Locus Focus

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 extin...

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...

Woody Biomass is being promoted as a carbon neutral climate solution.

Proposals for industrial scale wood pellet projects are popping up in

California and Washington State, that claim they will help to protect forests

and benefit rural communities—as well as combat climate ...

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 ...

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 U...

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...

This program originally aired on February 12, 2024

 

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...

This show originally aired on February 5, 2024

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 ...

A massive pumped storage development threatens to inundate a sacred area

known as “Pushpum” by the Yakama Nation, which means the ‘mother of all

roots.’ Excavation and construction of underground infrastructure would

obliterate Tribal Cultural Properties and cultural resour...

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 conser...