The 2018 Democratic Party of Oregon Platform
Article 3 - ENVIRONMENT: Air; Water; Land; Ecosystems; Natural Resources; Climate Change; Sustainability
Oregon Democrats understand a healthy, sustainable, and beautiful Oregon environment is a key component of our high quality of life and helps support our resource-based economies. We understand we must sustainably manage our forests and rangelands; and ensure clean rivers and lakes, healthy air quality, clean and safe drinking water, and a healthy ocean environment. We know environmental protection is cost-effective and essential for our survival. We support development of environmentally-renewable, sustainable energy resources, clean, efficient modes of transportation, preservation of our most pristine lands, and reduction of pollutants that threaten our health and damage our ecosystems. We will develop environmental protection objectives, priorities, and regulations by using the best available science to understand risk and reduce threats to human health and our ecosystem. We believe our climate is in crisis from man-made climate change, and we must take immediate action.
Planks:
1. We believe all citizens have the right to adequate open and recreational spaces, and to clean and safe air and public water resources.
2. We believe the general public, government, and the regulated community must work together to provide clean water, manage sewage, solid waste, and storm water, and to protect open and recreational spaces, watersheds, habitats, diversity, and comprehensive ecosystem interrelationships.
3. We believe greater efforts, including but not limited to direct monitoring, are needed at the local, state, and national level to identify, reduce, and eliminate the toxic effects of hazardous chemicals, industrial processes, genetically modified organisms, waste from weapons testing, and agricultural chemicals and byproducts.
4. We believe fresh and marine water resources, both surface and groundwater, must be managed primarily for the public good and protected from private control, profit, and pollution.
5. We support the ecologically sustainable management of Oregon’s renewable agricultural, water, forest, and fisheries resources, and careful management of non-renewable mineral resources.
6. We support the “polluter pays” principle, either through restoration or mitigation. We believe that corporate profits should never preclude protection of the environment. Corporate entities must be required to internalize all environmental and human health costs.
7. We believe that protections for native, keystone, endangered, and threatened species must be enhanced and enforced. We support biodiversity in Oregon, including research and legal enforcement efforts to maintain diverse habitats, preserve endangered species, and reduce the presence and impacts of invasive species.
8. We believe in protecting human health by setting strong and protective standards for air and water and enforcing those standards through strong monitoring, reporting, and compliance requirements.
9. We support community planning that includes the strict enforcement of land use laws and community-based water management.
10. We oppose the further destruction of ancient living systems such as forests, deserts, wetlands, and oceanic reefs.
11. We believe in the humane treatment of farm animals, including adequate living space and opportunities for socialization, so they have a decent quality of life, which will also reduce disease and the need for antibiotics.
12. We believe monitoring data indicates groundwater contamination from agricultural chemicals is a significant public health threat, and more needs to be done to reduce the risk.
13. We are committed to the principle that economic prosperity is compatible with protection of the environment based on the technologies we possess and the dynamics of resource use and energy conservation. Cleanup of contaminated industrial and commercial sites provides many social, economic, and environmental benefits.
14. We believe we must take immediate action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce the atmospheric concentration of these gases, and decrease our negative impact on the climate, as is necessary for the maintenance of society as we know it and the survival of many sensitive species.
15. We oppose the wholesale conversion of public lands to private ownership, and support the protection of state and federally designated parks, wilderness areas, recreation areas, beaches, and other public resource lands including places of cultural significance.
16. We support private property rights and responsible development that does not compromise the environment or conflict with the well-being of the commons.
17. We support land use planning to preserve rural and natural environments and support favorable and efficient housing, transportation, and commercial development practices.
18. We recognize that peer-reviewed scientific evidence has demonstrated that human activities that emit greenhouse gases, including the burning of fossil fuels, have caused a global emergency known as “climate change.”
19. We support science-based strategies to implement sustainable practices and technologies to both mitigate and adapt to climate change. We also insist that mitigation and adaptation programs acknowledge and address social inequity and the plight of impacted communities.
20. We recognize that industrial development has disproportionately burdened disadvantaged populations and marginalized communities with environmental degradation and its negative effects. Oregon Democrats believe regulatory programs must address social inequities and the dangers to impacted communities.
21. We recognize the important goals served by well-crafted and science-based legislation over the last half-century at the federal level that set national standards for environmental protection, provided a level playing field for economic development, and contributed significantly to improvements in air, water, and general environmental quality.
22. We recognize the constraints imposed by a planet with finite resources and capacity to process our waste. Therefore, we believe the Earth has a finite carrying capacity that is dependent on human consumption levels and that evaluation of, and education regarding, these limits is a critical need.
23. We believe Oregonians should embrace the concept of life-cycle management for all products and packaging in order to reduce waste, lower toxicity in products, and encourage recycling. Oregonians should consider cooperative management approaches to incorporate all environmental costs into decisions related to products, packaging, and recycling.
