Locus Focus

For over twenty years Columbia Riverkeeper has been a major voice in

protecting the mighty Columbia River. In that time Riverkeeper has worked on

many fronts to enforce environmental laws to stop illegal pollution, protect

salmon habitat, and challenge harmful fossil fuel t...

As you drive along St. Helens Road in NW Portland, to the west rise the West

Hills and Forest Park. But to the east you see a landscape diametrically

opposed to the verdant scene acorss the highway. What is in those tank farms

that go on and on, bordered by railroad tracks ...

After the accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor in 1979, it

looked like the nuclear industry’s halcyon days were over. The Chernobyl

and Fukishima disasters drove home even more starkly just how dangerous

nuclear power is. But in recent years there has been a gr...

As pressure increases for us to drastically reduce carbon emissions, one

attention-grabbing option being promoted is renewable hydrogen. But is

hydrogen really the answer to our energy needs or is its promotion largely

based on false promises? On this episode of Locus Focus...

This program aired originally on March 21, 2022

The regenerative farming movement has mostly centered around restoring soil

and ecosystem health and leaving our land, waters, and climate in better

shape for future generations. But regenerative farming also requires

reck...

This program originally aired on February 7, 2022

At a critical bend in the Columbia River estuary, a company called NEXT

Renewable Fuels, Inc., wants to build a renewable diesel refinery. The

proposed refinery at Port Westward would be one of the largest producers of

r...

This program initially aired on January 31, 2022

The Portland metro area is a land of water at the confluence of two of the

major rivers in the Pacific Northwest. The Chinookan People, who lived along

the Columbia and Willamette Rivers before European contact, were maste...

This past Martin Luther King Day, Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kefoury sent

out an email with the subject line "Pressing on toward Dr. King’s Beloved

Community in the face of ongoing challenges." She concluded the email with

this statement: "The last several years have st...

For decades we have been sold the story-line that natural gas is the best and

cleanest fuel for cooking and heating. More recently the gas industry has

been promoting gas as a bridge fuel to a renewable future and even arguing

that so-called renewable natural gas is a green...

With a Russian military convoy advancing on her city of Kyiv, Ukraine’s

leading climate scientist made this emotional plea at the most recent meeting

of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. “Human-induced climate

change and the war on Ukraine have the same roots, ...