Oregon Apollo ballot initiative called off
by Sid AndersonApril 20th, 2006 at 16:12:41
As Rick noted in an earlier post Big Oil stepped in to challenge the Oregon Apollo ballot title in Oregon’s courts. Since the initiative was about creating renewable energy options for the state of Oregon, it’s obvious why Big Oil is interfering. As a result of this, Oregon Apollo realized that there would not be enough time to gather the required signatures to get the initiative on the ballot for November.
Advocates of Oregon Apollo sent out an e-mail today with an explanantion and a what to do next vision to their supporters:
Given the ongoing court challenges to our ballot title and the requested review by the Supreme Court, it appears most unlikely that we will have sufficient time to gather the necessary signatures to place this measure before the voters in November.
For this reason, we believe that the best course of action is to transfer our time and energy from the 2006 initiative to a multi-year effort to solidify and align the various groups committed to advancing renewable energy development use here in Oregon and across the region.
We filed this ballot measure, not only out of a desire to drive the renewable energy issue to the forefront of the public policy and political agenda here in Oregon, but also because of the great economic development and workforce, opportunity involved, as well as the potential to re-brand Oregon as a leader in renewable energy.
Filing this measure has already had two significant effects:
First, and most importantly, with your enthusiasm and support – it has helped to galvanize this issue and has unquestionably helped move it up on the policy agenda. Governor Kulongoski has now included renewable energy as one of the top three priorities in his re-election agenda. It is incumbent on all of us to make sure that it stays there.
Second, filing the measure exposed some polarization among those with common cause. But even this has served a very positive purpose by bringing these divisions from below the surface and putting them squarely on the table. This gives us an extraordinary opportunity to address these issues together and to move forward in concert much stronger than we were before.
Finally, let’s not forget that building a clean energy future is not just an election year issue. Nor is it a partisan issue. It is about what is best for all of us: urban and rural, business leaders, ranchers, farmers, conservationist, educators and working families. It is about all of us pulling together to help Oregon do its part to make energy independence a priority – and to capture the major economic benefits of being a renewable energy leader.
STAY ENGAGED
We believe we have a unique opportunity to build on the current momentum among those who are committed to a common goal. We are prepared to play a role in this process to move it forward – and we hope you will do so as well.
This may involve convening town hall meetings in 2006 and 2007 to create a legislative environment in Salem more conducive to moving this issue forward. It may require filing a measure for 2008 to finish the job.
The bottom line is this: we need you to stay engaged.
Thank you again for inspiring the citizen action that has already made a big difference to our state’s future.
John Kitzhaber, Ben Westlund and the Oregon Apollo Team
