Help Our Clean Energy Agenda Today

We began the CUB Online newsletter and website 18 months ago, and have used this forum solely to keep you informed about the issues we work on and why they matter to you. Today we are here for the first time because CUB needs your help. We need your contributions to help us make clean energy a priority in Oregon.

In the past 18 months many things have changed here in Oregon. We started the email newsletter ball rolling last March with the news of the PUC’s rejection of the Texas Pacific application for ownership of PGE. Since that time, PacifiCorp’s parent company has changed from ScottishPower to MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., PGE stock has been publicly distributed on the New York Stock Exchange, utility tax law has been reformed dramatically in Oregon, equal access to the Internet has come under attack from the big telecommunications companies, and wind power has surged into the mainstream of utility energy production. Whew!

Throughout all of this, CUB Online has kept you informed of whatever is most current in utility news and energy policy, including CUB’s own work on behalf of residential utility consumers and the environment. We’ve also taken the time to talk about the systems we rely on more generally, most recently about transmission issues, and before that, the management of the federal hydropower system, the background of Internet issues, the state of the gas market, and the best way to maximize energy efficiency and conservation. We even provided a step-by-step analysis of the 2005 Oregon Legislature as they tackled solar energy credits, public ownership of PGE, and of course utility taxation.

Well, the time of opening session is fast approaching again. In only a few months the 2007 Legislature will convene, and you better believe CUB will be there. And this time, we are going in with an even more ambitious agenda. This time we want to move the discussion of Clean Energy onto the front burners and turn the following ideas into reality:

* Requiring utilities and other power producers to generate at least 25% of their electricity from renewable resources like wind by 2025;

* Expanding the already successful energy efficiency programs of the Energy Trust, since conservation is our cheapest and most powerful tool to fight global warming; and

* Allowing state regulators to consider greenhouse gas pollution in reviewing utility proposals to build new power plants.

With global warming heating up our environment, we don’t have a lot of time to figure out solid energy alternatives. As our Program Director, Jason Eisdorfer, recently stated: “If we’re going to rely on utilities to save the world, we’re in trouble.”  So CUB isn’t relying on them, but is instead moving forward with a plan.

We are excited about the possibilities for positive change under this Clean Energy Agenda. We only need a few things: a strong, knowledgeable and dedicated staff (check!); a broad, well-informed and passionate group of allies (check! [read more about the Fair & Clean Energy Coalition here]); and a statewide base of interested, caring individuals to form our grassroots support. That base is made up of you.

We are asking CUB Online members to give a gift to CUB today to support the Clean Energy Agenda for Oregon. We need to change the business-as-usual practice of shortsighted energy policy that depends heavily on greenhouse gas-emitting fuels like coal and gas. Switching to renewable energy sources and conserving wherever possible will make a world of difference for both our environmental and financial health.

Make a gift of $30, $60, or $90 today to CUB, and we will be that much stronger when we begin the arduous climb from having no clean energy policy for Oregon, to having a well-crafted, long-sighted, and fully functioning clean energy policy for Oregon.

Thanks for your support.

Bob Jenks, Founding Member and Executive Director
Citizens’ Utility Board of Oregon

P.S. Know someone who cares about the environment and keeping utility bills reasonable who might not be on CUB’s membership list? Forward our web address to them; introduce your friends to CUB today.

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