By Diana Meisenhelter and Janet Weil
Triple-digit heat domes and early wildfires underline the critical importance of the City of Portland needing to show some courage: stand up to Zenith and denying a land use compatibility statement (LUCS)!
Over 9000 petition signatures and countless letters and phone calls have been made requesting the City to take a principled stand at a time when we need to be keeping fossil fuels in the ground. We also need to be cutting CO2 emissions at least 10% per year to have a fighting chance of mitigating the worst of climate chaos.
If you have not contacted the City since these latest examples of the seriousness of the climate crisis we face, please contact Dan Ryan and Portland City Council and urge them to deny the LUCS. Calls, which you can make any time, have more impact than emails, but all communications count! Here is their contact info:
Commissioner Dan Ryan
503-823-3589
commissionerryanoffice@portlandoregon.govMayor Ted Wheeler
503-823-4120
mayorwheeler@portlandoregon.govCommissioner Joann Hardesty
503-823-4151
joann@portlandoregon.govCommissioner Mingus Mapps
503-823-4682
mappsoffice@portlandoregon.govCommissioner Carmen Rubio
503-823-3008
comm.rubio@portlandoregon.gov
If you have taken this action, then please take a few minutes to reach out personally to friends, family, and acquaintances asking them to make calls and send emails at this critical moment. We cannot continue with business as usual. Shutting down Zenith’s tar sands exports is a significant step in the right direction.
(We’re not just lobbying the city to stop Zenith, we’re telling Zenith directly! On July 27th, we did an action outside Zenith’s facilities in Northwest Portland and the Portland Mercury was there! Check out their write-up of the event!)