By Audrey Leonard, Staff Attorney
Originally published in Columbia Riverkeeper “Currents” Issue 1, 2024.
“Perhaps hope is the courage to persevere when winning looks hard; perhaps it’s not hope but faith that sustains people when success looks almost inconceivable…. ‘Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well but the certainty that something is worth doing no matter how it turns out.’”
Rebecca Solnit, Not Too Late (quoting playwright Václav Havel)
People often ask me how I find hope in this line of work—constantly reminded of the harsh realities of the climate crisis and the powerful entities that stand to profit from it. Some days, it’s easier than others. Doing place-based climate work presents a unique duality: we understand the necessity of large-scale change, as well as the importance of preventing local harm. Over the last year, Columbia Riverkeeper’s tenacity against the fracked gas industry has paid off.
Public Utility Commission Advocacy
Columbia Riverkeeper recently took our expertise and recommendations for fracked gas infrastructure to the Washington and Oregon public utility commissions—the state agencies that regulate gas utility companies—and achieved excellent results.
The Oregon Public Utility Commission rejected all three of Oregon’s gas utilities’ long-term plans as “unreasonably optimistic” about future gas demand as the region moves away from reliance on fracked gas and toward electrification. We also saw major wins in our effort to cut off demand for TC Energy’s proposed GTN Xpress pipeline expansion project. For example, as a result of our advocacy, the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission criticized Cascade Natural Gas’ investment in the controversial GTN Xpress project. At a hearing in March, Oregon’s Commission referenced the potential risks associated with the GTN pipeline, comparing it to coal power plants. These are huge wins for ratepayers and the climate.
GTN Xpress Legal Challenge
Columbia Riverkeeper is currently in court to prevent the GTN Xpress fracked gas pipeline expansion from coming to fruition. The expansion would result in the pollution equivalent of adding 754,000 cars to the road each year for 30 years. And because of its route through arid Idaho, eastern Washington, and eastern Oregon, the pipeline presents local safety risks when coupled with frequent (and increasingly severe) wildfires. GTN Xpress received federal approval last October and permission to begin construction this April. We haven’t given up. In a recent court filing, the gas company admitted that the project is not financially viable without spreading the costs to more customers or renegotiating higher rates for the new gas. We’ve been saying this project was a bad deal from the start.
Now, the company itself says it will not begin construction for the expansion until it can ensure profitability. In turn, we asked the federal agency to withdraw construction authorization. More good news: Our victories at the public utility commissions have laid the groundwork for Cascade Natural Gas to walk away from its investment in GTN Xpress. Even Cascade’s customers—from Bellingham to Bend— are now calling on the company to ditch its risky investment in the interest of lower rates, safety, and the climate.
Proposed Diesel Refinery
A big part of our job is bringing truth to light when a proposal seems too good to be true. That sums up NEXT Energy’s proposed “renewable” diesel refinery in the Columbia River Estuary. By relentlessly exposing NEXT’s greenwashing, we’ve demonstrated how the refinery will do more harm than good. If built, NEXT’s refinery would be one of the largest greenhouse gas polluters in Oregon.
In partnership with local farmers, Columbia Riverkeeper has worked to show regulators why putting a fracked gas-fired diesel refinery in the estuary and destroying over 100 acres of wetlands is a bad idea. Despite regulators continuously buying into NEXT’s false promises, NEXT has yet to secure several major permits for its facility. On top of this, recent forecasting shows the U.S. is already on track to over-produce renewable diesel in 2025. We’ll keep asking regulators to take off their rose-colored glasses and protect the Columbia River, farmland, and our climate.
Finding hope, against the odds.
So how do I find hope in this work? I find hope in my colleagues who have been doing this work much longer than I have—developing new tactics in response to moving targets and building on decades of victories. I find hope in the communities, Tribes, and partner organizations we work alongside—realizing that everyone brings something unique and important to the table. I find hope in small victories, beating the odds, and rising to the challenge.
“[H]ope is not like a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky. I say this because hope is an ax you break down doors with in an emergency.”— Rebecca Solnit, Not Too Late