MCATs joined Divest Oregon’s very successful lobby day building support and gathering new co-sponsors for Rep. Khanh Pham’s bill: The COAL Act, which would phase out out-of-state coal investments currently held in the Oregon State Treasury by 2030. For more information go to www.divestoregon.org

Read it here:

https://conta.cc/48Ie8Vo

Environmental activist Rand Schenck examines 100 years of Pacific Northwest forestry, through the lens of forestry practices on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. This volume offers his visceral perspective on the decades of stewardship, the period of relentless harvest, and the move toward the rebirth of old growth.

As a boy, Rand Schenck hiked and backpacked in the same mountains and woods where Gifford Pinchot first worked as a forester and developed a lifelong love of the outdoors. He holds a BA in History from the University of Colorado, as well as an MA in Recreation Administration and a Masters of Social Work, both from the University of North Carolina. Now retired, he spends much of his time in the outdoors, hiking and camping in the Pacific Northwest and around the world. Rand’s book will be released in May 2024.

Preorder at: https://wsupress.wsu.edu/product/forest-under-siege/

https://conta.cc/48MOazY

MCAT has a team working to help make this enormous opportunity a reality and we encourage you to join if you have an interest. Contact us!

https://climatesolutions.salsalabs.org/offshorewind?wvpId=a4de6d5b-b211-4a69-9ec3-110b87515dc1

https://conta.cc/3RTldvo

The Oregon Global Warming Commission, soon to be renamed the Oregon Climate Action Commission has received a report from the OSU based Institute for Natural Resources on how to get the most from natural climate solutions. While the report highlights the need to improve forest management it does not specify what that means. In particular MCAT calls on the Commission to especially emphasize the need to protect all of our mature and old growth trees as they hold the vast majority of COs across our forested landscape.

The MCAT Steering Committee shares with other organizations their concern about the method in which Portland’s City Council reversed their decision on Zenith’s Land Use Compatibility Statement (LUCS).  MCAT believes that their 2022 decision violates good faith and public process.  

Bonneville Power Administration is the source of 28% of the Pacific Northwest’s electricity.  They have recently produced their 2024-2028 Strategic Plan without allowing an opportunity for public comment.  Although the Plan supports movement toward carbon-free sources of electricity for the 34 public utilities in Oregon who rely on BPA, it does not provide them with the choice for a 100% carbon free source.  We joined other Northwest climate advocates in this letter to BPA which suggests that they must do better if we are to meet our goals for carbon-free electricity.

https://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/2023/10/readers-respond-pipeline-expansion-bad-for-climate.html

• Published: Oct. 25, 2023, 6:00 a.m.

Thank you to Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden for opposing the expansion of the Gas Transmission Northwest natural gas pipeline, (“Feds OK natural gas pipeline expansion in Pacific Northwest over environmentalist protests,” Oct. 19).

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change informs us that the fastest way to decrease the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is to curtail the use of fossil fuel methane gas. If we stop using methane we may be able to keep global warming to survivable levels (1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial temperatures). 

Buildings and homes can be electrified, and methane pipes and compressor stations decommissioned.  I do not understand Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s reasons for approving this damaging project. 

I hope your readers will join with Columbia Riverkeepers and our elected representatives in asking FERC to reconsider its position. If readers use gas in their homes, I hope they will consider electrifying heating, cooling and cooking using the available tax breaks outlined in the Inflation Reduction Act.

Jane Stackhouse, Portland

To read more letters to the editor, go to oregonlive.com/opinion.

Follow this link: https://conta.cc/3TTxByf

Details about both events here: https://conta.cc/3rWvGxr

Several MCATs participated in the extensive 18-month rulemaking and stakeholder engagement process surrounding the development of the Climate Protection Plan (CPP), which was adopted with overwhelming public support. 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/17Yx2CZqhDymt6ZGG2WtDhy31PvqtcpqacwPNZra-2Y4/edit

MCAT was part of a group of interested parties, known as the Energy Advocates, that participated in the Oregon Public Utility Commission Docket regarding the Portland General Electric’s 2023 Integrated Resource Plan and Clean Energy Plan.  MCAT experts contributed to the detailed comments submitted by the Energy Advocates which covered: centering energy justice and community engagement in their Clean Energy Plan, increasing projections for distributed energy and other resource options that can defer transmission upgrades, concerns over GHG emissions from electricity exports, improving community benefit indicators, and increasing supports for community benefit renewable energy projects.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pZUAr-bSlIxJHG3BgTGblImoj5uXIz8HjHkAalrHXFc/edit?usp=sharing

MCAT was part of a large group of interested parties that participated in the 2023 Rulemaking Update process with DEQ staff and the Environmental Quality Commission regarding implementation of the Climate Protection Plan.  MCAT experts contributed to the detailed joint comments and submitted individual comments as well urging the EQC to direct staff to strengthen the final rules so as not to undermine the equity goals of the CPP by restricting biomethane and hydrogen used for CPP compliance to that which produces direct benefits for Oregonians; and requiring that existing BAER facilities cannot expand beyond the 10,000 MT CO2e /year limit without an updated BAER review and a reduction in their per-unit emissions level.  

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CMmVYrpxOwXxBPisUSoKQh_g6qCyvJy9oobdjmFp34c/edit?usp=sharing

MCAT was part of a large group of climate and equity organizations supporting the Clean and Resilient Buildings package of bills (SBs 868, 869, 870, and 871), signing on the several joint letters, and also submitted individual supporting testimony to the Oregon legislature that the bill package will help provide the incentives and programs needed to speed up the decarbonization o our buildings by supporting rapid deployment of heat pumps and weatherization upgrades, improving buildings codes for new construction, implementing a Building Performance Standard to improve efficiency in large commercial buildings, and making it easier for state and other public buildings to implement energy efficiency programs.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AO48rb4NRnHLYD-r0VeTnubWzq0HIbM1/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=108751960861526937664&rtpof=true&sd=true

MCAT was part of a group of interested parties, known as the Climate Advocates, that formally intervened in the Oregon Public Utility Commission Docket regarding the Northwest Natural Gas Company’s 2022 Integrated Resource Plan.  Under the leadership of the Green Energy Institute at Lewis & Clark Law School, the Climate Advocates also included Climate Solutions, Columbia Riverkeeper, Community Energy Project, Electrify Now, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Sierra Club.    In addition, MCAT, represented by Dr Pat DeLaquil, prepare comments and testimony throughout the process, emphasizing that the Company’s long-term plan for compliance with the Climate Protection Plan did not represent a least-cost, least-risk strategy, and that the plan did not represent reasonable balance of future risks and incentives between the company and ratepayers.         

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WPTRjVc1guo0Hfvl3UtFItlrn_bjc50S/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=108751960861526937664&rtpof=true&sd=true