Author: Guest Contributor

We’re currently working on two big issues:

1. the Columbia River Crossing mega-bridge of craziness and
2. Liquefied Natural Gas, as aggressively pursued by big-money energy speculators looking to destroy Oregon.

Learn more below and get involved in these issues by signing up to receive updates. Click here to join our e-mail list to hear about upcoming actions.

Sign up to attend NW Natural Shareholders Meeting: click here.

Columbia River Crossing

The CRC is an I-5 Highway expansion planned for Portland and Vancouver. Current plans for the I-5 expansion are designed to enable a 34% increase in passenger vehicle traffic at a price tag of up to $ 4 billion.

With vehicle traffic responsible for 40% of our regional global warming pollution, the Columbia River Crossing would lock us into a carbon intensive transportation policy.  Furthermore, North Portland has the highest rates of asthma in the region, with diesel particulate from I-5 the leading cause. Meanwhile, people on both sides of the Columbia River living where new feeder roads are planned are threatened with relocation and permanent damage to their communities. $3 to 4 billion would be the most expensive project in regional history. Let’s use that money to build communities we want to live in: for health care, for education, and to create permanent jobs supporting a local, sustainable economy with world class rail, buses, street cars, and bike lanes.

We need your support to stop the CRC. Our grassroots effort is entirely volunteer run! Portland Rising Tide is a founding member of the Coalition to Stop the CRC – check out www.stopthecrc.org for all the details. There you’ll find background information and information about how to get involved.

Liquefied Natural Gas

There are currently three proposals to build LNG importation terminals in Oregon, two on the Columbia River and one in Coos Bay. Each of the pipelines come with hundreds of miles of pipelines proposed, which would rip through hundreds of local farms, watersheds, state forests, and event clear-cut through Mt. Hood National Forest. LNG is very every intensive because it is natural gas that would be extracted from other countries and is condensed and shipped across the ocean. LNG is up to %30 more greenhouse gas intensive then the gas we currently use, and the is the biggest fossil fuel project on the West Coast.

Sign the petition by clicking here.

One of the biggest companies pushing the projects is NW Natural Gas, of which many of us are customers. While NW Natural aggressively pursues the Palomar Pipeline through Mt. Hood and LNG, they also spend millions of dollars on public relations building their green image.

There are a lot of opportunities to hold this corporation accountable, and participate in some fun actions. Stay updated and learn more at www.HeyNwNatural.org.