NEWS
PLANNING FOR
CLIMATE CHANGE
“We know beyond a shadow of a doubt humans have
affected the composition of the atmosphere and almost be-
yond a shadow of a doubt that global warming is related
to that,” says Philip Mote, director of the Oregon Climate
Change Research Institute (OCCRI). In this election sea-
son, climate change didn’t come up until after the presi-
dential debates, but superstorm Hurricane Sandy and its
aftermath meant the topic hit the headlines before the elec-
tion was over. Whether New York is doomed to become the
next Atlantis or whether Florence, Ore., will sink beneath
the sea is a little more complicated than just one storm.
“The bottom line,” Mote says, is that scientists know
it’s human caused, know the Earth is warming, know that
humans are linked to the warming, “but people lose sight of
the solidity of those conclusions because there are fringes
still hotly debated by scientists.”
Though Hurricane Sandy brought climate change back
into public debate this year, Mote says 2011 actually was
the near-record hurricane season, but that didn’t get at-
tention because the storms churned out in the ocean. “We
only care about the ones that hit the U.S.,” he says, “and
sadly are not bothered by deaths in the Caribbean, Mexico
and South America.” Also he says hurricanes out over the
ocean are very important in global heat transport and carry
a lot of moisture and heat from tropical areas.
Mote, who shared the Nobel Peace Prize with other co-
authors and researchers for their work on the Intergovern-
mental Panel on Climate Change in 2007, points out that
scientists don’t have a laboratory where there is a control
planet Earth and an experimental planet Earth so scientists
use modeling instead. On the West Coast, he says the mod-
els say storm tracks should be shifting northward, related
to accelerated Arctic warming. Arctic sea ice hit a record
low this summer.
The results so far are pretty ambiguous when it comes
to the question of whether climate change means Oregon
is due for bigger storms, Mote says. “Studies indicated that
there’s been some increase in the intensity of storms out
over the Pacifi c Ocean in the last 50 years and hints that
extreme waves have gotten higher,” but he says the results
depend on methods and approach you use.
GRAND JURY RESISTORS
$3 if you wear all black and $6 if you don’t will get you admission to the benefi t show for grand jury resistors at
the Lorax on Alder Street on Nov. 9. Grand juries are used in federal court cases to determine whether there is “prob-
able cause” to believe that an individual has committed a crime and should be put on trial. Grand jury proceedings are
not open to the public, and civil rights proponents such as Lauren Regan of Eugene’s Civil Liberties Defense Center
(CLDC) say grand jury secrecy is what makes them a disturbing and effective tactic against dissidents.
This summer, the FBI raided residences in Seattle, Olympia and Portland. Federal court records have indicated that
the feds were looking for an “organized ‘black block’ of anarchists” linked to May Day protests, but Regan says the
nature of grand juries means that the focus of the investigation could change at any time. She says a warrant served at
a Seattle home listed black clothing, sign-making materials and anarchist literature as among the items to be seized.
Regan points out owning such items is protected by the First Amendment.
After the raids, grand jury subpoenas went out to Portland residents Dennison Williams, Leah-Lynn Plante, Matt
Duran and Katherine Olejnik. More recently Matthew “Maddy” Pfeiffer of Olympia was subpoenaed to appear before a
grand jury in Seattle Nov. 7. Regan says Pfeiffer has indicated a lack of intent to cooperate with the grand jury. Plante has
since been released, but Olejnik and Duran remain in prison for refusing to cooperate with the grand jury.
Regan says the CLDC is part of the legal team involved with the grand jury issue, and the group has worked on
grand jury resistance before and spoken out against grand jury secrecy. “Because of the secrecy and lack of public
disclosure and public judicial process the government traditionally has been able to abuse that secrecy by engaging
in actions intended to harass or hinder political movements,” Regan says. She says because there is no judge, just a
prosecutor, the jurors and a court reporter, the presentation of evidence used to indict is “slanted in favor of the govern-
ment.” Grand juries have been compared to witch hunts, she says.
