A6
NATION
East Oregonian
Friday, September 20, 2019
‘Middle of the herd’ no more: Amazon tackles climate change
By JOSEPH PISANI AND
BANI SAPRA
Associated Press
NEW YORK — Online
shopping giant Amazon
revealed a carbon footprint
Thursday that rivals that of
a small country and vowed
to reduce the damage to the
planet by cutting its use of fos-
sil fuels.
The company, which ships
more than a 10 billion items a
year on fuel-guzzling planes
and trucks, said it has ordered
100,000 electric vans that will
start delivering packages to
shoppers’ doorsteps in 2021.
It also plans to have 100%
of its energy use come from
solar panels and other renew-
able energy by 2030. That’s up
from 40% today.
“We’ve been in the mid-
dle of the herd on this issue
and we want to move to the
forefront,” said Amazon CEO
and founder Jeff Bezos, who
announced the initiative at an
event in Washington.
Amazon said it emitted
44.4 million metric tons of
carbon dioxide last year, a
number that comes close to
pollution rates of some small
nations.
“Its greenhouse gas emis-
sions are about 85% of the
emissions of Switzerland
or Denmark,” said Gregg
Marland, a professor at the
Research Institute for Envi-
ronment, Energy and Eco-
nomics at Appalachian State
University.
Amazon has faced pres-
sure from its own employees
who say the company should
do more to combat climate
change. Earlier this year, more
than 8,000 Amazon staffers
signed an open letter to Bezos,
demanding that Amazon cut
AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos speaks during his news conference
at the National Press Club in Washington on Thursday. Bezos
announced the Climate Pledge, setting a goal to meet the
Paris Agreement 10 years early.
its carbon emissions, end its
use of fossil fuels and stop
working with oil companies
who use Amazon’s technol-
ogy to find drillable oil faster.
More than 1,500 employees
are planning a walkout Friday
to support the Global Climate
Strike, a worldwide climate
change protest.
Amazon Employees For
Climate Justice, a group
founded by Amazon work-
ers, said the company’s
announcement amounted to
a “huge win” and proved that
employee pressure works.
It said in a statement that it
would keep pushing the issue
as long as Amazon contin-
ues working with oil and gas
companies and donating to
politicians who deny climate
change.
Bezos defended Ama-
zon’s work with oil and gas
companies, arguing that “we
need to help them instead of
vilify them,” and said Ama-
zon would take a “hard look”
at campaign contributions to
climate deniers. However, he
stopped short of saying such
donations would stop.
To measure its carbon
footprint, Amazon looked at
emissions from all of its busi-
nesses, including the planes it
operates and the energy it uses
to make Echos, Kindles and
its other tech devices. Ama-
zon even included customers’
trips to Whole Foods, the gro-
cery chain it owns.
“It’s very comprehensive,”
said Beril Toktay, profes-
sor of operations and supply
chain management at Geor-
gia Tech’s Scheller College of
Business. She said she would
like to see Amazon include
the carbon footprint of the
products it sells on its website,
which could help drive people
to shop for items that are less
damaging to the environment.
Amazon said it will work
with suppliers and delivery
partners to reduce their car-
bon footprint, too.
Robin Bell, a research pro-
fessor at Columbia Universi-
ty’s Lamont-Doherty Earth
Observatory, said it was excit-
ing to see Amazon taking
meaningful steps to reduce its
carbon footprint.
“They’re blazing a trail
for other companies to follow
suit,” Bell said.
House chairman: Whistleblower complaint may involve Trump
By MARY CLARE
JALONICK AND LISA
MASCARO
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Pres-
ident Donald Trump’s direc-
tor of national intelligence is
refusing to turn over to Con-
gress a whistleblower com-
plaint that reportedly concerns
Trump making an unspecified
promise to a foreign leader.
It’s a matter of urgent concern,
the intelligence community’s
inspector general said.
Trump, though giving no
details about any incident,
denied on Thursday that he
would ever “say something
inappropriate” on such a call.
The committee chairman,
California Democrat Adam
Schiff, said he could not con-
firm whether the report from
The Washington Post was
accurate because the adminis-
tration was claiming privilege
in withholding the complaint.
But letters from the intelli-
gence community’s inspec-
tor general to the committee
released Thursday said it was
an “urgent” matter of “serious
or flagrant abuse” that must be
shared with lawmakers.
“There is an effort to pre-
vent this information from get-
ting to Congress,” Schiff said,
describing it as an unprece-
dented departure from law.
Schiff said the acting direc-
tor of national intelligence,
Joseph Maguire, in a further
departure from standard pro-
cedure, consulted with the
Justice Department, in decid-
ing not to transmit the com-
plaint to Congress. It’s unclear
if the White House was also
involved, he said.
Because the director is
claiming privileged informa-
tion, Schiff said he believes
the whistleblower’s complaint
“likely involves the president
or people around him.”
