Cap & Trade Legislation - Raise Your Voice!
Friends,
Throughout the next few weeks, Oregon lawmakers in both the House and Senate will be hosting town halls across the state to hear your opinion on the new cap and trade legislation being proposed – HB 2020.
To bring you up to speed, HB 2020 would set a cap on greenhouse gas emissions in Oregon and would proceed to lower that cap over time, which would, in theory, reduce the greenhouse gas emissions for the state. In order to accomplish this, it would charge companies who are large polluters of greenhouse gasses (including utilities, fuel importers, and industrial facilities) for each ton of greenhouse gas they produce.
If this bill is passed without significant changes, it has been forecast that your natural gas bill will increase by more than 50%. Moreover, in the first year alone it will increase fuel prices by $0.16/gallon. Although we do need to create good, common sense legislation to protect our environment, this bill will not do enough to combat global warming to warrant its cost.
It’s imperative that you use these town halls as an opportunity to make your legislators hear your voice. We have countless families, especially in rural Oregon, living on the margins – single mothers working 2 or 3 jobs just to get food on the table for their kids. The cost is too high to stay silent.
If you are interested in attending a town hall, I have listed the dates and locations below. If you would like to testify either in person or by submitting written testimony, click here.
- Springfield: Friday, February 22 – Springfield City Hall, Council Chamber (12pm-3pm)
- Medford: Saturday, February 23 – Central Medford High School, Auditorium (9am-12pm)
- Remote: Monday, February 25 – Remote testimony (live video feed from various rural locations), Oregon State Capitol (TBD)
- The Dalles: Friday, March 1 – The Dalles Civic Auditorium, Community Room (12pm-3pm)
- Bend: Saturday, March 2 – Central Oregon Community College, Cascade Hall, Room 246-248 (9am-12pm)
Please feel free to reach out to my office if you have any questions.
Warm regards,
Lynn Findley
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