At this time no one’s been indicted or charged with a crime, Regan says, but she said one of the things that the feds
are investigating is conspiracy to commit interstate riot. She says this means that if someone has crossed the state line to
protest he or she could be charged with a federal crime. In this day of global protest movements, Regan says, this is “a
clear indication that they are intending to chill the right to protest and that is concerning to civil rights groups like ours.”
Benefi t for grand jury resistors 9 pm Friday, Nov. 8, The Lorax, 1648 Alder St., with Low Tide Drifters, Alder St.
All Stars, Dirty Commies, $3 wearing all black clothing, $6 without. — Camilla Mortensen
ALDER ST. ALL STARS
8
November 8, 2012 • eugeneweekly.com
OCCRI was established in 2007 to help Oregon better
respond to climate change. Mote says in basins like the
McKenzie, scientists have noted a decline in spring snow
pack that can be statistically linked to warming. He says
that the snowline has moved upward a little bit and snow is
melting earlier with a higher runoff in early spring and late
spring and summer.
Meanwhile on the Oregon Coast, sea levels are estimat-
ed to rise about 2 feet, and Mote says planning for water-
front developments such as ports should account for risk
tolerance as well as for the capacity to update and change
if the science changes. Some state and municipal manage-
ment plans, he says, often account only for past conditions,
and don’t use the best available science to plan for future
conditions. — Camilla Mortensen
WHO ARE THE
OREGON ELECTORS?
Every four years around presidential election time, the
Electoral College gets attention for a few weeks, then fades
into the fog of obscurity for four more years. But who are
Oregon’s seven electors, how did they become electors and
what do they do?
President Obama’s victory this week does not automati-
cally make him president for four years, but it kicks off a
long and formal process that leads up to his inauguration at
noon Jan. 20, 2013. Seven electors will (ideally) represent us
and cast their votes for Obama and Biden in Salem Dec. 17.
Oregon’s electors are all stalwart and loyal Democratic
leaders in the state: Meredith Wood Smith, chair of the
Democratic Party of Oregon; Frank Dixon, fi rst vice-chair
of the DPO; Mike Bohan, chair of the 1st Congressional
District Committee; Michael Miles, chair of the 2nd Dis-
trict; Joe Smith, chair of the 3rd District; Shirley Cairns,
chair of the 4th District; and Sam Sappington, chair of the
5th District.
These electors have pledged to follow the party line, but
are legally free to vote for anyone they want. Their long-
time loyalty to the Democratic Party makes “going rogue”
unlikely, says Scott Bartlett of Eugene, who was on the
slate of electors in 1988 and 1992 representing the 4th Dis-
trict.
“It was fascinating to participate in this formal ritual of
our nation’s self-government from the ground level,” says
Bartlett. “As a perk of this, I was invited to the inaugura-
tion and had a pair of fantastic front section seats, right
below the inauguration stand, enabling me to watch Bill
Clinton take the swearing-in oath.”
How did Bartlett earn his status as an elector? Bartlett
says he got involved in political campaigns as a student
back in 1966 for Charlie Porter’s congressional race,
worked on Wayne Morse’s Senate campaign full-time for
13 months in the 1970s and has been involved in dozens of
national, state and local campaigns since, including City
Councilor Betty Taylor’s re-election campaign.
“You have to pay your dues,” he says, and becoming an
elector is an honor for years of service.
So what’s next? Once election results are certifi ed, Gov.
Kitzhaber has until Dec. 17 to prepare and submit seven
Certifi cates of Ascertainment confi rming the electors. The
electors meet in Salem Dec. 17 to sign, seal and record
their votes for both president and vice-president, which are
then paired with the certifi cates and sent to the president of
the Senate (Joe Biden) by Dec. 26. Congress meets Jan. 6
to count the votes, and barring complications, inauguration
day is Jan. 20. No problem this time, but one complication
would be no candidate getting 270 votes, in which case the
House of Representatives would decide the election, pick-
ing from the top three electoral vote-getters.
The Electoral College dates to our nation’s founding
and attempts have been made to update it, fi x the quirks or
even abolish it, and complicating the process are the differ-
ent rules states have for selecting and dealing with electors.
In Oregon, for example, all seven electoral votes go to the
winning candidate. — Ted Taylor