IF SHORT ON TIME, SKIP TO BOTTOM AND SIGN YOUR NAME

Petition to the Oregon Public Utilities Commission (PUC) on Portland General Electric (PGE) proposed expansions of gas-fired power plants at Carty Generating Station near Boardman, OR.

PLEASE ATTEND: PUC Public Hearing, 6:00pm Monday, May 15th at the Portland Building (1120 SW 5th Ave, Portland)

If built, the facility would emit roughly 2 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually and would consume up to 8.8 million gallons of water each day. Sign your name on the letter to say NO to more dirty fossil fuels!

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Dear Oregon Public Utility Chair Hardie and Commissioners Decker and Bloom,

Oregonians strongly support clean and safe energy options. PGE’s proposal would undercut Oregon’s goals for addressing dangerous, climate-changing greenhouse gas pollution. Please tell PGE to choose clean, renewable energy like solar and wind over mostly-methane, mostly-fracked gas power plants at the Carty Generating Station in Boardman, OR.  

Building new gas-fired power plants would lock Oregon into decades of climate-polluting fossil fuels and unpredictable gas prices, all at a time when prices for clean energy sources are more affordable than ever. Over 50% of gas burned in Oregon comes from fracking operations in Canada. Fracking harms the health of people and the environment.  Methane gas is a greenhouse gas that traps heat 86 times more effectively than carbon dioxide during the first 20 years of its lifespan. The continued use of fossil fuels, from extraction to transport and combustion, threatens the health of our planet.

The impacts of proposed Carty Units 2 and 3 would be enormous. The facility would consume up to 8.8 million gallons of water each day, discharge hot water and air pollution, and contribute to global climate change with roughly 2 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually. Additionally, the overall facility would consume 230 million cubic feet of  gas each day, an amount equivalent to one-third of Oregon’s total daily "natural" gas consumption. Yet, much of the impact of Carty’s gas consumption will be hidden from the state’s review because upstream leaks of methane that occur during fracking are not disclosed.

The cumulative impacts of PGE’s proposal would lead to devastating impacts on human health. Health professionals reject the use of fracked gas as a transition to a clean energy economy. Please direct PGE to revise its plan and invest in  clean energy sources like wind and solar instead of rushing ahead to commit Oregon to risky gas-fired power plants.

Sincerely,

CC: PGE CEO Jim Piro
       Local and state leaders