CUB Would Like You to Meet the Oregon Conservation Network and its 2009 Priorities

CUB is primarily a consumer advocacy organization, but advocating effectively for consumers has increasingly begun to mean involving environmental concerns in the mix. A primary mover behind this change has been the growing awareness of worldwide global warming impacts and the global warming pollution that contributes to it.

For nearly a decade, CUB has been a member of the Oregon Conservation Network (OCN). In that time, energy has become a key environmental issue. While CUB doesn't have a position on all of the issues OCN works on, CUB believes it's important for public interest organizations to work collaboratively (even on non-utility issues). As a member of OCN, CUB would like to help spread the word about its top priorities for the upcoming Legislative Session.

1) Implement Global Warming Solutions: Out with pollution, in with solutions, starting with a cap on global warming pollution that will decline over time. What makes this the lead issue for both OCN and CUB? In a Guardian report on climate talks currently happening in Poznan, Poland, one scientist's report left the room stunned: "Despite the political rhetoric, the scientific warnings, the media headlines and the corporate promises, [climate scientist Kevin Anderson] would say, carbon emissions were soaring way out of control - far above even the bleak scenarios considered by last year's report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)..." Oregon can take the lead on providing a workable solution to this problem.

2) Promote Water Conservation: Water is and has been a crucial issue in many parts of Oregon for a long time, and the impacts of global warming will only exacerbate that.

3) Preserve Oregon's Coastal Legacy: Oregon's coast is one of the most beautiful places in the world and deserves our protection. In addition, our fishing industry needs to be stabilized for long-term viability. Oceans the world over are being affected by global warming, industrial overfishing, and other pollutants, and they need help.

4) Increase Transportation Options: This could provide another solution to another side of the global warming pollution problem. Organizations who deal with land-use planning and transportation (unlike CUB) will take the lead.

5) Ensure New Energy Supplies Are Responsible: This energy issue has a tangled local dilemma at its heart - what to do about liquefied natural gas. We are analyzing the resource from an economic perspective. CUB is skeptical that LNG will ever be economic in the Northwest. There are, of course, many environmental concerns also involved with building large LNG stations, and in shipping the fuel long distances.

6) Stop the Spread of Invasive Species: A spreading problem that needs to be addressed.

More information on all of these Priority issues, as well as the 50 member organizations that currently make up OCN, are available on their website.

CUB's legislative role will be primarily focused on helping achieve positive, forward-moving policy on the Global Warming Solutions and Energy Supplies issues. We are happy to be part of a group with a track record of success, most notably in 2007, when OCN was able to pass all of their 5 Priority issues, including the landmark Renewable Energy Standard bill. The group was founded in the mid-1990s and has matured into a force to be reckoned with in Salem.

Join In and Make a Difference

You can take part in the creation of good policy regarding global warming and responsible energy sources in 2009. Sign up for Salem Watch, a newsletter keeping activists and citizens up-to-date on how environmental issues are faring down at our State Capitol Building. Once on that list, look out for more information on the Climate/Clean Energy Rally Day being held the afternoon of January 13th at the Capitol.

And stay involved throughout the session, adding your voice to the fray, by joining the E-mail Action Network. You'll get action alerts (about a dozen the entire session) and will be able to contact your legislator directly with the touch of a button. It's easy and it makes a huge difference.

This is a big ambitious agenda. The session may go well, or it may be rough; but one thing we know is that we are going to need your help.

Posted by Oregon CUB on December 10, 2008. Permanent link to this article. | Comments (0)

Brrr! A Picture of Low-Income Heating Assistance in Oregon

It's that time of year when heaters start running and bills start climbing. This can be either a mild annoyance if we are making it reasonably well financially, or a real serious problem if we're not. We sat down to talk about low-income energy assistance programs with Jim Abrahamson, the Oregon Energy Partnership Coordinator for Community Action Partnership of Oregon. He is in the process of putting together the Snapshot of Energy Assistance for CAPO, due to be released on January 28, 2009 (look for a link to the Snapshot in this article on our website www.oregoncub.org after the end of January). He gave us a better picture of what the low-income heating assistance programs are in Oregon, and how that landscape has changed in this fiscal year.

