ACTION ALERT!  Climate Legislation:  HB 2020 -31  IT’S HEATING UP!

Date:   April 9, 2019
To:       All League Members and Oregonians
From:  Julie Chapman, LWVOR Climate Portfolio and Norman Turrill, LWVOR President

CONTACT ALL LEGISLATORS ON THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON CARBON REDUCTION TO SUPPORT HB 2020 -31. Email addresses are below.

The Joint Committee on Carbon Reduction (JCCR) recently introduced an improved version of the climate bill, HB 2020 -31. Committee members are under pressure to reverse or water down the amendments, particularly those regulating pollution from waste incineration and fluorinated gases. Please email committee members by April 15.

Subject line: “The -31 amendments strengthened HB 2020” or “Thank you for supporting HB 2020 -31” or “As an Oregonian, I support HB 2020 -31” or …

Messaging for emails: Put the message in your own words; your email can be short. You can copy and paste the same personal message for all members of the committee, but please address and send the email to each legislator individually. Identify yourself with your address, but emphasize that you are an Oregonian, and this is important Oregon legislation.

• Thank you for including waste incineration in the industries regulated by the bill.
• The Covanta trash incinerator burns plastics and medical waste and emits a mix of heavy metals and other pollutants. We urge you to hold them accountable by keeping them under the cap, as you have done in the -31 amendments. This is a critical step to move us towards climate solutions.
• Thank you for now including the super pollutant F-gases from semiconductor manufacturing as emissions covered by the bill.
• F-gases are 7,000 to 23,000 times more potent than CO₂ as greenhouse gases. It is critical that we require mitigation of their effect.
• The -31 amendment ends an exemption for the F-gases used in semiconductor manufacturing, placing F-gases under the cap from the beginning of the program. Please pass the -31 amendments and keep these polluters in the program.
• The F-gases account for 1/5th of the total greenhouse gas impact of all other Oregon manufacturers covered under the Oregon Climate Action Program. It is critical that we require mitigation of their effects.
• The emergency clause is essential to this bill. Climate change caused by excessive greenhouse gas emissions is the most significant emergency of our time.
• Please keep the specific percentage distributions from the Climate Investment Fund identified in -31 in the bill: 40% will go to impacted communities and 10% to tribes. Oregon communities that suffer the biggest impact from the warming we already experience must get the most relief.

Thank you for adding your voice! For more information, contact Julie Chapman, LWVOR Climate Portfolio member juliebchap@gmail.com or ph. 503-415-9715.

Amendments HB 2020 -31: https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2019R1/Downloads/CommitteeMeetingDocument/187693

Original HB 2020: https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2019R1/Downloads/MeasureDocument/HB2020/Introduced

Additional F-gas information from EPA website: https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overview-greenhouse-gases

Democratic Members of Joint Committee on Carbon Reduction –

Co-Chairs:

sen.MichaelDembrow@oregonlegislature.gov

rep.KarinPower@oregonlegislature.gov

Committee members:

sen.LeeBeyer@oregonlegislature.gov

sen.JeffGolden@oregonlegislature.gov

sen.kathleentaylor@oregonlegislature.gov

rep.kenhelm@oregonlegislature.gov

rep.JohnLively@oregonlegislature.gov

rep.PamMarsh@oregonlegislature.gov

Republicans Members of the JCCR Committee:

Co-Vice Chairs:

sen.CliffBentz@oregonlegislature.gov

rep.DavidBrockSmith@oregonlegislature.gov

Committee members:

sen.FredGirod@oregonlegislature.gov

sen.AlanOlsen@oregonlegislature.gov

rep.DanielBonham@oregonlegislature.gov

rep.ShellyBoshartDavis@oregonlegislature.gov