Breach PIELC Panels
Find the full schedule here.
Thursday, 3:30 - 5:00 pm: The Fight Against False Fossil “Solutions” (EMU 145)
A discussion about risks and concerns related to oil and gas industry plans to expand Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) and hydrogen, particularly as a growing number of local governments are taking action to regulate methane gas and require electrification in buildings.
Panelists: Carra Sahler, GEI; Dylan Plummer, Sierra Club; Teryn Yazdani, Beyond Toxics; Nihal Shrinath, Sierra Club
Friday, 10:45 am - 12:15 pm: Fighting Climate Disinformation: From Carbon Majors, to Industry Front Groups, All the Way to Local Utilities (EMU 146)
Large fossil fuel corporations (the “Carbon Majors”), fossil fuel trade associations and other front groups, and even local utilities have each engaged in long-running campaigns to deceive the public and conceal the harms of their products and activities. This panel will outline the similarities, differences and connections between the tactics used by these different entities, and discuss the legal remedies (i.e. litigation, statutory and administrative) that are currently being pursued, and potentially could be pursued, to redress fossil fuel industry harms.
Panelists: Naomi Spoelman, Center for Climate Integrity; Danny Noonan, Breach Collective; Nick Caleb, Breach Collective
Saturday, 10:45 am - 12:15 pm: Rumble on the River - Riled Up Over the CEI Hub & Zenith Energy (EMU 104)
Rumble On The River” Community Forums inform the public on the CEI (Critical Energy Infrastructure) Hub and Zenith Energy. Zenith is an oil terminal located within the 6-mile stretch of aging tank farms lining the north reach of the Willamette River. In March 2022, the Oregon Legislature passed SB 1567 which requires “owners or operators of bulk oils and liquid fuels terminals to conduct and submit to DEQ seismic vulnerability assessments... by June 1, 2024”. Can this be enough? Community concern over Zenith Energy’s oil transport and storage has engaged community members in petition drives, rallies, civil disobedience, a necessity defense trial, and countless testimonies and phone calls to city government. The panel will provide background and updates on this regional issue.
Panelists: Nick Caleb, Breach Collective; Melanie Plaut, Mem- ber (retired) Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility; Bob Sallinger, Portland Audubon; Audrey Leonard, Columbia Riverkeeper; Elijah Cetas, Founding Member Braided River Campaign
Saturday, 10:45 am - 12:15 pm: Climate Ethics for Legal Practice (LAW 184)
Law Students for Climate Accountability works to uncover and shift the role of the legal industry in the climate crisis. This requires internal transformation, and prioritizing relational organizing. While there are many attempts to incrementally shift specific practices in the legal profession, often focused on in-office sustainability, the climate crisis demands fundamental changes to firms’ business models. As a result, LSCA is focused on building the people power it takes to create change on the scale we need. We are learning from the labor movement to think of ourselves as workers with power in our workplaces, and to build solidarity with other workers. Our panelists will discuss the intersections of movements, and how we build a culture of trust and collaboration in a profession dominated by individualism and competition. LSCA believes a cultural shift is vital for building a world compatible with human life in the long term.
Panelists: Haley Czarnek, LSCA; Camila Bustos, Incoming Assistant Professor at The Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University; Kelsey Dunn, Stanford Law student; Michaela Anang, UC Davis Law/ Geography PhD
Saturday, 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm: Movement Law: Theory, Strategy, and Defense (LAW 175)
Movement law is a budding niche of legal work that is still being understood and defined. The core components include embedding lawyers and legal workers in the movements they advise, shifting the dynamic of “lawyer knows all” to a collaborative and equal grounded relationship between legal advisor and activist, and using legal professionals as conduits for the most relevant and strategic information in the legal system back to the grassroots people power to better engage in their fights for justice. Movement lawyers, unlike traditional lawyers, do not reinforce the authority and carceralism of the law, but rather seek to alleviate its impacts on the communities that it harms. This workshop features several movement law practitioners - some barred attorneys and some not - who will share their unique journeys in this field and how they each apply movement law principles in the work that they do.
Facilitators: Lauren Regan, CLDC; Carlton Williams, Cornell University; Camila Bustos, Incoming Assistant Professor at The Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University; Travis London, organizer
Saturday, 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm: Legal Pathways for Local Governments to Regulate Gas in Oregon (LAW 184)
In response to the climate crisis and mounting evidence of the public health risks of gas appliances, cities and counties in Oregon are increasingly exploring local regulations of gas infrastructure. Regulatory options include limiting or prohibit- ing new gas infrastructure, incentivizing electrification of new buildings, and facilitating retrofits of existing buildings. This panel will discuss the potential legal pathways under Oregon law for local governments to regulate gas. These pathways include franchise agreements, building code amendments, “home rule” authority over public health and safety, land use and zoning, and taxes and fees.
Panelists: Caroline Cilek, Green Energy Institute; Carra Sahler, Green Energy Institute; Nick Caleb, Breach Collective; Danny Noonan, Breach Collective
Sunday, 9:00 - 10:30 am: Building Electrification, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the End of “Natural” Fracked Gas (LAW 243)
A discussion about the building decarbonization benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act, and the broader campaign for transition- ing the United States’ building stock off of methane gas to clean, renewable electricity. Looking at the federal implications of new funding and programs from the IRA, gaps that the IRA has not yet filled, as well as looking locally in Eugene and across the State about the campaigns to shut down the polluting industry and ensure clean and safe homes and buildings for all.
Panelists: Nihal Shrinath, Sierra Club; Amneh Minkara, Sierra Club; Nick Caleb, Breach Collective
