The Oregon Conservation Network (and, one hopes, all other environmental groups in Oregon) responds to the bizarre last-minute raid on the Energy Trust in an amendment to SB 994. (Their message after the link below.)
I join OCN in asking that you contact Governor K. and tell him to veto the funding raid. My guess is that, at this point, a fax or telephone call to the good Governor is probably your best bet, though a quick postcard, like a fax, has tangibility that phone calls to a message line lack.

Problem:

Saturday, a legislative committee adopted an amendment to SB 994 that diverted $4.6 million of public purpose money collected from the customers of Portland General Electric that funds energy conservation projects and renewable energy investments administered by the Energy Trust of Oregon. The bill does not affect the funds directed to energy conservation in schools or the funds for low-income weatherization.

The diverted $4.6 million would be used to pay down a debt owed in bonds by the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI). Sunday afternoon, the full Ways and Means Committee approved SB 994 that included the diversion and sent it to the floors of the House and Senate. This week, it passed the Senate and the House and is headed to the Governor.
Solution:

This bill moved quickly so we are focusing our grassroots efforts toward urging Governor Kulongoski to line-item veto the portion of SB 994 that diverts the $4.6 million of public purpose dollars.

Action Needed:

Please take 5 minutes and send a letter to Governor Kulongoski, urging him to line-item veto the portion of SB 994 that strips funding from the Energy Trust of Oregon for critical energy conservation and renewable energy investments.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 27th, 2007 at 1:32 pm and is filed under Economy, Energy Future, Environment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.