Thank you, Congressman Earl Blumenauer for your recent column, (“Opinion: Fix Portland - and democracy - by bringing people together,” Nov. 12). As one of your constituents, I appreciate you for serving the Portland area in Congress for almost 30 years. I applaud your efforts with the Special Immigrant Visa program, to increase investments in international water and sanitation, and to create the $28.6 billion Restaurant Revitalization Fund.
As a Citizens’ Climate Lobby Volunteer, I especially commend you for being a major architect of the Inflation Reduction Act - the single largest investment in renewable energy made by any government at any time in history. Because of the climate emergency resolutions you’ve introduced since 2019, I know this issue is a high priority for you. I hope you will use your remaining year in office to support and even co-sponsor these bipartisan bills: the BIG WIRES Act to encourage states to build infrastructure we need to move to clean energy, the Technical Service Provider Access Act, in which farmers, ranchers and forest-owners put climate-smart programs into practice on their own land, and the Reinvesting in Shoreline Economies and Ecosystems Act, which would protect American coastlines and coastal communities, including those along the Great Lakes, from sea level rise and coastal erosion.
These are some of the most effective bills in Congress right now to address climate change. Thank you for your legacy as a climate champion.
Brian Ettling, Portland
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