Page 4
August 1, 2018
A Business Tax for Climate Justice
C ontinueD from f ront
set the “green injustice and cli-
mate injustice” that is happening
locally and all over the world.
“Big corporations are adding
to climate injustice by not having
to pay the kind of taxes that are
necessary for reparations for what
they’ve taken out of the commu-
nity, especially communities of
color,” he said.
Mondainé pointed to the late
civil rights leader Martin Luther
King Jr. as an example for some-
one who paved the way for identi-
fying all kinds of injustice, includ-
ing environmental injustice, and
he pointed to his own childhood in
public housing as an example of
living under poor environmental
conditions.
“My lived experience as a child
in south St. Louis was to wake up
to the smokestacks of Peabody
Coal, Monsanto, Ralston Purina
and Anheuser Busch,” he said.
“And, of course, the incinerator
systems that ran 24/7 in the proj-
ects left us with all kinds of health
disparities.”
Mondainé said he has suffered
from chronic asthma and had to
have tubes in his ears until he was
40, but many of his friends suf-
fered harsher fates because of pol-
lution in economically deprived
neighborhoods.
“Many of my childhood friends
have died before the age of 50 be-
cause of pulmonary disease and
cardiac discrepancies,” he said.
The idea for the initiative began
with former NAACP director Jo
Ann Hardesty, who is running for
Portland City Council, and a few
others, Mondainé said. To get on
the November ballot, it required
backers to gather 34,000 signa-
tures, but the measure had more
than 60,000 signatures when it
was turned in to the Secretary of
State on July 6. The initiative’s el-
igibility will be determined by the
state office by Aug. 6.
Local organizations supporting
the initiative include the Oregon
chapter of the Sierra Club, the Co-
alition of Communities of Color,
Columbia Riverkeeper, the Native
American Youth and Family Cen-
ter, OPAL Environmental Justice
Oregon, Oregon Physicians for
Social Responsibility, the envi-
ronmental group Verde, and the
NAACP.
Community support from in-
dividuals has been widespread,
Mondainé said.
“It’s been an extraordinary
undertaking and it’s been an ex-
tremely enlightening undertaking.
This is why it’s so important to the
NAACP,” he said.
Over 1,700 small businesses
are on board to support the initia-
tive, he said, but he expects oppo-
sition from big corporations.
“Big business doesn’t see this
as a benefit to them because it’s
going to cost them,” he said. “But
it’s already costing us and I don’t
think that’s right and I don’t think
that’s fair.”
Mondainé said when he signed
on as the ballot measure’s first pe-
titioner he became “electrified by
the idea” that environmental in-
justice was finally something that
was getting some attention in the
African American community.
But not only has industrial pol-
lution occurred more often in poor
communities and communities of
color, those communities often are
the last to learn about it and aware-
ness needs to be raised, he said.
If the initiative passes, and
Mondainé believes it will, it will
require needed public outreach
and information sharing.
“Many Portlanders, especial-
ly people of color in Multnomah
County, suffer from not being able
to get the right information or get
the services that are extended by
initiatives like this,” he said.
Mondainé said he expects a lot
of pushback to the initiative from
big business between now and
Nov. 6, but he’s ready for a fight.
“There’s plenty of opposition,”
he said. “They’re going to fight
us with everything they can find
plausible from ‘It’s going to cost
too much’ to this or that or the oth-
er, but it’s a bunch of noise.
“It’s an excuse not to partici-
pate in what is the good solid and
most precious investment that any
corporation or agency can add to
any community — the ability to
strengthen their community and
give back.”
Mondainé called the initiative
a potential turning point for big
corporations, a chance for them to
regain their civic souls.
“When we have CEOs making
upwards of a million dollars in
salary, I mean, come on,” he said.
“Surely there is something that
could be done to spread a little bit
of that love back into the waters
and environment that you’re con-
taminating off of making money.
And I do mean contaminated.”
One group that opposes PDX04
photo by D anny p eterson /t he p ortlanD o bserver
Rev. E.D. Mondainé, spokesman for a ballot measure this
November to apply a 1 percent surcharge on sales in the city on
business with at least $1 billion in annual revenue and at least
$500,000 of that revenue from within the city limits. Most gro-
ceries and medicine would be exempt. The money would support
a Clean Energy Fund to encourage and promote eco-friendly
measures such as weatherproofing and solar installations, and to
train low-income people to do the work and eventually open their
own businesses and create even more green jobs.
is a new business-oriented group,
Keep
Portland
Affordable.
Spokesman Rick Thomas has
stated that the measure will raise
prices, according to the Orego-
nian, and he called on city leaders
to instead focus on homelessness.
But corporate pollution is a
much greater societal problem
than homelessness, Mondainé
said.
“Big corporations that don’t do
their due diligence in the commu-
nity are worse than any homeless
population anywhere because they
do a lot more damage, but you
can’t see it like you can see home-
lessness,” he said.
Other initiatives that appear
likely to qualify for the ballot in
November:
Grocery Tax Exemption. A
proposed constitutional amend-
ment that would prohibit new tax-
es on grocery sales, an attempt to
wall the supermarket industry off
from the threat of gross receipts
taxes. Approved for the ballot.
Housing Bonds. This measure
was referred by the Oregon Leg-
islature to allow more flexibility
in using proceeds from govern-
ment bonds to build and purchase
affordable housing. Approved for
the ballot.
Supermajority Tax Require-
ment. The Oregon Constitution
currently requires a three-fifths
vote of each house of the Legisla-
ture to raise taxes. Financed by the
Oregon Association of Realtors,
this initiative would require a sim-
ilar supermajority for any legisla-
tion that increases the amount of
revenue the state raises. Approved
for the ballot.
Sanctuary State Repeal.
Backed by Oregonians for Immi-
gration Reform. According to the
Oregonian, if the ballot measure
passes, it would undo a 1987 law
that prohibits the use of state and
local law enforcement resources
to enforce federal immigration
standards. Approved for the ballot.
Ban on Abortion Funding.
Prohibits the state from using pub-
lic funds for abortion and reduces
abortion access. Not yet approved
for the ballot.
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