Locus Focus News Today

The Willamette River Basin once supported tremendous salmon runs. Today, less than 10,000 wild Chinook salmon return each year to the Upper Willamette River basin, approximately a 97% reduction of the historic estimates. And one of the main culprits for the threatened extinction of Willamette River salmon and steelhead are a network of thirteen dams built and operated by the

After promising to ditch crude oil, documents show that Zenith Energy intends to expand its Portland, OR, terminal while continuing to handle fossil fuels. The amount of liquid fuels passing through the terminal is projected to increase more than 2.5 times above 2022 levels and more than 5.5 times above 2019 numbers—the year Zenith assured DEQ it would not increase throughput. 

On April 1, forest defenders launched a tree sit to stop old growth logging on federal Bureau of Land Management land in Southern Oregon. They are opposing the Poor Windy timber sale, which targets thousands of acres of mature and old growth forest. The timber sale is just one of countless projects the BLM has proposed across the region that will clearcut mature and old growth

We need to decarbonize as swiftly as possible and the most direct path is through electrification. We can make most of the electricity we need through proven green technologies like solar, wind and geothermal, yet the fossil fuel industry is hyping hydrogen as its preferred low-carbon replacement for powering vehicles, heavy industry and heating buildings.

The Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, which oversee most of the nation’s Mature Old Growth forests, continue to defy overwhelming public support for protection, scientific calls for a moratorium on logging, and the presidents’ initial direction to develop conservation options for Mature Old Growth forests. Instead, these agencies are now targeting the last, best

Several years ago NEXT Energy (now NXT) proposed to build a renewable diesel refinery and rail yard at Port Westward, a spectacular point of land protruding into the Columbia River Estuary near the town of Clatskanie. The proposal was enthusiastically supported by the Port of Columbia County and some business interests in Clatskanie and vehemently opposed by farmers and other

The Hanford Nuclear Reservation is one of the most polluted places on the planet. Its legacy from nearly a half-century of Plutonium production has left a toxic stew of radioactive and chemical waste that will remain hazardous for tens of thousands of years. But while the US Department of Energy struggles to clean up this mess, there are plans a foot to build a new generation

The environment and the climate are having a rough ride at Portland City Council and in the backrooms of the Oregon State Capitol. Less than a day before a hearing on a housing regulatory reform package, Portland City Commissioner Rene Gonzalez, working behind the scenes with the Portland Business Alliance and other developers, introduced amendments that would suspend City of

This November Portland voters have the historic opportunity to elect a new city council that actually reflects the diversity of its constituents. In 2022 voters overwhelmingly supported a city charter change that transforms the structure of the city government, dividing the city into four districts that each elect 3 council members to represent that district. Now several

This November Portland voters have the historic opportunity to elect a new city council that actually reflects the diversity of its constituents. In 2022 voters overwhelmingly supported a city charter change that transforms the structure of the city government, dividing the city into four districts that each elect 3 council members to represent that district. Now several