Recently the Portland Business Alliance endorsed the massive Jordan Cove LNG export terminal proposed for Coos Bay. But this is not the first time this influential business organization, which claims a membership of 1,900, has advocated for positions that put our communities and environment at risk.
On this episode of Locus Focus we talk with Melanie Plout, with 350PDX and StopFrackedGasPDX, and Bob Sallinger, Conservation Director for the Portland Audubon Society, about the Portland Business Alliance's long history of stridently opposing good environmental policy, and the new campaign launched by19 Oregon-based environmental groups to encourage Portland Business Alliance board members to state their own positions on environmental issues, like the Jordan Cove export terminal and the Pacific Connector Pipeline.
Bob Sallinger is the Conservation Director for the Portland Audubon Society and has 25 years of experience working on conservation issues in Portland. During that time, the Portland Business Alliance has been a consistent voice opposing strong environmental protections for our communities and our landscape. Sallinger and Audubon have fought the PBA on a variety of environmental issues including cleanup of the Portland Harbor Superfund Site. stronger regulations to protect our rivers, restrictions on new fossil fuel facilities and the Portland Clean Energy Initiative.
Melanie Plaut is a volunteer with 350PDX, StopFrackedGasPDX, and other local climate groups. A physician who retired from Obstetrics and Gynecology a few years ago, she is now trying to make the planet more livable for those beautiful babies she delivered by opposing new fossil fuel infrastructure and working for a just transition to clean energy.
- KBOO