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What Is the Necessity Defense, and What Are Its Limits?
Editor’s note: Late last month, the necessity defense appeared to have reached a milestone when a judge in Massachusetts found 13 pipeline protesters not guilty after they testified that civil disobedience was the only reasonable alternative to prevent imminent harm, locally and globally. The 13 activists were arrested, along with close to 200 other participants, in response to a year-long campaign that began in 2015 to halt a pipeline extension that...Read more » -
When Polluters Pay, Oregon’s Rural Residents Win
In my last article, I described how making polluters pay for their pollution, contrary to fossil fuel industry whining and myth-telling, in fact would help Oregon’s economy—just as it has helped the economies of other states, provinces, and regions that have demanded that polluting industries do their part to act on climate. A common comeback I hear goes something like, “Sure, it may help urban dwellers and economies, but it...Read more » -
Meet the Well-Funded Players Working Hard to Thwart Oregon’s Climate Progress
Oregon is on the cusp of a climate protection breakthrough in 2018. The state legislature is weighing the Clean Energy Jobs bill, a remarkable opportunity to join its West Coast neighbors in lowering carbon pollution while raising money to invest in clean energy and transportation. The money raised would also provide assistance for low-income state residents. (Sightline’s Kristin Eberhard wrote an excellent summary of the legislation.) Nevertheless, Oregon’s climate proposal...Read more » -
Washingtonians Favor Action to Ditch Fossil Fuels and Go Clean
Legislation that would halt the era of polluting for free in Washington State (SB 6203)—a carbon tax—was ushered to the Ways and Means Committee last week. The carbon tax is part of a suite of climate and energy policies, among them Senate Bill 6253, requiring utilities to shift to power from carbon-free sources. The idea is to step the state economy down from dirty fuels and up to locally-produced renewables,...Read more » -
Oregonians Want Solutions on Climate
Lawmakers in Oregon are poised to decide on the Oregon Clean Energy Jobs Bill, a move to either fulfill long-held global warming commitments or press pause yet again. Policymakers might get cold feet; the usual corporate stall tactics are rolling in. But what do people in Oregon think? Oregon is a state often divided by urban-rural, partisan, and bigger geographical lines (take opinions on sanctuary cities, DACA, and healthcare). But...Read more » -
Washington Legislators’ Chance to Act on Climate
Washington’s foresters, fishers, farmers, and farmworkers have become painfully familiar with the impacts of climate chaos while American politicians have spent the decade kicking the climate change can down the road. Last summer, both sides of the state lived and breathed under a blanket of smoke as wildfires forced those effects right into the state’s homes. Washington schools closed, the government entered a state of emergency, and no one was left...Read more » -
Oregon’s Clean Energy Jobs Bill Is Poised for a Breakthrough
Could 2018 be the year that Oregon and Washington join BC and California and make climate polluters pay? Jay Inslee, the governor of Washington, is pushing a carbon tax (more on that soon), and Oregon legislators are again considering legislation to limit carbon pollution and invest in clean energy and other good things. In 2017, a bill to cap pollution, enforce the cap with limited allowances, and invest the revenue...Read more » -
Part 1: Your Car of the Future is No Car at All
Editor’s note: This piece marks the Sightline debut of Daniel Malarkey, our newest Sightline fellow. A Seattle native, Daniel will be writing about issues of infrastructure, technology and energy with a view towards sustainability. You can read his full bio here. Additionally, you can view his February appearance on Q13’s newscast here in which he speaks about the future of autonomous electric vehicles. Ford Motor Company recently had news for...Read more » -
Weekend Reading 1/5/2018
Kristin I just read Naomi Klein’s No is Not Enough, which references the “Leap Manifesto” she and other leaders in Canada put together. It calls for 100% clean energy, a universal basic income to help pay for the important work of caretaking that is currently often unpaid or underpaid, paid for by a carbon tax, financial transaction tax, and cuts to military spending. Good stuff. Do men look for a...Read more » -
The Best of Sightline in 2017
2017 was a big year. We dedicated even more time researching solutions to create affordable housing in Cascadia and watched a few neighborhoods in Seattle adopt major upzones with affordability requirements. British Columbia expanded its existing carbon tax to cover more pollution and to raise its price. And the Thin Green Line only grew stronger. The continent’s largest oil-by-rail project proposal in Vancouver, Washington is on the cusp of rejection; key permits...Read more »