The burning of fossil fuels has been contributing to a warmer climate and severe weather events, requiring them to be phased out. Concerns are growing that the public will have to pay the costs for infrastructure clean up and remediation of what the industry refers to as stranded assets.
Locally, these assets would be filling stations, methane gas lines that serve homes and businesses, or a business like JH Baxter that threatens bankruptcy and lack of responsibility for dioxin cleanup within the surrounding neighborhood. Nationally and globally, assets would be abandoned and leaking fracking wells, refineries, pipelines and storage tanks like the 42 that are on Prairie Road.
Fortunately, fossil fuel risk bonds are assurances that the polluting business will pay through bonding mechanisms to cover costs of leaks, spills, explosion, abandonment, and remediation.
The city of Eugene is holding a work session May 9 to discuss enacting such a funding mechanism to protect the public from paying for a polluting business. I urge you to contact your council representative to support adopting fossil fuel risk bond funding mechanisms on businesses that handle fossil fuels and chemicals so the polluter pays.
Jim Neu
Eugene
A Note From the Publisher
Dear Readers,
The last two years have been some of the hardest in Eugene Weekly’s 43 years. There were moments when keeping the paper alive felt uncertain. And yet, here we are — still publishing, still investigating, still showing up every week.
That’s because of you!
Not just because of financial support (though that matters enormously), but because of the emails, notes, conversations, encouragement and ideas you shared along the way. You reminded us why this paper exists and who it’s for.
Listening to readers has always been at the heart of Eugene Weekly. This year, that meant launching our popular weekly Activist Alert column, after many of you told us there was no single, reliable place to find information about rallies, meetings and ways to get involved. You asked. We responded.
We’ve also continued to deepen the coverage that sets Eugene Weekly apart, including our in-depth reporting on local real estate development through Bricks & Mortar — digging into what’s being built, who’s behind it and how those decisions shape our community.
And, of course, we’ve continued to bring you the stories and features many of you depend on: investigations and local government reporting, arts and culture coverage, sudoku and crossword puzzles, Savage Love, and our extensive community events calendar. We feature award-winning stories by University of Oregon student reporters getting real world journalism experience. All free. In print and online.
None of this happens by accident. It happens because readers step up and say: this matters.
As we head into a new year, please consider supporting Eugene Weekly if you’re able. Every dollar helps keep us digging, questioning, celebrating — and yes, occasionally annoying exactly the right people. We consider that a public service.
Thank you for standing with us!
Publisher
Eugene Weekly
P.S. If you’d like to talk about supporting EW, I’d love to hear from you!
jody@eugeneweekly.com
(541) 484-0519
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