It started as just another hearing on an Oregon Department of Environmental Quality “Title V” air pollution permit for the Boardman Coal Plant, owned and operated by Portland General Electric (PGE). Representatives of the DEQ sat down last night to take formal testimony on the proposed renewal of Boardman’s Title V permit – which regulates pollutants including sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxides, mercury, and other toxic emissions. Though the DEQ proposes to strengthen limits for some target pollutions, environmental groups like the Sierra Club argue it falls far short of what’s actually required. Unbeleivably, the new Title V permit would fail to hold the biggest polluter in Oregon to standards imposed on other coal plants in around the country in 1978; essentially, it’s a green light for Boardman to continue business as usual.
And last night started out as a business as usual hearing. Around a hundred people packed the main hearing room plus the overflow room, and DEQ reps must have noticed the abundance of “Beyond Coal” T-shirts. But the first several people to give testimony were the usual suspects the DEQ is no doubt quite used to hearing from: industry reps from the utility that owner of Boardman, spokespeople from trade groups that represent Oregon’s biggest polluters and energy hogs, and representatives of labor organizations that unfortunately have chosen to believe PGE’s arguments. One after another, these folks trotted out PGE’s talking points predicting skyrocketing energy prices, economic catastrophe, and general mayhem in the state of Oregon unless PGE is allowed to pollute its heart out. But then something new happened.
Once the initial line-up of industry advocates expired, it became quickly apparent they were far outnumbered by Oregon citizens advocating for a cleaner energy future. Supporters of the Sierra Club, Friends of the Columbia River Gorge, and Physicians for Social Responsibility explained why it makes no sense to hold Boardman Plant to pre-1978 standars in the year 2010, and why PGE’s proposal to keep Boardman open at least ten more years is a bad deal for Oregonians.
And while concerned citizens of all ages took the microphone to give their testimony, the youth presence at the hearing was not only impossible not to notice – it gave a whole new dimension to the testimony. Around thirty students and young people from Linfield College, Pacific University, Reed College, Portland State University, Lane Community Community College, Washington State University-Vancouver, and McMinnville High School turned out to support a future free of coal, and many signed up to give testimony. In increasing amazement, I watched last night as a hearing arguably designed to rubber-stamp a routine pollution permit was transformed into the platform for a discussion about intergenerational responsibility and valuing long-term survival for all over short-term profit for the few.
Over the course of the evening, DEQ representatives heard from college students representing campus and student-advocacy organizations, youth activists who have worked this spring to pass student government resolutions calling for an early retirement date for Boardman, and young people who spoke of feeling like their future is being sealed by the choices of decision-makers with little understanding of our generation’s needs. Many of our inter-generational allies, in giving their own testimony, spoke about a feeling that to allow coal plants like Boardman to continue altering the climate would be to unforgivably shirk responsibilities to posterity. In a reversal of government agency hearings where youth preface their statements with words like “I’m probably the youngest person here but….” older citizens began their statements with the disclaimer that “I’m not twenty-three but….”
If there were any doubt left in my mind that the youth voice is having a real impact on discussions around coal in Oregon, last night’s hearing erased it. The discussion Tuesday may or not substantially impact issuance of the Title V permit – all too often, it seems, these hearings merely help rubber-stamp permission to pollute that was essentially guaranteed from the beginning – but what’s certain is that the presence of dozens of young people added a layer to the discussion that would not have existed otherwise.
Six colleges, universities, and high schools in Oregon have now passed student government resolutions calling on state decision-makers to transition us away from Boardman Coal by 2014 or sooner - and as state agencies continue the process of deciding Boardman’s fate this spring, you can bet the youth of this region will stay engaged. Our message is clear: for too long, Oregon’s big polluters have been allowed to sacrifice our future for short-term profit. With the welcome help of our intergenerational allies, we’ll continue pushing for a speedy retirement date for Boardman – and we won’t rest until we succeed.
Unfortunately, none of these folks understand the economic implications of shutting this plant down. I believe the threat of pollution in the Gorge is pure B.S. 90% of the wind in this region is from the west, up the Gorge…blowing toward the Blue Mountains. If you want to help, put your collective brain power into something that will provide jobs for those that are going to be lost when the plant is clossd.
Keep it up!! Do the research and show the powers that be the numbers and the likely predictions. Link the health issues and the degradation of the environment to their economic-only framed debate. Show alternatives!!! Keep the pressure on!!!
Hi Gerald,
Thanks for writing in about the economic impacts transitioning from Boardman to cleaner fuels would have. I notice though that you don’t provide any facts to back up your claim about job loss – you just echo the tired (and outdated) old assumption that anything good for the planet will automatically be bad for jobs. I believe that by shifting to cleaner energy generation, Oregon will gain many more jobs than it loses. As just one example the Shepherd’s Flat Wind Farm, part of which will be in Morrow County (where Boardman is located), will create over 700 jobs for construction of that one project alone. This is in comparison to slightly over 100 jobs at Boardman. Many or most of the workers now at the Boardman Plant will probably be employed elsewhere by PGE when the plant closes, and that’s a transition scheduled to happen eventually in any event. So those jobs that will replace the ones at Boardman once the plant closes – yeah, they’re already in the works!
As far as your comment about haze in the Gorge is concerned, I advise you to check out this report: http://legacy.lclark.edu/org/nedc/objects/GorgeFactSheet.pdf The fact that Boardman is a major contributor to Gorge haze and smog is a reality I’ve never heard disputed in numerous meetings and public hearings about the future of the Boardman Coal Plant – not even by PGE officials. So you’re in pretty slim company on that one.
Boardman is alway labled as “The single largest contributor”. But do any of you know what percent of the total it is?? Truth is that even though it may be the “largest contributor” its total percentage of the overall problem is so low that when it shuts down you probably wont know the difference. Marbett and the Sierra Club would like you to believe with their carefull wording, that once Boardman is off the skys will be clear again. BS. We all love a nice drive in the gorge. THATS the problem. A major percentage of the polution is from cars. So quit driving your car out there and being a contributor. You can do that now without putting anyone out of work, (Im sure PGE will find something for these people to do) or causing rate payers to have to pay for the demolition and removal of Boardman and then the construction of 600 mw to replace it (about 600million)
Hi Mark,
As a person who doesn’t have a driver’s license and does almost all my getting around by public transit, I wholeheartedly support your call for less driving. But can you name a single (realistic) action the state of Oregon or any other decision-maker could take that would eliminate car exhaust pollution in the region? The proposition is impossible – meanwhile pollution from the Boardman Coal Plant could be eliminated through the simple mechanism of phasing out reliance on the plant during the shortest time frame recommended by the DEQ. Let’s not forget about cars, but let’s also take this historic opportunity to clean up Oregon’s biggest polluter.
I think you also overlook the fact that the Boardman Coal Plant is scheduled to be taken off-line within a decade, probably no matter what happens. That means the plant will need to be replaced, and the people now working there put back to work. The only question is whether PGE will drag out the process for ten more years, investing hundreds of millions of dollars of ratepayer money into a soon-to-be-defunct coal plant. To me, it makes far more sense just to close the plant down as soon as possible.