'Our future is burning': Students protest NW Natural efforts to roll back Eugene's gas ban

Milla Vogelezang-Liu started marching to call for climate action in eighth grade and is just as passionate now about helping mitigate impacts on people and the planet.

“Our future is burning,” the junior at South Eugene High School said before some 200 hundred people gathered Friday afternoon in Kesey Square. “Our lives and those of all future generations are at stake.”

Vogelezang-Liu helped organize a Global Climate Strike march from local high schools and the University of Oregon to downtown Eugene on Friday.

The march and rally protested efforts by a gas utility-backed group to get signatures and put Eugene’s natural gas ban on the ballot.

Students and others gathered at Kesey Square cheered when Vogelezang-Liu talked about the gas ordinance and booed when she talked about NW Natural.

The gas utility is financially supporting a referendum petition to force a public vote on an ordinance that would ban natural gas and other fossil fuel infrastructure in new homes townhouses and other residential structures no taller than three stories.

Eugene City Council passed the ordinance 5-3 last month, citing climate recovery goals and concerns about public health. But the city must hold off on implementing it after the Eugene Residents for Energy Choice committee filed a prospective referendum petition.

If the group gathers enough signatures from registered voters living within Eugene, the pause would hold until an eventual election.

Opponents have claimed officials took a surprise vote to pass the ban and ignored people who spoke out against the ordinance.

Councilor Lyndsie Leech said Friday the decision was “not a surprise, and it was not taken lightly.”

Leech encouraged those gathered at Kesey Square to vote, to get their friends to vote and to share accurate information.

Spreading facts is important because NW Natural is making “shady attempts to undermine the local democratic process,” said Jerrell Brown, environmental and climate justice organizer with the NAACP Eugene-Springfield. The utility is using a “barrage of fossil fuel misinformation” meant to confuse and mislead the community, Brown added.

NW Natural has donated $600,000 and non-monetary resources like voter data and office supplies that are worth a little more than $74,000 to Eugene Residents for Energy Choice. The gas utility also has links to the Portland attorney who helped form the petition committee.

Environmental advocates already have stepped in, asking a judge to alter the language that would appear before voters on the proposed ballot measure.

They’ve filed an appeal requesting changes that add context to the ballot title, such as information about the Climate Recovery Ordinance, which requires the city to reduce fossil fuel consumption by 50% of 2010 levels by 2030. Ballot titles include a caption, question and summary of a proposed measure.

“We will not let this stand,” Vogelezang-Liu said.” We will not allow these villains to steal our future from us for profit.”

Mayor Lucy Vinis told the students who marched that she was proud of them for standing up for their future. The city has not moved fast enough on climate action, Vinis said, but it is taking steps forward.

Vogelezang-Liu and other young people who spoke stressed the impact on themselves and future generations and called out local individuals who are supporting the effort to push the ordinance to the ballot.

The local chapter of Raging Grannies joined them, capping their appearance with a chant complete with with fart sounds.

Contact city government watchdog Megan Banta at mbanta@registerguard.com. Follow her on Twitter @MeganBanta_1.

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Students protest NW Natural efforts to stop Eugene's gas ban