It’s Getting Hot In Here

Over the past seven days, activists and local energy organizers have been teaming up to stage the West Coast Convergence for Climate Action.  The event is occurring simultaneously with the South East Climate Convergence and the UK Camp for Climate Action.  Hundreds of people attended workshops, skill-shares, lectures, and action trainings in Skamokawa, Washington.  The event culminated with direct actions targeting dirty energy companies and LNG proposals in the Pacific Northwest.

LNG and the West Coast Climate Convergence:

The Skamokawa event drew hundreds of people into Wahkiakum County in close proximity to a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal at Bradwood, Oregon.  The Columbia River divides Oregon and Washington, and participants in the Convergence learned about attempts to sustain the local economy of the Lower Columbia River while resisting massive fossil fuel developments in the area.

On Monday, August 13th, Convergence participants were joined by dozens of local activists opposing the Bradwood LNG terminal.  The group gathered on the Washington shore of the Columbia, where hundreds of people live in close proximity to the Bradwood LNG proposal.  Using fishing boats, sailboats, kayaks, and an umiak, participants in the action crossed the Columbia River and occupied the beach at Bradwood where NorthernStar Natural Gas intends to construct a large LNG terminal.  The terminal’s peak daily capacity is twice the average daily use of Oregon natural gas consumers.  Washingtonians, Oregonians, and a variety of activists from throughout the West Coast staged this successful occupation of the LNG site with no injuries or arrests.

The action had a twofold purpose, both highlighting local and global impacts of LNG development.  The local impacts of the LNG proposal are severe and include endangering salmon, excluding local river users from the River, disrupting shipping traffic, and threatening the public safety on nearby Puget Island, WA.

The global impacts of the LNG industry were a focus of the Climate Convergence, where participants learned that LNG is up to 40 percent more carbon intensive than natural gas due to its long supply chain (LNG must be extracted as natural gas, liquefied, shipped huge distances, and ultimately re-gasified).  Recent studies show that LNG is comparable to gasified coal (aka “Clean Coal,” a true oxymoron - see post about SE Convergence!) in its carbon impacts.

Beyond climate change issues, the West Coast Convergence used the carbon trail of various energy sources to put the environmental, human rights, and labor practices of the fossil fuel industry on display.  Speakers addressed a huge variety of issues pertaining to coal, natural gas, and hydro-power issues while others used the event to demonstrate skills and sustainability practices that can preclude the need for destructive fossil fuels and hydro-power.

PacifiCorp(se):

Just today, in cooperation with local environmental activists, many Convergence participants staged a direct action in front of PacifiCorp’s offices in Portland, Oregon.  Chanting, “Free the River - No New Coal - PacifiCorp has got to go!!”, a small group used barrels to lock down and occupy the space in front of PacifiCorp’s Portland headquarters.  The action was designed to emphasize PacifiCorp’s huge reliance on coal-powered electricity, as well as its devastating refusal to removal Klamath River hydroelectric dams that are threatening the survival of Klamath River Tribes.  Causing huge algal blooms, salmon die-offs, and warm waters, PacifiCorp’s dams are a stark reminder that the Pacific Northwest’s reliance on large hydroelectric dams has its own severe human rights and environmental impacts.  On the Klamath River, the dams provide only a small amount of electricity, and PacifiCorp has continued to refuse to remove the dams despite the threat and obstruction they pose to Klamath tribes’ traditional fishing rights.

PacifiCorp also relies heavily on coal-powered electricity generation, and is still seeking to develop more coal facilities in the West despite the huge climate and environmental impacts of the coal industry on the world and local communities facing destructive coal mining operations.

The Convergence was met with strong local support and important exchanges between those fighting fossil fuel development at different local, regional and global scales.  The Monday and Tuesday events helped draw more attention to continuing infrastructural commitments to destructive energy sources.