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January 26, 2015

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Hello Brian,
As coordinator of 350 Salem OR I did contact the Mayor months ago with a question about the city's climate change policy but she did not respond. Our chapter stays informed about and supports efforts like No 3rd Bridge and the Salem Sustainability Network and there is a lot of cross-fertilization between our 350 chapter and other Salem organizations with related objectives. We are also connected with other 350 chapters and climate activists in Oregon and with the global network and mission of 350.org.

One project 350 Salem OR is involved with is opposition to the onslaught of fossil fuel export and transport through the Pacific Northwest. Research from Sightline Institute shows that if all the coal, oil and natural gas projects now on the drawing boards in Oregon and Washuington were to be completed, they would have the climate change impact of 5 Keystone XL pipelines.
http://www.sightline.org/press/releases/report-pacific-northwest-coal-oil-and-gas-exports-would-have-carbon-equivalent-of-more-than-five-keystone-xl-pipelines/

Coal exports and oil trains have received a lot of exposure (and effort on our part), but we are also trying to get the word out about proposals to export Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) from two Oregon ports, one in Coos Bay on the southern Oregon Coast and one on the Columbia River near Astoria. These projects would involve building new pipelines to carry natural gas for hundreds of miles through forests and farms and under the Columbia; and building energy-intensive, greenhouse-gas-spewing facilities to compress the gas to a liquid state for shipping. We are allied with activists and communities fighting these projects and hope people in Salem will join the opposition. Columbia RIverkeeper and Rogue Riverkeeper have excellent information about the Astoria and Coos Bay projects respectively, along with links to submit public comments to state and federal agencies reviewing permit applications.
Columbia Riverkeeper http://salsa4.salsalabs.com/o/50797/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=12041
Rogue Riverkeeper
http://rogueriverkeeper.org/what-we-do/hot-topics/proposed-liquified-natural-gas-pipeline-lng

Anyone who wants to help define the projects that 350 Salem OR takes on is welcome to attend our meetings on the first and third Tuesday of each month at 7 pm at the Ike Box Cafe at Cottage and Chemeketa Streets NE in Salem.

Laurie Dougherty, Coordinator 350 Salem OR

Sometimes when I read what you write, I am reminded of Don Marquis’ Archy and Mehitablel (and parenthetically wonder if there is anyone alive who has read his priceless writings).

I tried to take this column and imagine that you were writing at the time of Galileo, posing questions to the Vatican bureaucracy. Or maybe you might have been reporting about the Scopes trial.

You are picking at the political scab that encrusts policy discussions in this century. Truth is immaterial; only rhetoric matters.

Maybe I went too far back into history. Daily Kos recently published an article on Oregon as a racist utopia. Let’s imagine you asking questions during the 30’s, 40s’, or 50’s of these people. My sardonic opinion is that they would have waffled then as they waffle today.

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