As the new home of OSPIRG's environmental work, Environment Oregon can be contacted regarding this news release.
SALEM—The Oregon House
of Representatives will vote today on House Resolution 3, a measure declaring
that state agencies should not act to limit global warming pollution. As a resolution,
rather than a bill, the measure carries no legal weight. A companion measure
in the Senate was only introduced in recent days and is not expected to pass.
"We have clean energy
options available now that cut can global warming and boost the economy,"
said Jeremiah Baumann, Clean Energy Advocate for OSPIRG. "That's why those
who want to put their heads in the sand about global warming couldn't get enough
support to pass an actual bill."
There is scientific consensus
that greenhouse gases are affecting Oregon's climate. In 2004, nearly fifty
Ph.D.-level scientists, primarily from Oregon State University and the University
of Oregon, signed a consensus statement agreeing that "that climate change
is underway and that it is having global effects as well as impacts in the Pacific
Northwest region." Their findings include "very certain" temperature
increases "best explained by human-caused changes in greenhouse gases,"
rising sea levels on the central and northern Oregon coast, and a 50 percent
decline in snowpack, reducing streamflows that Oregonians depend on for irrigation
and hydropower.
The measure is widely seen
as a partisan response to Governor Kulongoski's proposal to bring cleaner cars
to Oregon. Baumann pointed out that the clean cars program would reduce greenhouse-gas
emissions dramatically and save Oregonians more money at the gas pump than the
increase in up-front cost.
"Clean cars are good
for our environment and our pocketbooks," said Baumann, who also pointed
to other tools to address global warming that can boost the economy. "Renewable
energy brings clean industry and clean jobs. Energy efficiency measures cut
pollution and save businesses and consumers money on their energy bills."
HR 3 is based on a model
resolution drafted by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a Washington,
DC, based organization that has received more than $700,000 from ExxonMobil.
In the absence of federal
action, states across the country have taken the initiative to cut greenhouse
gas emissions. Fifteen states—including Nevada, Colorado, Texas, and Arizona—have
adopted requirements that utilities increase their output of clean renewable
energy. Seven states beyond Oregon are considering or have already adopted appliance
efficiency standards; California and Washington have already adopted them. Ten
states, including Washington, have already adopted Clean Cars programs, which
are based on California's.