Schiff spoke to reporters
after the intelligence com-
munity’s inspector general,
Michael Atkinson, appeared
behind closed doors Thursday
but declined to tell the panel
the substance of the complaint.
The chairman said he
would go to court, if neces-
sary, to try to force the admin-
istration to turn over the infor-
mation in the complaint.
The Washington Post
reported
the
complaint
involves an intelligence offi-
cial’s allegation that Trump
made the promise to an
unidentified foreign leader
in a telephone call. The Post
cited two anonymous former
U.S. officials.
The Associated Press has
not confirmed the report.
Trump dismissed it all.
“Another Fake News story
out there — It never ends!”
Trump tweeted. “Virtually
anytime I speak on the phone
to a foreign leader, I under-
stand that there may be many
people listening from various
U.S. agencies, not to mention
those from the other country
itself. No problem!”
He asked: “Is anybody
dumb enough to believe that
I would say something inap-
propriate with a foreign leader
while on such a potentially
‘heavily populated’ call.”
But the situation raised
Democrats’ concerns that the
intelligence community might
be under pressure from the
administration to withhold
information from Congress.
Trump named Maguire, a
former Navy official, as act-
ing intelligence director in
August, after the departure of
Director Dan Coats who often
clashed with the president, and
the retirement of Sue Gordon,
a career professional in the
No. 2 position.
Maguire has refused to
discuss details but he has been
subpoenaed by the panel and
is expected to testify pub-
licly about the whistleblower
complaint next Thursday.
Both Maguire and Atkinson
are also expected next week
at the Senate Intelligence
Committee.
House lawmakers on the
intelligence panel appeared
frustrated as they left the
closed session.
“There’s a lot more we
have to learn,” said Rep. Mike
Quigley, D-Ill.
In calling the inspec-
tor general to testify, Schiff
said Atkinson determined
the whistleblower complaint
was “credible and urgent”
and should be “transmitted to
Congress.”
Atkinson wrote in let-
ters the committee chairman
released Thursday that he and
Maguire had hit an “impasse”
over the acting director’s deci-
sion not to share the complaint
with Congress.
While Atkinson wrote
that he believed Maguire’s
position was in “good faith”
it did not appear to be consis-
tent with past practice. Atkin-
son said he was told by the
legal counsel for the director
of national intelligence that
the complaint did not meet
the definition of an “urgent
concern.” He said the Justice
Department said it did not fall
under the intelligence direc-
tor’s jurisdiction because it
did not involve an intelli-
gence professional.
Atkinson said he disagreed
with the Justice Department’s
view. The complaint “not only
falls under DNI’s jurisdic-
tion,” Atkinson wrote, “but
relates to one of the most sig-
nificant and important of
DNI’s responsibilities to the
American people.”
House OKs measure to prevent possible end-of-month shutdown
By ANDREW TAYLOR
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The
House passed a short-term
bill Thursday to prevent a
federal shutdown when the
budget year ends Sept. 30,
and give lawmakers until the
Thanksgiving break to nego-
tiate and approve $1.4 trillion
for federal agencies.
The Senate is expected to
approve the stopgap bill next
week. The vote in the Dem-
ocratic-run House on the
bipartisan plan was 301-123.
The agency spending bills
would fill in the details of this
summer’s budget and debt
agreement between Pres-
ident Donald Trump and
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,
D-Calif.
The Republican-controlled
Senate is struggling over how
to move ahead with its ver-
sions of the follow-up spend-
ing bills. There is partisan
skirmishing over the bound-
aries of the budget agree-
ment and Trump’s moves
to pay for the U.S.-Mex-
ico border fence without
congressional approval.
The Senate Appropria-
tions Committee on Thurs-
day approved three non-
controversial measures on
unanimous votes as the
sniping continued in the
wake of Wednesday’s Dem-
ocratic filibuster of the
almost $700 billion defense
bill and other legislation.
Senate Democrats accused
Republicans of shortchang-
ing health and education pro-
grams to finance the border
project and would permit the
president to transfer military
dollars for the wall again.
But Democrats also want
to maintain some leverage
over Trump by holding back
the Pentagon measure he
cares most in order to help
force compromises on the
domestic bills important to
their party.
Worship Community
Redeemer
Episcopal
Church
241 SE Second St. Pendleton
(541)276-3809
www.pendletonepiscopal.org
Sunday Holy Communion 9:00 a.m.
