Evan Manvel's Blog Posts

The BETC has brought jobs and revenue to Oregon

Today, Oregonians get seven percent of our energy from wind – an impressive first surge in moving beyond dirty foreign fossil fuels, fighting climate change, and creating jobs with local clean energy. Yet we must do more, as Oregon still gets 40% of our energy from coal.

This week we're seeing another critical election come down to a razor-thin margin: the recall of Clastop County Commissioner Ann Samuelson is currently passing, by a 1,013 to 1,009 count. Samuelson had come under fire in part due to her actions supporting the Bradwood Landing LNG facilty.

This morning the Savage Rapids coffer dam was breached, culminating over 20 years of hard work to restore the Rogue River to freedom. A dam has blocked the river since 1921, and was deemed one of Oregon's worst impediments to wild salmon passage.

Read more in the Medford Mail Tribune.

Congrats to WaterWatch of Oregon and other groups who worked hard on this project!

Tonight, Democratic Party precinct committee people will gather in North Portland to select three to five candidates for the Senate District 22 seat, which was recently vacated by Senator Margaret Carter.

Those nominees then go to the Multnomah County Commissioners, who appoint the new Senator.

The Bicycle Transportation Alliance has an excellent summary of what's happened to the proposed bicycle and pedestrian facilities in the design of the region's largest-ever infrastructure project, the Columbia River Crossing multi-billion-dollar MegaBridge.

In short: they've gone from 12 and 26 feet wide to a single dark underbridge design, mostly 16 feet wide.