Deadline to sign: June 3
Action: Sign and share this public letter
When Make Polluters Pay, one of the Sacred Organizing Coalition’s top priority bills, didn’t get called for a vote out of committee last month it effectively died for this session. But our commitment to hold big fossil fuel companies financially accountable for their role in the climate crisis is still very much alive.
Now, as a follow-up, we have the opportunity to sign onto an Open Letter penned by youth–including three from Bend Youth Collective!–from the Youth Solidarity Movement. The letter expresses their disappointment and calls on Gov. Kotek, Sen. President Wagner, and Committee Chair Sollman to commit to passing Make Polluters Pay next session.
Sign and share the letter HERE.
Full text below:
Governor Kotek, Senate President Wagner, Committee Chair Sollman,
We are youth from different parts of Oregon who felt like we had to do something together. We are writing this letter to say we are disappointed that the Make Polluters Pay Act was not moved this session to be voted on.
Last April, many people, including young people like us, showed up at the Capitol in Salem to share our stories, speak with lawmakers, and give testimony at the Make Polluters Pay bill hearing. For us youth, this was our first time doing anything like that. It was very empowering, and it felt good that we could make a difference when we worked together and that our voices would be heard.
We were very vulnerable in telling our stories to you. But now we feel upset because by not even putting it up for a vote in committee, you didn’t take into account how important this is to us.
We are growing up in a time when climate change is already hurting our communities. Many adults probably think of summer as the outside time to experience the sun. Yet we can’t remember a time when there haven’t been major fires. What we think of summer are the many times we can’t go outside due to the smoke and the fires.
A few years back, the Almeda fires in Southern Oregon forced the extended family of one of the writers of this letter to evacuate their homes and experience fire damage to their homes and personal property. It was a scary time that we hope no one else would have to experience. Yet it happens over and over again to many people.
Make Polluters Pay makes big fossil fuel companies help pay for the damage they caused, and pay to prepare for future disasters. Ever since we were young, we were taught that when you make a mess, clean it up. We want a future where big corporations clean up the messes they make. We are fighting for a time when everyone can live in a cleaner, better society.
We want you to know that we are paying attention. There are many people across Oregon – young and old, parents, grandparents, pastors, friends – supporting us. And we will be back to fight for this bill again. Will you commit publicly to supporting this bill in the next session?
Our future matters. We and all of our co-signers look forward to hearing from you.
Signed,
Dietrich Hange, 11, Hillsboro
Samuel Henderson, 14, Bend
Lena Field, 13, Bend
Luna Kinz, 12, Bend
Sylvia Ravensberg, 12, North Plains
Skye Ravensberg, 12, North Plains
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