Oregon legislature takes action to ban fracking, offshore oil drilling

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Environment Oregon

PORTLAND– This week, Oregon’s House of Representatives took two meaningful steps towards a fossil fuel-free future. On Monday, legislators approved a 10-year ban on hydrauling fracturing (aka “fracking”). On Tuesday, the state House voted to make an existing moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling permanent.

In response, Environment Oregon state director Celeste Meiffren-Swango released the following statement:

“Oregon’s lawmakers are playing a forward-looking long game, prioritizing our environment and public health over investing in the dirty fuels of the past and worsening the impacts of climate change.

These proactive measures will make sure that people who want to extract coalbed methane from the Willamette Valley — and those who want to take advantage of new, misguided federal policies on drilling off the Pacific coast — won’t threaten Oregonians and our precious rivers, beaches, and ocean.

We call on the state Senate to pass the fracking bill and send it to Governor Kate Brown. And we call on Governor Brown to sign the offshore drilling moratorium. These bills should serve as a model for other states as our whole country moves away from a dirty fossil-fueled past and toward a cleaner and greener future.”

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Environment Oregon is a statewide, citizen-based environmental advocacy organization working for a cleaner, greener, healthier future.

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