Oregon ranks 28th in the nation in terms of people living in poverty. Out of 3.4 million citizens (numbers based on the 2000 census), almost 12% of Oregonians qualified as living under the federal poverty line, a very low bar, and just under 15% of our state's children. These Oregon residents, and many others who don't fall under the line but are just struggling to get by, will have difficulty heating their homes as the temperatures drop this winter. This is nothing new: in 2007, 436,000 households qualified for low-income assistance. The catch is that 2007 resources to help these households was available to meet only about 23% of requests, less than one quarter of what was needed, before the funding ran out. We hope that we can do better than that this upcoming winter. And we actually have reason to believe this is possible.

Continue reading "Brrr! A Picture of Low-Income Heating Assistance in Oregon"

Posted by Oregon CUB on December 05, 2008. Permanent link to this article. | Comments (0)

Nobody's Chillaxed About Climate Change Around Here

"Yo! What up?"

"Dude, I am so totally stoked about the smokin' chance we have to make a mega-difference on GHG."

"Yeah, we need to be completely rockin' it by the time the Lege fires up in January."

"No doubt."

Translation:

"Hello there! How are you doing?"

"I must say, I am very excited about the excellent possibilities we have before us to have a major impact on reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change."

"You are correct. We have a lot of work to do so that we're ready to be involved when the 2009 session of the Legislature gets underway in January."

"Of that you can be sure."

Last weekend, CUB Organizing Director Jeff Bissonnette traveled to Seattle to take part in "Re-energizing the NW," a climate change and clean energy organizing conference coordinated by the Sierra Student Coalition and the Cascade Climate Network. About 100 students, primarily from Oregon and Washington, gathered near the campus of the University of Washington to literally figure out how to save the planet by effectively addressing climate change.

Continue reading "Nobody's Chillaxed About Climate Change Around Here"

Posted by Oregon CUB on November 19, 2008. Permanent link to this article. | Comments (1)

CUB Evaluates Post-Election Energy Landscape

One day post-election and we are taking stock. What does this election mean to CUB and to you, utility consumers? We believe that this new day indicates a shift from campaigning on change, to opening the door to true opportunity. Many candidates at all levels of our government made big promises for a different way of approaching our energy needs and the major environmental crisis of global warming. Now it's time to make sure they follow through.

We congratulate all the winning candidates, from President-Elect Obama, to Congressional members, statewide office holders, our State Senate and House Representatives, and County and City elected leaders. At the federal level, it seems that we will finally have a Presidential Administration that will seriously address global warming pollution. President Bush promised in his 2000 campaign to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, but that never happened. Instead, his Administration has, for the most part, subsidized coal and fossil fuels, instead of investing in renewable energy sources and energy efficiency. We should watch carefully and keep the pressure on the Obama Administration to make sure that he actually does work to combat global warming. And while we recognize he is going to have a very full plate, and that new programs will take time to develop, we need to help him succeed in making those promises real.

Meanwhile, it is imperative that we push ahead here in Oregon, show the leadership for which our state is known nationally, and work to create global warming policy on a statewide level.

Continue reading "CUB Evaluates Post-Election Energy Landscape"

Posted by Oregon CUB on November 05, 2008. Permanent link to this article. | Comments (1)

CUB Wins Big for Customers in Natural Gas Case

The sweetest words in the English language, currently, are: "CUB's proposal, as modified herein, should be adopted." So said the Public Utility Commission in its Order earlier this week regarding the Purchased Gas Adjustment case affecting customers of NW Natural, Avista, and Cascade Natural Gas. Excuse us for one moment while we crow.

We're more than usually pleased by the successful turn of events in the PGA case, even though we cannot (as we often can) claim to have saved customers a specific, large amount of money in this case. Instead, what we've done is to protect natural gas customers from having to assume an unreasonable share of risk when natural gas purchase costs are reconciled with forecasts. And we did it more-or-less alone, against an allied opposition of the PUC Staff, the 3 large natural gas companies in Oregon, and the Northwest Industrial Gas Users.

Continue reading "CUB Wins Big for Customers in Natural Gas Case"

Posted by Oregon CUB on October 24, 2008. Permanent link to this article. | Comments (4)