10-16, 2017
News
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CARBON, fro m page 4
supermarket because of the effects of drought
on agriculture, for example. We’re paying with
reduced property values, and to clean up from
flooding and super storms as a result of climate
change, and so it’s really time to reverse that
trend.- So in California, and in other parts of the
country, states are looking at how to put a price
on carbon that holds polluters accountable and
captures some of that value, and reinvest it back
into the communities that need it most Oregon
has a really great opportunity to do that now.
E.G.: You’re in Oregon today to testify before
our Legislature. What’s the most important thing
you plan to tell our lawmakers, aside from urging
them to pass carbon capping legislation?
M.R.: Carbon pollution isn’t free, and it’s
really time we stop giving away free welfare to
polluters. It’s time to prioritize families and
workers living on the frontlines and invest in
growing and green economies for all.
E.G.: What can Oregon learn from California’s
cap and trade program? Were there any missteps
we should avoid or models we should replicate?
M.R.: Absolutely. California decided to put a
strong cap on greenhouse gas emissions first
and essentially decided to go with the cap and
trade system. This path didn’t really look at the
investments side of distributive justice. So, how
will revenues be spent? How will we ensure
that we’re reducing pollution in hotspot
communities or in communities that are really
plagued by the most pollution? And how will we
reinvest in repairing the damage that’s been
done by the fossil fuel industry?
What I would encourage is that Oregon take
a really serious look at not just putting a strong
cap on carbon pollution, but in tackling the .
investment question of distributive justice at
the same time;
Some of the pushback to California’s carbon
cap, AB 32, came from that it didn’t address
how we were going to ensure local emission
reductions and how we were going to invest in
frontline communities. It took a lot of
organizing work by equity groups,
environmental justice groups to fight the
Legislature to get that billion dollars I
mentioned, whereas here in Oregon, we could
get it right the first time.
E.G.: You’re promoting carbon pricing and
investing across the country. What other states are
considering these types of bills right now?
M.R.: New York has a really great bill. The
NY Renews coalition is pursuing at least 40
percent of investment of their polluter pay
funds into disadvantaged communities, and
Washington state has another really strong bill,
an opportunity there in HB 1646, where the
Alliance for Jobs and Clean Energy are
advancing a strong price and invest bill.
E.G.: How do you see Oregon, specifically,
elevating marginalized communities with the
implementation of a carbonpricing bill?
M.R.: I’ve talked a lot about California, but
what’s great is that what worked in California
may or may not work here, and this is an
opportunity for Oregon communities to engage
in the process of how to say how they want to
grow the green economy, how they want to
tackle the pollution in their neighborhoods to
really empower them and resource them to
advance solutions to their own problems.
There’s a lot of genius in communities to figure
out what that is for themselves.
E.G.: Did you have any personal experiences
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Michelle Romero, deputy director of Green For All, speaks to Street Roots before testifying to the Oregon Legislature in
support of a measure that would invest carbon market revenue in economically depressed communities.
that shifted your focus toward environmental
justice?
M.R.: Several years ago, I was sitting at
home, watching on the local news, the city of
Richmond (Calif.) experience an oil and gas
explosion from the Chevron oil refinery. I had a
friend who lived and grew up there. Her name
is Blanca, and I remember calling her and
saying, “Blanca, have you seen the news? Are
you OK?”
The news was telling people to “shelter in
place.” What that meant was they were asking
residents to run inside of their homes or to
find a building where they can close the doors
and windows. They were literally telling people
to find towels or whatever you could to plug the
cracks in the doors because the air right
outside their wall wasn’t safe to breath. While
that experience sticks in my mind, her
response is really what drives me:
She said, “Michelle, that happens all the
time. Don’t worry; I’m inside. The city has an
alarm system that lets us know when things
like that happen.” ~
It had become normal for her, and
unfortunately, those experiences have become
all too normal for low-income people and
people of color who have been deprioritized.
Their lives have been devalued, and that’s not
OK. That’s what drives me, to figure out
solutions so that there are no more Richmonds,
no more Flints, no more Standing Rocks, no
more Jade Districts - the Jade District (in
Southeast Portland near 82nd Avenue and
Division Street) would look a whole lot different
in my vision for the future.
E.G.: Tell me about the electric vehicle strategy
at Green For All. Is this something Oregon could
take advantage of?
M.R.: Yeah, we’re just now beginning to
explore a national strategy for electric vehicles.
Volkswagen recently settled a lawsuit where
they admitted to installing secret software on
many of their vehicles that would help them
pass emissions tests while still polluting above
the law, and this settlement represents $20
billion that’s going to be allocated to states and
cities across the country to decide what to do
with i t So there’s this distributive justice
question about how will that money be spent?
And how will we use those funds to tackle the
traffic-related pollution and congestion in
disadvantaged communities?
The settlement was just issued recently, and
it is going to be a quick timeline; states have
until September to announce how they are
going to spend that money, and so communities
should definitely be calling their legislators and
starting to ask those questions.
E.G.: Green For All has a program called
Green the Church, where pastors of African-
American congregations can sign up to transform
their church properties to be more energy efficient.
First, why focus on churches, and second, what
kind of an impact has this program had oh the
communities where those churches are located?
M.R.: Green the Church was birthed out of
the black church experience by Rev. Dr.
Ambrose Carroll, who was a Green For All
fellow several years ago, and Rev. Carroll really
had this idea for a Green the Church initiative
that would harness the power and purpose of
the black church to really advance sustainability
in church practices and church culture, and
bolster the ability of black faith leaders to
advocate on environmental issues. And so
when he asked Green For All to help incubate
his vision and cultivate a plan that would help
grow it, and provide a temporary home for the
initiative, we gladly agreed, and now Green the
Church has grown to have over 400 members
across the country participating and is now
permanently based out of Carroll Ministries
International, Rev. Carroll’s organization,
where it’s being fully led and managed by
leaders in the black community.
If there were any Oregon churches that were
interested in getting involved in that initiative,
check out greenthechurch.org.
E.G.: Is there anything you’d like to add that
might be important to Oregon as it considers a
carbon-capping bill?
M.R.: The last thing I’ll add is at a time
when we’re seeing the Trump administration
gut clean air and water protections for
communities and really threaten our progress
on climate, it’s up to state leaders to step in
and do the right thing to fight for families. So
we look forward to seeing what Oregon does
with this opportunity.
emily@stfeeiroots. org