Wednesday Holy Communion Noon
Weekly Adults Spiritual Life Group
All Are Welcome
Good Shepherd
Lutheran Church
108 S. Main St.
Pendleton
Sunday at 10:30am
LCMC
PendletonFaithCenter.com
Sunday worship at
11:00 AM
Pastor Michael Smith
“A come as
You are Church”
FAITH LUTHERAN
CHURCH
in Mission for Christ LCMC
Sunday Worship.........9:00 AM
Bible Study......10:00 AM
Red Lion Hotel
( Oregon Trail Room )
www.faithpendleton.org
420 Locust St. • Boardman, OR
541-481-6132
541-289-4535
Pastor Weston Walker
Grace and Mercy Lutheran Church, ELCA
(First United Methodist Church)
191 E. Gladys Ave. / P.O. Box 1108
Hermiston, Oregon 97838
Seventh-Day
Adventist
Church
Saturday Services
Pendleton
1401 SW Goodwin Place
276-0882
Sabbath School 9:20 am
Worship Service 10:45 am
Morning Celebration - 10am
Morning Kids Place - 10am
Evening - 6pm
Adult - Study
Youth - Small Group
Kids - Rangers & Girl’s Ministries
THURSDAYS
Celebrate Recovery - 6pm
Celebration Place - Kids - 6pm
The Landing - Teens - 6pm
WEEKLY
Groups For All Ages
AN ASSEMBLY OF GOD CHURCH
1911 SE Court Ave.
541.276.6417 • pendletonfi rst.com
401 Northgate, Pendleton
Celebration of
of Worship
Celebration
Worship
Sundays 10:00 am
Youth: 0-6th grade
Midweek Service
Midweek Service
Wednesdays 6:00 pm
Youth: 0-6th grade
Overcomer’s
Outreach
Jr./Sr. High
’
Pastor Sharon Miller
541-278-8082
www.livingwordcc.com
Pastor Sharon Miller
-Presbyterian Church (USA)-
201 SW Dorion Ave.
Pendleton
Service of Worship - 10:00 am
Children’s Sunday School -
10:20 am
Fellowship - 11:00 am
www.pendletonpresbyterian.com
Open Hearted...
Open Minded
P eace L utheran C hurch
210 NW 9th, Pendleton
ELCA
Join us Sundays
9:30 am Sunday Worship
10:00 am Sunday Worship
11am Fellowship & Adult Class
9am Sunday School
~Come and be at Peace ~
on 1290 KUMA noon each Sunday
Sunday Worship
at 9:40am
June - September
Offi ce 541-276-5358 M-F, 8:30-12:30
www.fccpendleton.org
To share your worship times
call 541-278-2678
The Salvation Army
Center for Worship & Service
Sunday Worship Service
9:30 - Sunday School
10:30 - Worship Service
Wednesday Bible Study
5:30 Family Fellowship Meal • 6:00 Bible Study
COME AS YOU ARE
150 SE Emigrant
(541) 276-3369
St. Johns
Episcopal Church
1909 SW Athens Ave.,
Pendleton
Come join us for Worship
at 10:45am on Sunday
541-966-8912
Community
Presbyterian Church
Democrat, Rep. Steny Hoyer
of Maryland, was one of
several lawmakers who
said there’s no reason that
Congress cannot complete
the spending bills before
Thanksgiving.
“I had discussions yester-
day with Schumer. I think we
can get this done,” said House
Minority Leader Kevin
McCarthy, R-Calif., who
called the Senate’s battles
“more theatre than anything
— I think we’ll get it done.”
Behind These Stone Walls Beat the Hearts
of Some of the Warmest Most Sincere,
Most Caring People in Pendleton.
We Invite You to Come Get Acquainted!
OPEN HEARTS – OPEN DOOR
www.graceandmercylutheran.org
Sunday Worship 8:45 a.m.
Sunday School 10:00 a.m. (Nursery Provided)
Fellowship, Refreshments & Sunday School
Check Out our Facebook Page or
Website for More Information
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN
CHURCH
SUNDAYS
“We’re at a crossroads
right now,” said the com-
mittee chairman, Sen. Rich-
ard Shelby, R-Ala., who
is caught in the middle of
a battle between Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell,
R-Ky., and top Senate Demo-
crat Chuck Schumer of New
York. “I don’t know what will
happen.”
In the House, Pelosi and
the top Republican sim-
ply want the Senate to act.
The second-ranking House
Join Us
Join
On Our Journey
With Jesus.
Scripture, Tradition and Reason
Family service 9am Sunday
N.E. Gladys Ave & 7th, Hermiston
PH: 567-6672
We are an all inclusive Church
who welcomes all.
PENDLETON
LIGHTHOUSE CHURCH
Sunday Service: 10am & 6pm
Tuesday Kingdom Seekers: 7pm
Wednesday Bible Study: 7pm
14 Martin Drive,
Umatilla, OR
922-3250
We off er: Sunday School • Sign Language
Interpreters • Nursery • Transportation • & more!
Worship: 10 AM
Sunday School at 11:30
417 NW 21st St. • Pendleton, OR 97801
www.facebook.com/
PendletonLighthouseChurch
Pastor Dan Satterwhite
541.377.4252
First United
Methodist
Church
Pendleton
501 SW Emigrant Ave. Pendleton OR
Sunday Worship 9am
in the Community Room
541-276-2616
Open Hearts,
Open Minds, Open Doors
Patty Nance, pastor