Energy Policy Position

On October 13, 2001, at the annual meeting of the members of Oregon Rural Action, the members duly adopted the following resolution on energy policy.

The membership of Oregon Rural Action believes that a safe and sound energy policy should:

1. Reduce U.S. dependence on domestic and foreign fossil fuels and nuclear energy, and place more emphasis on renewable energy development and public transportation.
   
2. Give priority to those energy options with the lowest total economic, environmental, and social costs.
3. Emphasize energy conservation as the cleanest, safest, and most effective way to address short-term (immediate) and long-term energy needs.
   
4. Encourage energy independence through environmentally responsible applications of wind, solar, geothermal and other renewable energy technologies, and ensure that new energy technologies do not create new problems in the process of solving others.
   
5. Protect people, their health, and the environment, especially water, soil, and air.
   
6. Be socially responsible, sharing the costs and benefits of energy programs and policies equitably among rural and urban areas, and with protections for the poor, elderly, and children.
7. Recognize that local and national energy production and distribution systems are public resources, and that citizens must have the power and opportunity to shape energy decisions that affect their lives.
8. Create new and redesign existing human environments to be as energy efficient as possible through the use of information dissemination and incentives.
   
9. Analyze the true cost of development and the environmental impacts of large subsidized energy projects.
10. Emphasize programs that reduce demand for energy without curtailing vital services.
    
11. Recognize that a decentralized power industry will give consumers greater voice and local independent control.
12. Support regulatory and legislative measures that address global warming and minimize the use and consumption of fossil fuels.