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Hello! A very happy fall and September!
We head to Legislative Days this week and I just got back from attending two events, one focused on decarbonizing our grid and a second conference exclusively focused on reuse.
We were touring a bottle reuse facility in Germany, and I commented to an industry leader that Germany is so far ahead of the US on reuse and wasn’t sure if we would have the buy-in of the public, to which he replied don’t crush my dream of the American Spirit, in America you can do anything.
It’s been a tough few years in American politics, as I type this a shutdown of the government looms. I think I need to be reminded that as a country we have done really big things, we are imperfect but the American spirit is still here, and we will need that “can do” spirit to tackle energy security and climate change.
The theme of democracy continued when I was honored to meet with Ambassador Leventhal and offered a small gesture from central Oregon to honor the heroic efforts of the Danish people to save Jewish citizens during the Holocaust. The Bulletin covered the full story here.
Lastly, I will be the keynote speaker at the Deschutes 350 Clean Energy Conference, on October 4th at COCC, more information here. I promise to not read off a powerpoint, hope to see you there!
All the best,
Emerson
State Representative Emerson Levy
House District 53
P.S. Need to order a covid test? You can get one for free here. My kiddo just got it for the first time, it’s going around again.
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Representative Levy in the News 
Podcasts:
Articles:
Denmark Summary
We had the opportunity to meet with leaders in industry and government who are leading the green transition. Due to the war in Ukraine, there was a big emphasis on energy security, as their energy infrastructure is geographically close to the Nord pipeline.
 My favorite visit was to Green Lab, which started as a project to bring back people to a town that was experiencing depopulation. The project is a circular industrial park. It’s a new way to look at plants and manufacturing that demand a lot of energy and turn it into a circular economy that doesn’t waste energy, and can actually put power back into the grid.
We toured the facility and it opened my eyes to a completely different way of thinking about transmission. A just transition means lots of things to different people, but to me, part of a just transition allows people in communities, when appropriate, to own part of their power. When we visited the public/private partnership in Denmark called The State of Green, one of the leaders remarked that wind energy isn’t so ugly in your backyard- when you get to be a shareholder.
Reloop Summary
 Reloop is an NGO focused on reuse in the beverage industry, with the goal of significantly reducing waste. Germany is the leader in bottle reuse, instead of recycling glass bottles or some plastic bottles, they are reused. If you look closely, you can see the line on the bottles which means they have been processed a few times.
 France as a country is moving towards zero waste and recently just pledged to do a zero waste Olympics, and that is possible because the infrastructure is in place for wash and reuse, on a large industrial scale. We had the opportunity to tour one of the facilities, including a facility that washes and provides logistical support for grocery stores, the meat industry, and the fish industry with reusable containers.
We went to a McDonalds and to my surprise, there were reusable containers for the fries and all of the other iconic packaging.
Not all of these solutions can work here in Oregon, but there are many creative ways to reduce our consumption, and when we have waste, turn that consumption into renewable energy.
Capitol Phone: 503-986-1453
Capitol Address: 900 Court St. NE, H-486, Salem, Oregon 97301
Email: Rep.EmersonLevy@oregonlegislature.gov
Website: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/levye
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