Draft Sixth Power Plan Comment

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on your draft Sixth Power Plan. I appreciate your attention to renewable resources and energy conservation as the foundation for a sustainable energy future. Your plan is well crafted and thoughtful with one glaring exception: failure to address the primary polluter among our current energy producers, COAL. Oregon law calls for a 75-percent cut in 1990’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, a figure that your council itself has determined will only be reached with a virtual elimination of coal from the power system. Given this assessment, I urge you to acknowledge clearly the economic and moral necessity of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and our regional carbon footprint. Your leadership will help all of us chart a course for a future that gradually reduces greenhouse gas emissions by eliminating coal from our energy grid. This Power Plan will stand for the next 20 years and we cannot afford to wait until 2030 to address the pollution of coal-fired plants. We must plan now if we expect to eliminate our dependence on coal. We are counting on YOU to have the vision and commitment to future generations that it will take to label coal as the region's worst power production offender (87% of the pollution for 23% of the power) and the one power source (along with nuclear energy) that must not be allowed into our future. Your attention to the detail of addressing carbon footprints in the report will elevate it from a good document to an excellent model that other regions could follow. The Pacific Northwest is blessed with rivers that produce much of our power. Given our good fortune, we must be grateful for the options before us and become the most conscious stewards of the planet that we can. YOU can lead that effort with a Sixth Power Plan designed to take us toward a low-carbon energy future that will meet growing demand while shrinking its impact on the environment. Now is the time to be bold. Now is the time to consider those coming after us. In the same way that the Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s salvaged depleted farmlands and replanted forests for future generations, we can make conscious choices now for a sustainable future for all. Your Sixth Power Plan can be the document that puts our commitment to the future into motion now. Thank you for your deep consideration.