Tell Portland Officials to Protect Forest Park from Clearcutting

I oppose Portland General Electric’s Harborton Reliability Project

I’m writing to voice my opposition to Portland General Electric’s Harborton Reliability Project, and to urge Portland Permitting and Development to deny the land use permit currently being sought by the utility for the project. As proposed, PGE's power line expansion will not benefit Portland residents, but rather increase residential rates in Portland in order to build energy infrastructure investments for the rapidly expanding technology sector in Hillsboro, including facilities like the Intel expansion project. While the utility claims that the project is needed for growing electricity demand due to climate smart electrification, it is clear when looking at PGE’s data that the vast majority of increased demand is coming from these tech facilities. This is especially concerning in light of the strain that energy intensive tech facilities are putting on our power grid, and our state’s ability to meet our clean energy and climate goals. With electricity costs rapidly rising in Portland and across the state, it is unacceptable for PGE to be using ratepayer money to subsidize a polluting industry, and risking further increases down the line. Additionally, to be approved, the Harborton Reliability Project must meet certain criteria as established in the Forest Park Natural Resources Management Plan (FPNRMP). The FPNRMP establishes the main goals of management to be 1) Let the forest grow into ancient forest and 2) Protect and enhance its recreational/educational value. It is clear that the project is not aligned with these goals, and would cause significant impacts to Forest Park and the surrounding ecosystem, harming bird and other wildlife populations, and impacting recreational areas popular to Portland residents. The project would require the clearcutting of at least five acres of forest along the powerline corridor, including in an area that provides crucial habitat for the imperiled Northern Red Legged Frog. The expanded corridor would allow for the proliferation of noxious weeds and other invasive species, impacting local ecology and increasing wildfire risk. The Portland Bureau of Development Services (BDS) already deemed the utility’s previous application incomplete earlier this year in part due to its ecological impacts, and listed a number of significant barriers to approval in its response to PGE. As is noted in BDS’s letter, the FPNRMP requires that impacts to the park must be mitigated within the same management unit. PGE’s current proposals include mitigation activities outside of the park, which clearly do not meet the criteria established in the NRMP. The benefits of the mature, undisturbed forest land that would be logged would take at least eighty years to recreate with the planting of new forest, and its carbon sequestration potential would be lost indefinitely. Based on a report prepared by Toth and Associates for PGE, there are multiple viable alternatives to siting this project within Forest Park. In fact, the report identifies two alternatives that are “feasible for further discussion,” Alternatives 4 & 8, which both would completely avoid any impact to the ecology of Forest Park. While new energy infrastructure will be required to support the clean energy transition, we cannot blindly sacrifice our environment to support polluting industry’s profits. I am strongly opposed to this project as currently proposed due to its ecological and economic impacts on myself and other Portland residents. Please refuse PGE’s land use permit. Thank you for your consideration.