U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley held his 500th town hall Tuesday, April 5, in a virtual town hall for Lincoln County. Topics included plastic pollution, fossil fuels and affordable housing.<\/p>\n
Merkley said it is estimated that we consume a credit’s card worth of plastic a week. Plastics are either burned, buried or out to sea. He said we must tackle this issue from many angles.<\/p>\n
On the coast, people see plastic all the time. It is produced primarily from methane, Merkley added.<\/p>\n
“It has a massive impact on climate change through global warming,” Merkley said.<\/p>\n
The plastic industry is very strong and Merkley said he will keep at it.<\/p>\n
“The oil companies are making massive amounts of money,” Merkley said when the issue of fossil fuels came up. “The report for 2021 was the American oil companies make $209 billion in net profits.”<\/p>\n
Merkley said he is working in partnership with U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, among others, on The Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax, proposed by Whitehouse. The bill would cut a check for everyone in response to inflation and rising gas prices.<\/p>\n
The response to the high cost of fossil fuels is to end our addiction to fossil fuels, Merkley added.<\/p>\n
“The carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the methane in the atmosphere continue to go up,” Merkley said.<\/p>\n
Merkley believes deploying renewable energy is the solution. An average solar panel produces about a quart of gasoline a day.<\/p>\n
“We have to make sure offshore wind is pursued in the context of dialogue with stakeholders but particularly the fishing community,” Merkley said.<\/p>\n
Housing was what made Merkley want to run for office. Middle class America cannot afford to buy a house right now. There is not a single town hall that he has held that has not addressed housing. A lot of housing on the coast is tied up with vacation homes.<\/p>\n
In closing comments, Merkley said the war in Ukraine is an absolute tragedy and Russia is now a dictatorship under President Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n
“Let’s make our democracy work better,” Merkley said.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley held his 500th town hall Tuesday, April 5, in a virtual town hall for Lincoln County. Topics included plastic pollution, fossil fuels and affordable housing. Merkley said it is estimated that we consume a credit’s card worth of plastic a week. Plastics are either burned, buried or out to sea. He […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-in-the-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n