24. We support an equitable and just transition away from fossil fuels through promoting renewable energy sources, protecting public lands and natural resources from fossil fuel extractive practices, prohibiting export of fossil fuels through Oregon, and providing incentives for creating clean energy jobs.
25. We support comprehensive measures to sequester carbon through improved forest clear-cutting management, agricultural, and rangeland practices.
26. We support the transition to 100% renewable energy by 2030.
2. We believe the general public, government, and the regulated community must work together to provide clean water, manage sewage, solid waste, and storm water, and to protect open and recreational spaces, watersheds, habitats, diversity, and comprehensive ecosystem interrelationships.
3. We believe greater efforts, including but not limited to direct monitoring, are needed at the local, state, and national level to identify, reduce, and eliminate the toxic effects of hazardous chemicals, industrial processes, genetically modified organisms, waste from weapons testing, and agricultural chemicals and byproducts.
4. We believe fresh and marine water resources, both surface and groundwater, must be managed primarily for the public good and protected from private control, profit, and pollution.
5. We support the ecologically sustainable management of Oregon’s renewable agricultural, water, forest, and fisheries resources, and careful management of non-renewable mineral resources.
6. We support the “polluter pays” principle, either through restoration or mitigation. We believe that corporate profits should never preclude protection of the environment. Corporate entities must be required to internalize all environmental and human health costs.
7. We believe that protections for native, keystone, endangered, and threatened species must be enhanced and enforced. We support biodiversity in Oregon, including research and legal enforcement efforts to maintain diverse habitats, preserve endangered species, and reduce the presence and impacts of invasive species.
8. We believe in protecting human health by setting strong and protective standards for air and water and enforcing those standards through strong monitoring, reporting, and compliance requirements.
9. We support community planning that includes the strict enforcement of land use laws and community-based water management.
10. We oppose the further destruction of ancient living systems such as forests, deserts, wetlands, and oceanic reefs.
11. We believe in the humane treatment of farm animals, including adequate living space and opportunities for socialization, so they have a decent quality of life, which will also reduce disease and the need for antibiotics.
12. We believe monitoring data indicates groundwater contamination from agricultural chemicals is a significant public health threat, and more needs to be done to reduce the risk.
13. We are committed to the principle that economic prosperity is compatible with protection of the environment based on the technologies we possess and the dynamics of resource use and energy conservation. Cleanup of contaminated industrial and commercial sites provides many social, economic, and environmental benefits.
14. We believe we must take immediate action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce the atmospheric concentration of these gases, and decrease our negative impact on the climate, as is necessary for the maintenance of society as we know it and the survival of many sensitive species.
15. We oppose the wholesale conversion of public lands to private ownership, and support the protection of state and federally designated parks, wilderness areas, recreation areas, beaches, and other public resource lands including places of cultural significance.
16. We support private property rights and responsible development that does not compromise the environment or conflict with the well-being of the commons.
17. We support land use planning to preserve rural and natural environments and support favorable and efficient housing, transportation, and commercial development practices.
18. We recognize that peer-reviewed scientific evidence has demonstrated that human activities that emit greenhouse gases, including the burning of fossil fuels, have caused a global emergency known as “climate change.”
19. We support science-based strategies to implement sustainable practices and technologies to both mitigate and adapt to climate change. We also insist that mitigation and adaptation programs acknowledge and address social inequity and the plight of impacted communities.
20. We recognize that industrial development has disproportionately burdened disadvantaged populations and marginalized communities with environmental degradation and its negative effects. Oregon Democrats believe regulatory programs must address social inequities and the dangers to impacted communities.
21. We recognize the important goals served by well-crafted and science-based legislation over the last half-century at the federal level that set national standards for environmental protection, provided a level playing field for economic development, and contributed significantly to improvements in air, water, and general environmental quality.
22. We recognize the constraints imposed by a planet with finite resources and capacity to process our waste. Therefore, we believe the Earth has a finite carrying capacity that is dependent on human consumption levels and that evaluation of, and education regarding, these limits is a critical need.
23. We believe Oregonians should embrace the concept of life-cycle management for all products and packaging in order to reduce waste, lower toxicity in products, and encourage recycling. Oregonians should consider cooperative management approaches to incorporate all environmental costs into decisions related to products, packaging, and recycling.
24. We support an equitable and just transition away from fossil fuels through promoting renewable energy sources, protecting public lands and natural resources from fossil fuel extractive practices, prohibiting export of fossil fuels through Oregon, and providing incentives for creating clean energy jobs.
25. We support comprehensive measures to sequester carbon through improved forest clear-cutting management, agricultural, and rangeland practices.
26. We support the transition to 100% renewable energy by 2030.
