This is directly copied from a Rising Tide North America email, the West Coast Convergence for Climate Action is rockin!

Check for photos at www.risingtidenorthamerica.org tomorrow!

At approximately 2 p.m. today two activists with the Convergence for Climate Action walked onto Portland, Oregon's Morrison Bridge and unfurled a banner protesting the Interstate 5 expansion known as the Columbia River Crossing. One activist suspended from the bridge and another locked himself to a gate leading to area where the banner was hung. The banner reads “Six more lanes equal more sick people – No I-5 Bridge Expansion.”

The bridge activists are supported by a politically charged street theater performance depicting the expanded bridge, cars, and bikes. Representatives of the Oil Enforcement Agency will be handing out tickets to passersby.

Activists were drawing attention to the proposed Interstate 5 expansion and Columbia River Crossing (CRC) project because of concerns about the climate impacts as well as the continued reliance on oil-based transportation infrastructure at a time when oil supplies are falling and prices are rising dramatically. Opponents of the project point out that the state of Oregon has stated a goal of reducing global warming pollution to at least 75% below 1990 levels, with transportation-caused global warming pollution responsible for 1/3 of regional global warming pollution. Public health advocates at the hearing point out that the I-5 freeway has already had a negative impact on the health of low-income communities and communities of color along the freeway and that increased driving would lead to further pollution. Finally, homeowners are up in arms about the possibility of their property being seized through imminent domain to make way for an expanded highway.

Later at approximately 3:15 p.m., three young women occupied the headquarters of NW Natural Gas Co. in Portland to protest the company’s involvement in Liquefied Natural Gas development (LNG). The climate activists locked themselves to each other in a circle, blockading the entrance to the building providing an opportunity for interaction with the growing crowd.

The activists at NW Natural oppose the Palomar Gas Transmission pipeline project and are demanding that NW Natural CEO Mark S. Dodson or president and COO Gregg S. Kantor engage in an immediate dialogue. The 223-mile Palomar pipeline is proposed to connect the Bradwood Landing LNG terminal to a California-bound TransCanada pipeline. The pipeline would be constructed through the wetlands of the Columbia River Estuary, through hundreds of Willamette Valley farms, through the Mt. Hood National Forest, and then to Madras. Activists and community members oppose the pipeline due to related global and local environmental destruction and social injustices.

“NW Natural is one of our region's biggest climate criminals. It is widely recognized that in the fight against climate change, the last thing we need is to build new fossil fuel infrastructure. NW Natural’s Palomar Pipeline would only increase our dependence on another foreign fossil fuel,” said Sandy Miller, a Eugene resident and participant in the recent Convergence for Climate Action held in Coburg, OR. She added, “We will not let them bulldoze our future for pipeline profits.”

more at www.risingtidenorthamerica.org in the next 24 hours!