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Potemkin
Proponents Gary Marcus has proposed to build a huge gas-burning power plant near Coburg. This plant would generate nearly as much power as the now-defunct Trojan Nuclear Plant. The proposed Coburg plant would emit 50 to 100 million tons of carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas), along with lesser amounts of other pollutants such as nitrogen oxide, mercury and arsenic. As far as I can tell, the vast majority of north Lane residents oppose the Coburg power plant. On April 1, Eugene Weekly ran a cover story that included the following quote by Gary Marcus, "This plant is backed by the public utilities commission, it's backed by the governor's energy office, it's backed by BPA." That's a pretty impressive list. What can opponents do when such credible agencies have lent their support to the Coburg power plant? Then again, I should have looked closely at the date: April Fool's Day. It turns out that none of the agencies cited by Marcus has actually endorsed the Coburg plant. Kera Abraham, the author of the EW story on April 1, contacted the Oregon Public Utilities commission to verify the PUC's endorsement. "I talked to a number of staffers and nobody seems to be able to confirm that," said Bob Valdez, spokesman for the PUC. "It seems unlikely." I myself contacted the governor's staff. I spoke with the governor's communications director, Mary-Ellen Glynn, and also with the governor's deputy chief of staff, Stephen Schneider, who serves as the governor's energy advisor. Both of these officials made clear that neither the governor's staff nor the Oregon Energy Office has endorsed the Coburg power plant. I then contacted Paul O'Neal, who is a power account executive with the Bonneville Power Administration. He said he was not aware BPA had endorsed the Coburg power plant. According to O'Neal, the people in his office were surprised to read the EW article in which Marcus claimed that BPA endorsed his proposal. On April 22, EW published a letter from Gary Marcus indicating that the Sierra Club favors the sort of plant he is building. While the Sierra Club has sometimes supported the replacement of coal plants with natural gas plants, Marcus is not proposing to do that. Nowhere in his proposal has he identified a coal plant that he would take out of commission. The goal of the Sierra Club is to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, and the Coburg power plant would significantly increase our reliance on fossil fuels. The Sierra Club routinely opposes gas-fired plants that unjustifiably harm the environment. Recent examples include plants in California, Vermont and British Columbia. I've got a suggestion: If Gary Marcus has so much faith in the judgment of the Sierra Club, let's submit his proposal for binding arbitration by the local chapter of the Sierra Club. If the local chapter approves the proposal, then I'll grab my shovel and join Marcus at the groundbreaking.
While the supposed endorsements of the plant don't withstand close scrutiny, the plant has drawn some strong objections from local experts. The Oregon Toxics Alliance, a non-profit group based in Eugene, has raised concerns about health risks posed by the plant. Former Congressman Jim Weaver and physics Ph.D. Frank Vignola have both criticized the plant for relying on volatile supplies of natural gas. According to EWEB Commissioner Sandra Bishop, "It's not appropriate to build this kind of plant in this location." Why do so many people oppose the plant? It's far bigger than necessary to serve local power needs. It would pollute our airshed in order to sell its output to other power-hungry communities that aren't willing to build gas plants in their back yards. They'd get the solution, and we'd get the pollution. Lane County doesn't deserve to have the largest gas-fired plant in any of Oregon's 12 most populous counties. Don't let the illusionary endorsements fool you. Tom Lininger is a law professor and former county commissioner who represented north Lane County.
Rockers What do you do when half of America doesn't vote —
and too many of those folks are young voters? Now I am not here to tell you that a cherubic, young generation of idealistic activists are rising up to lead America to the promised land. Not quite. But there are some folks who have had it and aim to turn things around. They are not waiting for permission or for a rule book. They are building their own structure as they go, rather than waiting for directions from above. Informed by the barnstorming style of Habitat for Humanity rather the fund-raising style of Ron Wyden and the DNC, breaking ground requires no mission statement or long-term commitment — people just work together on one project and see how they like it. If it works, they rinse and repeat. If it doesn't, they move on down the road. Fuzzy projects are frowned upon, practical efforts honored. Does this register a voter? Does it build my skills? Does it build real community? Otherwise, forget about it. In a nutshell, call this approach "pick up a hammer" politics. So where's the inspiration for this? It comes mainly from the perspiration and the shoulders you rub up against in the work. It comes from honoring the foot soldiers, not the general. It's rooted in the Public Enemy/Chuck D classic: "Don't Believe The Hype." Hip-hop writer Jeff Chang wisely points out how today's generation needs to first be convinced that political action of any kind, especially voting, is even remotely important. Can you prove that anything can change according to the rules that exist? Can you get young people excited in a world where 4,000 advertising images are pushed in their faces everyday? Selling easy answers, which is what most politicians do, is a tough sell in this environment. Why should this generation give a hoot? Born in the Reagan era, bred under Bush and then undercoated on the final assembly line with a Clinton presidency stained by blue dresses and school uniforms — no risk of hero worship in the average 18- to 25-year-old, that's for sure. So, don't believe the hype. Believe what you can see. Believe what you can do, with your friends.
The Oregon Bus Project is a homegrown example of what this new sensibility, and a little door-knocking, can do. Happily, the Bus Project is not the only bright spot — a new book called How To Get Stupid White Men Out of Office documents great stories of young people in action all over the country. And groups like IndyVoter.org are training youth organizers to cook up more recipes for success. There's a lot for us all to learn here. This crew isn't spending any energy moaning about Kerry's shortfalls — because they don't look to him for most of the answers. Hell, he's just step No. 1 in building a new political architecture — tearing down the House of Bush. (Note to disappointed Clinton fans from 1992 now expecting big things from Kerry: Try humming the Who's "We Won't Get Fooled Again" for emotional protection.) Young activists aren't the only ones taking matters into their own hands. The artists and bands have had it too — they are organizing themselves in ways never seen before. An exciting new collaborative, called Air Traffic Control, is spearheading new efforts to connect progressive grassroots organizing and music fans more effectively.
So are you ready to rock? Or you could make the scene at www.hiphopconvention.org where some serious organizing is going down in June. To be a delegate, you need to have registered 50 voters before the event. So absolutely no posers are allowed at the convention — ya gotta be real. That certainly applies to me, even though I've been greeting folks for years with "Yo" because I spent some formative years in Philly. So from this post-punk poser to Billy, Adrienne, Baye and crew, all I can say is rock on. Dan Carol is a Democratic political strategist and a founding partner of CTSG (www.ctsg.com),a progressive consulting firm based in Eugene and Washington, D.C.
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