OPINION
GUEST ESSAY
The West Is on Fire. It’s Past Time to Act on
Climate Change.
Aug. 3,
2021
By Kate
Brown
Ms. Brown,
a Democrat, is the governor of Oregon.
If you are
on the East Coast, the sunrises you saw last week were probably tinged with a
bit of red. That haze was the smoke from the fires scorching the West,
including the 400,000-acre-plus Bootleg Fire in southern Oregon, the largest in
the country at the moment and the latest in a string of climate-related natural
disasters to befall my state.
We are no
strangers to forest fires in the West. About half of Oregon, some 30 million
acres, is forestland. But in the past decade, as our summers have grown longer,
hotter and drier, our lush forests have turned into tinderboxes. I have
declared drought emergencies in 22 of our 36 counties already this year, as
rivers and reservoirs run low because of insufficient snowpack and the lack of
rainfall. Last summer, Oregon experienced its most devastating fire season in
many years, when more than 2,000 fires burned 1.2 million acres. We lost at
least nine lives and more than 5,000 homes and commercial structures. Fires
burned in Clackamas County outside the Portland metro area, causing the area to
have some of the world’s worst air quality for several days, and through
Santiam Canyon, on the outskirts of Salem, our state capital.
This
summer, we are already on pace to eclipse last year’s totals, and it’s only the
first few days of August. In June, Portland set a 116-degree high-temperature
record, while Salem reached 117 degrees, also a record. About 200 people lost
their lives in Oregon and Washington. In February, Oregon was hit by
unseasonably harsh ice and wind storms that knocked out power to hundreds of
thousands of households. Before that, counties were hit by flooding. A recent
climate assessment of the state by the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute
at Oregon State University warned that “the number and intensity of heavy
precipitation events, particularly in winter, is projected to increase
throughout the 21st century.”
And, as is
the case with the Covid-19 pandemic, our most vulnerable communities are
hardest hit by these disasters: rural and low-income ones and communities of
color that are already disproportionately affected by longstanding disparities
and systemic racism. Because of that, our Black, Indigenous, Latino, Asian and
Pacific Islander residents face a disproportionate burden of the economic,
health and safety impacts of climate change.
We are
taking steps in the short term to adapt to this new normal of harsh weather and
a fire season that never ends. But over the long term, we must take concerted,
nationwide action to address climate change. It’s one climate. We need to put
politics aside and act as we watch its changes play out.
We are
working to lead the way in Oregon, with some of the most ambitious goals among
the states for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and the adoption of
electric vehicles. In 2020, I signed an executive order to reduce carbon
dioxide emissions, and Oregon is finalizing rules to cap emissions from our
largest transportation, industrial and natural gas sources. Last week, I signed
into law Oregon’s clean energy bill, mandating 100 percent clean electricity by
2040 — one of the fastest state timelines in the nation. The bill is rooted in
the idea that our electric infrastructure should support opportunities for
living-wage jobs, work force equity and energy resilience.
I signed
the bill at Electric Island, the first publicly accessible fast-charging
station designed especially for heavy-duty electric trucks and buses near the
Interstate 5 freight corridor — the product of a partnership between Daimler
Trucks North America and Portland General Electric. As chair of the Western
Governors’ Association, I worked with my fellow governors to expand access to
electric vehicles and charging infrastructure across the West, prioritizing
rural and low-income areas and communities of color.
We have a
strong partnership with the Biden administration, which has combined a
collaborative approach with my state to wildfire response and preparedness with
investments in clean energy, climate action and environmental justice.
What we
need now is bold action from Congress. The recently announced infrastructure
deal, which includes the largest ever investment in electric vehicle
infrastructure, is a great start, but we must continue to do more. As the bills
are finalized in the legislative process, lawmakers must look for opportunities
to reduce emissions and modernize the electrical grid. We have an opportunity
right now to get millions of Americans back to work in clean energy jobs,
address the climate crisis and center equity in our investments.
Building
back better means building a more just and equitable country for all. In
Oregon, we have taken decisive action on climate while still growing our
economy, with many green technology companies choosing Oregon for their
operations.
States and
cities are on the front lines of the climate crisis. But this is a problem that
knows no borders. Climate change is playing out here now, with a fury, but it
will be in your backyard next. People are dying. Congress must act, now.
Kate Brown,
a Democrat, has been governor of Oregon since 2015.
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