The carbon pollution in our atmosphere from burning fossil fuels like oil and coal is waging a direct and unchecked assault on our farming, fishing and forests – the cornerstones of Oregon’s rural economy.
When Jeff was young, his dad worked as a millwright. He spent his childhood in Southern Oregon timber communities, where timber jobs were what put food on the table and kept roofs over folks’ head. Fires and insect infestations are already killing trees at alarming rates across the Northwest, and climate change will only make these threats to our forests worse. Other iconic Oregon industries like our coastal oyster hatcheries are threatened by ocean acidification, and fishing and farming alike are facing threats from declining snowpacks and increased drought.
Congress needs to wake up. Climate change is real, and it’s bad for our economy and jobs, especially in rural Oregon and the places that most depend on our abundant natural resources.
Senators Merkley, Heinrich, King Join Illegally Fired Federal Workers to Stress Dangers of Public Lands Staffing Shortages
***VIDEO FROM ROUNDTABLE HERE*** Washington, D.C. – Senate Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Martin Heinrich (D-NM), and Senate Energy and Natural Resources National Parks Subcommittee Ranking Member Senator Angus King (I-ME) held a virtual roundtable with public lands employees
Wyden, Merkley Reintroduce Legislation to Help Recreation and Wildfire Prevention Work in SW Oregon and Near Molalla River
Washington D.C.— – U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley today reintroduced their legislation that would boost recreation opportunities in Southwestern Oregon and on the Molalla River in Clackamas County, while ensuring wildfire prevention work in both regions. The senators’ Oregon Recreation Enhancement (ORE) Act would create the Rogue Canyon
Merkley, Wyden, Colleagues Sound the Alarm Over EPA Clean School Bus Program Funds Freeze
Letter Text (PDF) Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden joined their colleagues in demanding an update from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin on the distribution of funding for the Clean School Bus program to recipients with signed agreements and urging the EPA
Wyden, Merkley Join Bill to Codify DOJ’s Office of Environmental Justice
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley said today they are joining legislation that would permanently codify the Office of Environmental Justice within the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, in the wake of Attorney General Pam Bondi’s recent order eliminating all environmental justice efforts
Merkley, Wyden, Colleagues Question HUD Secretary on Alarming Consequences of New DOGE Task Force on Housing for America’s Families
Text of Letter (PDF) Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden joined an effort to press U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner about the alarming consequences of a recently announced “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) Task Force that threatens to seriously hinder HUD’s
Merkley, Wyden: Trump Devastates Oregon’s Rural Communities with Federal Funding Cuts and Mass Firings
Washington, D.C. – Today, Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley, the former top Democrat on the Appropriations subcommittee overseeing the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and Ron Wyden demanded recently confirmed U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins immediately reverse disastrous actions at the USDA that have harmed Oregon farmers and families. Their
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