Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility

KELSO, WASHINGTON - Cowlitz County officials released a Health Impact Statement (HIA) on Monday, September 10th that reaffirms the serious adverse public health impacts of the proposed Millennium Bulk Terminals project in Longview, Washington. The focus of the HIA is on neighborhoods near the proposed terminal and facilities along the BNSF line in Cowlitz County. The document underscores the potential negative impacts to communities already experiencing significant health disparities.

Oregon PSR encourages all Oregonians to get out and vote. We're engaged on many ballot measures for November 2018 that have profound implications for health, equity, democracy, and the environment. Continue reading Oregon PSR's November 2018 ballot measure guide and make sure that you are registered to vote!

Thanks so much to everyone who attended and supported Facing America's Nuclear Legacy: Hiroshima, Nagasaki, & the Pacific Islands, our Monday, August 6th memorial event honoring the lives lost to atomic weapons in Japan in 1945 and in the Pacific Islands due to nuclear weapons testing throughout the Cold War. There was great turnout for the event, and we appreciate everyone who came out to honor the lives destroyed by nuclear weapons, learn more, and get involved in Oregon PSR's work for a world free of the threat of these morally unacceptable weapons of indiscriminate mass destruction.

Oregon PSR opposes Measure 105 (formerly known as IP 22), an attempt by the anti-immigrant hate group Oregonians for Immigration Reform (OFIR) to repeal our state’s 30-year-old inclusivity law (ORS 181A.820). OFIR is recognized by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a nativist extremist group with ties to white nationalism. Measure 105 puts repealing our 1987 inclusivity law, which is strongly supported by state and local law enforcement, onto Oregon's November 2018 ballot.

Oregon PSR serves on the Steering Committee for the Portland Clean Energy Fund local ballot measure campaign. We’re still celebrating the submission of over 61,000 signatures earlier this month. Thank you for your support! Next, we’re training volunteers to canvass for the Portland Clean Energy Fund to ensure that it passes with a wide margin this November 2018.

Help us protect the health of our waters and the world’s climate by speaking out against a proposal to build a fracked gas pipeline and the first LNG export facility on the west coast. The US Army Corps of Engineers and Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has opened public comment periods for important Clean Water Act permits. Fracked gas pipelines in Oregon, New York, and Maryland have been stopped before through the Clean Water Act process because of impacts to rivers, streams, and wetlands.

You can help by submitting comments today to let agencies know why you are concerned about, and opposed to, the Jordan Cove project and Pacific Connector Pipeline.

An Ethical Call from Health Workers Opposing Unjust US Immigration Policies: From the US - Mexico Border to the Muslim Travel Ban

Statement from Oregon PSR (June 29th, 2018)

“It ultimately became clear to me that, unless I made a stand and did something about the plight of the detainees, I would be compromising my moral beliefs and my perception of my professional responsibility. My conscience told me that I could no longer stand by and do nothing…. I respectfully submit that this application is very urgent. The police are apparently engaged in a pattern of daily assaults upon detainees. For every day that goes by those apparently unrestrained assaults continue.” Dr Wendy Orr, (on her responsibility to testify against torture in Apartheid South Africa)

In spite of Trump and Scott Pruitt's rollbacks of critical environmental protections, we the people still have the power to take action and protect the health of our climate. Oregon PSR is hard at work on the Steering Committee of the Portland Clean Energy Fund campaign, alongside the NAACP Portland Branch, 350PDX, the Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon (APANO), the Native American Youth and Family Center, the Coalition of Communities of Color, Verde, OPAL Environmental Justice Oregon, the Oregon Chapter of the Sierra Club, the Audubon Society of Portland, and Columbia Riverkeeper. Over 175 other community organizations, businesses, labor groups, and city leaders are behind us. Join us in this important work today.

UPDATE: The CGS is now back online after remaining closed for seven days following a scram on May 18th, 2018. See below for the original story. The exact cause of the outage still has not been released by the plant's operator, Energy Northwest.

The Columbia Generating Station, the Pacific Northwest’s only commercial nuclear power plant, experienced an unplanned shutdown early Friday morning, May 18th. The latest outage is the third unplanned shutdown in the past two years (occurring in December 2016 and August 2017), and the plant remains on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s heightened scrutiny list. Health professionals are concerned about the safety implications of the 35-year-old reactor, formerly known as Washington Public Power Supply System (WPPSS) plant #2, which was originally designed to operate for only 40 years.

Click here to find upcoming opportunities to get trained to gather signatures to qualify for the November 2018 ballot.

Last week, Multnomah County Circuit Judge Benjamin Souede ruled that the Portland Clean Energy Fund city ballot initiative is constitutional, clearing Oregon PSR and our partners to gather signatures for this exciting and historic campaign. We now have until July 6th to gather 43,000 signatures to qualify the Portland Clean Energy Fund for the November 2018 ballot. Our community can take proactive steps to fight climate change while addressing social and economic inequity by providing major new economic opportunities for low-income Portlanders, including women and communities of color.