Draft Sixth Power Plan Comment

We urge the council to emphasize energy conservation and non-hydro renewables to meet energy demand. Climate change makes this path so important. New energy from coal or LNG must be avoided. Hydro is already overdeveloped and will cause unacceptable cumulative impacts if it is expanded. In fact, it's time to scale back the part of the hydro system that has the greatest impacts and the least benefits, e.g. the lower four Snake River dams. We urge the council to rededicate itself to mitigation of fish & wildlife impacts from our energy system. It would be wise to invest in conservation and restoration native ecosystems as a hedge against climate change, both as a means of adaptation (e.g. perpetuation of ecosystem services from resilient ecosystems) and mitigation (e.g. biological carbon storage). In particular we draw the council's attention to the riverine, riparian, and upland restoration opportunities at the confluence of the Coast Fork and Middle Fork Willamette River near Eugene. Please help facilitate a robust carbon accounting system that encompasses all sectors of the economy, so we don't inadvertently shift carbon emissions from traditional sources (e.g., fossil fuels) to new and unregulated sectors (e.g., forest degradation driven by new demand for biomass). Adhere to the well-established principles of leakage, additionality, permanence, etc.