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Your Action of the Week is to "Stop the dirty diesel trucks on Oregon roads" Oregon’s air is toxic! Stop the dirty diesel trucks on Oregon roads. Support strong diesel standards! Hearing on HB 2007 on Tuesday, March 19, 2019 starting at 1 PM Your action is needed to stop the dirty diesel trucks and equipment on Oregon’s roads and clean our toxic air.
After decades of allowing dirty diesel trucks to run on Oregon roads, the Oregon legislature is again taking up the issue. Both Washington and California have enacted standards regarding diesel trucks/equipment on their state roads. Because Oregon has failed in its past efforts, trucks no longer allowed in Washington and California have been sold by those states’ trucking firms to work the roads and construction sites of Oregon. According to a report in The Oregonian (Jan 2015), 350,000 such trucks failed to meet CA standards. CA regulations require pre-2010 diesel trucks to be off the road by 2023. Many have found and will find new lives here in Oregon. Our air is dirtier as a result, causing health problems like lung cancer, low-weight births, heart attacks and asthma. And it is not just diesel trucks. Also showing up in Oregon are old off-road equipment like back-hoes, bulldozers and more. Oregon standards and regulations need to be updated. HB2007 is the legislation to get this done..... if it is strengthened. HB2007 gives diesel operators a full decade to comply with regulations, a full 6 years longer than California operators have. Demand that Oregon deadlines meet those in California (2023 deadline for all trucks to meet the 2010 federal emissions standards). Further, HB2007 must close the Glider Truck loophole, which allows old diesel engines to be ‘hidden” from detection by failing to have an honest label on the truck and equipment. New truck bodies hid old diesel engines. This loophole must be closed. Oregon DEQ should be directed to develop a sticker identification program like California to make it easier to see that clean diesel standards are in place on construction sites. Taking Actions:
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The Oregon legislature just had an historic opportunity to pass the Clean Energy Jobs Bill and create a cap and trade system for reducing carbon pollution. Did they do it! NO. The Clean Energy Jobs Bill was the one bill that Oregon Unitarian Universalist Voices for Justice focused on for this recent short legislative session. The news wasn't all bad though.
All that sounds like a great consolation price -- but isn't the same as passing the actual legislation. The Action of the Week is to send a message to your legislators. Let them know you are disappointed, and more important, YOU ARE WATCHING. Send a message here. As Unitarian Universalists we are not necessarily more wise or more patient than anyone else. We are all subject to fits of gloom. Yet our faith calls us to protect the earth. The work means that we are constantly countering big powerful companies. We aren't always going to win. We need to stay constant and stay focused. When we don't succeed, we need to maintain hope. In Love and Faith, Rev. Katie Larsell Calendar
March 24 - Student led march inspired by the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shootings , March for our Lives, many locations around the country. Action of the Week!
Climate Change is a big, terrifying problem. Don't you want to DO something about it? Sometimes I want to run away from a problem if it seems too big. But with climate change, I want to run toward it and make a difference. Our President withdrew the United States from the Paris Climate Accord, saying that climate change is not our problem. When he did that many states including California, Washington and Oregon, signed on to theUnited States Climate Alliance. They were saying - President Trump - you are not going to stop us. This effort will go on without you. Oregon has the opportunity to live up to that commitment and pass historic climate legislation. The Clean Energy Jobs Bill, coming before the legislature in this session, will cap and price climate pollution from the largest emitters in the state, and reinvest the proceeds in our communities. However, the Clean Energy Jobs Bill has been received with mixed signals from various legislators. The general message seems to be, "this is a short session, what's the hurry, let's wait until next year!" I don't know about you, I DONT WANT TO WAIT. Climate change is happening now. I feel it this month when I walk out the door. It just doesn't feel like winter. The Action of the Week is to sign up for the Rally and Lobby Day for the Clean Energy Jobs Bill on Monday, February 12. We need everyone to sign up NOW. The deadline for signing up, is this Wednesday, February 7th (tomorrow). Signing up gets you a meeting with your legislators -- and lunch. This is the one rally and lobby day you should come to -- even if you have to travel across the state. We need to tell the legislature that we don't want to wait. The time is now. If you have a legislator who is on the fence, we need you. If your legislator is a Republican, wonderful, we need you. If your legislator is an unenthusiastic Democrat, then of course, we need you. EVEN if your legislator is an enthusiastic Democrat, come, get some training, march and attend the hearing. We need everyone there to show the strength of support! Unitarian Universalists who attend -- Let's do a meet-up at lunch and all march together to the capital. The schedule and location are below. In Love and Faith, Rev. Katie Larsell Clean Energy Jobs Lobby Day Information: When: February 12th, check in – 9:00 am - 9:45 am Program starts at 9:45 am with our kickoff speaker House Majority Leader Jennifer Williamson. Where: Salem, OR –Micah Building at 680 State Street, 680 State St, Salem, OR 97301, (2nd Floor) from 9:00 am to 11:30 am. Then, we will march over to the Oregon Capitol Building for a rally on Capitol steps and meetings with our legislators and other activities, which will last until about 4:00 pm. Lunch included! We will have a Clean Energy Jobs shirts and buttons for you to put on! Here's a little more of a detailed schedule of the day. • 9:00 - 9:40 AM Check-In at MICAH Building, 680 State St, Salem, OR 97301, (2nd Floor) Continental Breakfast, Coffee, and Tea will be served. • 9:45 - 9:55 AM Program begins • 10:00 - 11:30 AM Program • 11:30 - 11:50 AM Grab Lunch and Eat in the Micah building - (Lunch Provided to all RSVPs) • 12:00 - 12:30 PM March on the Capitol and Rally • 12:45 PM Meetings Begin • 12:45 – 4:00 PM Legislator Meetings and More • 1:30 - 4:00 PM Art & Advocacy projects at the Montag Den at Willamette University |
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