While pretty much all of our legislative plastic pollution priorities fell short this year, our "tenacious and big-hearted" approach (*note Senator Dembrow's comments at the end of the video below:)) did earn us what I like to call an "honorable mention hearing" this week in the House Energy and Environment (E&E) Committee. Once committee schedules free up a little in May, committees start to hold informational hearings for issues and bills that didn't make deadlines but legislators request to discuss. These are generally bills or broader issues that will likely come back to the committee and legislature either in the interim session or the next full session. In some cases, this will encourage dialogue between sessions and help leaders work through issues when there is more time and flexibility for discussions in their schedules. Surfrider and Environment Oregon were invited to organize a panel on our plastic pollution priorities by the chair of the House E&E and Representative Schouten who sponsored one of our plastic bills. Celeste Meiffren-Swango of Environment Oregon and myself (Charlie Plybon of Surfrider Foundation) were joined by Tara Brock of Oceana, Neil Tangri of GAIA, Representative Janeen Sollman, Representative Sheri Schouten and Senator Michael Dembrow. You can view the panel below, which starts at the 47.30 mark.
Environment Oregon - Intro and overview of issue (start 47.30)
Oceana - Environment and human impacts (start 54.20)
GAIA - Chemical recycling and incineration (start 1.03.30)
Surfrider - Reduction and consumer-facing policy solutions (start 1.12.35)
Rep. Sollman - Full Producer Responsibility (start 1.24.25)
Senator Dembrow - Closing remarks (start 1.28.30)