GEI in the news!

As Portland’s first-ever PNW Climate Week began, more than 100 youth leaders, advocates, and community members gathered at Lewis & Clark to imagine a thriving, sustainable future—and explore the actions needed to make it a reality. Through hands-on workshops and cross-generational conversations, the event highlighted Lewis & Clark’s leadership in climate education, policy, and innovation.

Watch the recording of the keynote provided by Graham Zimmerman at Protect Our Winters here.

Green Energy Institute staff and students are advancing solutions under Oregon’s POWER Act to address the environmental and economic impacts of data center expansion. The Oregon Public Utility Commission’s recent ruling, citing GEI throughout, ordered some of the most innovative and protective outcomes from a public utility commission in the nation.

Last year’s newsletter reflected on what GEI had accomplished in a “best of” moment of fun before the chaos and drama of the next administration descended on us. We never could have guessed what we were all about to face … 

GEI staff attorney expressed concerns about Pacific Power’s decision to remove the Boardman to Hemingway planned transmission line from its Integrated Resource Plan. In response to a citizens’ request to revoke the certificate allowing condemnation of private property.

GEI, Sierra Club, Mobilizing Climate Action Together, and the Northwest Energy Coalition argued that the that the certificate was premised upon the transmission line’s “broad public benefits, not the needs of a single private entity.” Allowing PacifiCorp to change course would “violate the spirit and legal framework under which the line was approved by this commission,” Alex Houston, an attorney with the Green Energy Institute who represents the groups, told commissioners. It would also “harm Oregon customers and set a dangerous precedent wherein the justifications supporting issuance of a certificate may summarily be disregarded once the utility gets approval,” he said.