A coalition of environmental and social justice groups sent a letter to Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum asking her to investigate NW Natural for spreading misinformation about the health and climate risks of gas-burning stoves. They are asking Rosenblum to use her powers under Oregon’s Unlawful Trade Practices Act to investigate and sue NW Natural.

The coalition wants NW Natural to inform customers via mail, email and the company’s website the health risks of gas appliances and the role natural gas and methane play in global climate change.

Representative Mark Gamba (D-Milwaukie) said in a news conference, “Gas companies have a moral and legal obligation to accurately represent the risks their products pose to consumers. Unfortunately, they have continuously and egregiously failed to do so.”

Does this not apply to all public utilities? The coalition uses reports from 1970s stating nitrogen dioxide emitted when natural gas is burned is not healthy. That also applies to an EPA report of electric power plants as being the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions burning fossil fuels for electricity? Electric power plants are also the largest source of airborne emissions of mercury, a potent neurotoxin which affects the nervous system and brain functions, particularly in children. EPA reports that “Among the 188 hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), or air toxics, that are emitted by power plants, mercury has been a principal HAP of concern.”

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That same report states, “Electric power generation is the second largest emitter of carbon dioxide pollution, contributing to climate change, which is threatening public health and affecting ecosystems at multiple levels, from the biological communities that make up ecosystems to the services they provide to communities, economies, and people.”

EIA Annual Natural Gas Deliveries For Electric Power, 2021 shows that Oregon electric utilities rely on about as much natural gas for power generation as all the natural gas utilities in the state deliver to customers.


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2023-12-18 11:30:27

Last Update: 2023-12-18 14:11:35