and spilled oil into the Columbia River in Mosier, lawmakers were poised to approve a measure that would require railroads to draft worst-case scenario plans. But the bill also would prevent public scrutiny by exempting the plans from Oregon public records law and legal subpoenas.

By a 31-26 vote, the House of Representatives agreed to send the bill back to the Legislature's ways and means committee for more work.

It appears the legal dance over Union Pacific Railroad’s proposed siding project will continue. On Tuesday, the Columbia River Gorge Commission (CRGC) rejected UP’s appeal, thereby denying the railroad’s bid to build an extended railroad siding at Mosier.

In a lengthy hearing at the Fort Dalles Readiness Center that included Friends of the Columbia River Gorge showing a video of the fiery oil train derailment at Mosier on June 3, 2016, multiple attorneys on both sides of the siding issue argued back and forth in what an attorney for Union Pacific referred to as “a merry-go-round.”

Stan Freidberg is a PSR champion--36 out of his 37 years as a cardiologist at The Vancouver Clinic has been as a member of Physicians for Social Responsibility. Read his op-ed about the health dangers of the proposed Tesoro-Savage oil terminal in The Columbian.

On Thursday, June 1st, the Portland City Council and Multnomah County Commissioners both unanimously voted "yes" to commit Portland and Multnomah County to powering community-wide energy needs with renewable energy by the year 2050. The votes come as a huge local success, tragically coinciding with President Trump's announcement of pulling the United States out of the Paris Accord for action on climate change.

In stark contrast to Trump's disastrous budget proposal which increases spending for militarism and nuclear weapons at the expense of essential social and environmental protections, Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer and Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey today reintroduced the SANE Act which would slash nuclear weapons spending by $100 billion over the next decade.

Former Governor Barbara Roberts and Public Utility Commissioner John Savage urge Oregon House members to reject Senate Bill 990, which would make an exception to the state's voter-passed law requiring a permanent disposal site for high-level nuclear waste and statewide voter approval before new nuclear power plants can be built in Oregon.  The bill had passed the State Senate with little notice, and Governor Roberts and PUC Commissioner Savage submitted this opinion piece strongly opposing it - published by the Oregonian on Oregonlive.  Click here for the full article.  

Oregon PSR is working tirelessly with partners to secure strong resolutions from the City of Portland and Multnomah County that support a rapid and just transition to 100% renewable energy. We've been on a trajectory to secure the best policy in the nation. Given that 2016 was the warmest year on record and 2016 was the wettest winter on record, we know we have no time to spare if we are to avert climate catastrophe.

On Monday, May 15th, 2017, advocates for clean and renewable energy gathered in downtown Portland to rally against Portland General Electric's proposed permits to build out fracked gas power plants at the Carty Generating Station near Boardman, OR. Although the utility suspended permits for the project on Friday, May 12th, there is no reason why the project couldn't be placed back on the table. Attendees at Monday's hearing made their voices clear to the Oregon Public Utility Commission: suspended permits are not the same as withdrawn permits. Advocates in Portland demanded clean, renewable energy, telling Portland General Electric to hit the "delete" button on fracked gas, not just the "pause" button.