Think Out Loud

NW Natural told Oregonians it had a new source of clean energy: renewable natural gas derived from decomposing organic waste at sites like landfills or dairy farms. In 2017 the company helped to write a law promoting the development of the new fuel, with the promise that it could replace fossil natural gas in our pipelines. Internal documents obtained by ProPublica reveal how the company painted a picture of going green while it has continued to sell as much fossil natural gas in an average year as it did before. NW Natural maintains that it has been stymied in its efforts by lack of support from regulators and too many barriers. McKenzie Funk, reporter for ProPublica, joins us to explain.

In 1990, Barbara Roberts became the first woman elected governor of Oregon. She began her political career as a member of the Parkrose school board and then the board of Mount Hood Community College. She was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives in 1980 and was chosen by her colleagues to be the House majority leader two years later. Two years after that, she became Oregon's Secretary of State, before going on to the top office. We spoke to Roberts in front of an audience at the Civics Learning Project’s Legal Citizen of the Year award ceremony in May, 2024.

Each year, there are nearly three million cases of antibiotic-resistant infections in the U.S. caused by MRSA and other antibiotic-resistant bacteria, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While many of these infections happen during hospital stays, less is known about the role wastewater treatment facilities can play in the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the environment. Researchers at Oregon State University aim to change that with a new study that launched this month. They were awarded more than $2 million from the Environmental Protection Agency to study the presence of antibiotics, antibiotic-resistant bacteria and their genes at 40 wastewater treatment facilities in the U.S., including Oregon. The two-year-long study will also look at seasonal and regional differences in the population of that bacteria and how different treatment processes affect their growth and evolution. Joining us to share details of the study is Tala Navab-Daneshmand, the principal investigator of the study and an associate professor of engineering at OSU.   

Coastal tribes in the Pacific Northwest are set to face some of the most dramatic effects of climate change in the region, from rising seas to more severe storms. The University of Washington’s Climate Impacts Group and the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians conducted a series of listening sessions with leaders and citizens of 13 coastal tribes to hear how they were responding to climate challenges. A new report outlines the obstacles tribes described, including struggles to obtain funding and burdensome paperwork, as well as points of success. Meade Krosby is a senior scientist with UW’s Climate Impacts Group. Amelia Marchand is a senior tribal climate resilience liaison for the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians. They co-led the project and join us with more details.

Portland voters will decide 12 city council races and choose a new mayor this November. Willamette Week’s Sophie Peel found that some of the candidates running agreed to swap campaign donations in order to qualify for the city’s system of matching funds. That practice violated campaign finance law, according to attorneys and experts quoted in the stories, although the secretary of state’s office had declined to weigh in without having done its own full investigation. After inquiries, Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade has now directed the Elections Division to open an investigation. We talk with Peel about what she found and why it matters as Election Day approaches.

 Like beavers and woodpeckers, porcupines play an important role in their ecosystem. But, because they have a tendency to damage trees, porcupines are often considered a nuisance species. In the Pacific Northwest, it’s becoming harder to find living porcupines, according to a Columbia Insight report. We learn more about the rodent from Dawn Stover, a freelance writer and regular contributor to Columbia Insight.

The new Climate Friendly Public Schools program is just beginning. It will provide as much as $10,000 per school for public middle and high school students in seven districts over the next five years. The Portland Clean Energy Fund is providing the program $50 million. Portland Public Schools' share is close to $20 million. The idea is to support public school students to create their own projects and spur innovation in the climate solution space. Joining us to give us more details and discuss what this looks like at PPS is Petal Peloquin, a senior at Grant High School; Eesa Taylor, a junior at Ida B. Wells High School; and Ari Ettinger, the climate resiliency program manager for PPS.

The November general election is just eight weeks away. In Oregon, the responsibility for local, state and federal races falls to the state’s 36 county clerks. But that job has gotten harder in recent years with budget cuts, staffing shortages, the spread of misinformation, physical threats and intimidation of election workers in Oregon and around the nation. A survey of Oregon county clerks released last autumn by researchers at Reed College revealed the increasing stress they’re under to fulfill their duties.  The county clerks are also overseeing elections at a time of deep political polarization, and often have to debunk false claims challenging the integrity of Oregon’s vote-by-mail system. Joining us to share their perspectives are Rochelle Long, Klamath County Clerk and incoming president of the Oregon Association of County Clerks; Derrin “Dag” Robinson, Harney County Clerk and vice-president of the Oregon Association of County Clerks; and Dena Dawson, the Lane County Clerk. 

Human Rights Watch and Nurturely released a report last month that shows how pregnant people are affected by wildfires. It also suggests that officials and agencies place an emphasis on reproductive justice when providing support and information around disasters. Additionally, it recommends better education for health workers on environmental determinants of health. We learn more about the report from Skye Wheeler, a senior researcher with Human Rights Watch, and Aver Yakubu, the program director for Nurturely, which is based in Oregon.

U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy recently issued an advisory saying stress from parenting is a public health issue. The nation's doctor shared his concerns over the well-being of parents, noting overwhelming stressors affecting parents today – from financial pressures to worries around kids' health and safety. The advisory notes that nearly half of parents say most days their stress is overwhelming and more than 40% say they are so stressed they cannot function. Marlo McIlraith is an associate professor of pediatrics and a pediatrician at OHSU. She joins us to share more on what is causing more parents to be stressed today and ways she recommends they try to help deal with these emotions.