Open Letter to PPS: Community seeks accountability for District fossil gas investment at Benson Tech
Update: Listen to this NPR story about the methane heating system in Benson Tech that aired November 22, 2022 on Morning Edition
October 26, 2022
Dear Portland Public Schools Board of Directors,
We, the undersigned organizations, are deeply troubled by news that the Benson Polytechnic High School Modernization Project continues to proceed with plans for a fossil fuel heating system, which is inconsistent with Portland Public School’s recently-adopted Climate Crisis Response Policy, which expressly states:
Goal 1.1: PPS will design and construct new low-carbon schools and renovations that are energy-efficient, resilient, and adaptable.
2. [PPS will] phase out fossil fuel infrastructure (gas-fired equipment) in all existing buildings by 2050.
Last spring, we applauded PPS’s leadership in adopting this progressive policy. It will prepare our schools to deal with unpredictable weather and air quality events that threaten students’ health and well-being and eliminate carbon pollution on a timeline consistent with local, state, federal, and global accords. With two school electrification projects under its belt, the students and community volunteers who helped PPS draft this policy over the past three years felt confident the District was heading in the right direction. However, at Benson it appears that a lack of District coordination has resulted in PPS-employed contractors negating this critical policy.
The community demands that PPS do the following：
Halt work on fossil fuel infrastructure at Benson Tech until this issue is resolved.
Before proceeding with work on Benson mechanical systems, produce a full cost-benefit-analysis of methane gas vs. electric. This analysis was required during the standard design and engineering process. The model should:
Use weather data from the past decade and include HVAC system assumptions that reflect our changing climate’s increasing need for cooling and air filtration.
Estimate future costs with multiple price and supply constraint scenarios.,
Include in the final report an environmental impact analysis for the construction of Benson with fossil fuel infrastructure.
Determine the cost of switching from fossil gas to all-electric energy at this stage in the modernization project.
The School Board must host a forum in partnership with top staff who did not follow Board policy to field concerns of students and community members and to help build trust that the policy will be followed on future renovation & rebuild projects.
We are concerned that if PPS fails to grasp the urgency of this situation and does not correct course as described above, it will:
Undermine youth mental health. Adults in power have a moral obligation to act on behalf of the welfare of children. When governmental bodies betray this trust and fail to safeguard children’s chances of survival, youth experience moral injury.,, A 2022 report by Oregon Health Authority, describes an array of feelings currently experienced by Oregon youth related to the climate crisis upon us:
They experience feelings of hopelessness, despair, anxiety and frustration about climate change.
They feel dismissed by adults and the older generation.
They feel angry that not enough is being done to protect their future.
They understand climate change as closely linked with systemic racism and oppression. They believe both need to be addressed at the same time.
Forego opportunities to use the campus as pedagogy. Portland voters are counting on the Benson school community to prepare youth to fill essential jobs that will help take us toward a bright future. While it is exciting that an on-site solar array will be part of this project, PPS is missing the carbon-free boat if the culinary instruction room is equipped with NO2/formaldehyde-emitting gas ranges, rather than induction stoves. The future is electric and a truly modernized campus should help young people see their role in bringing about a post-carbon world.
Kick costs down the road. Rather than correct this mistake before new fossil fuel systems are installed, the School Board and the District Administration are proposing to undertake a(nother) electrification retrofit of Benson some time within the next 27 years—an expensive and wasteful proposition. In the meantime, this would tether PPS to higher methane gas prices, which are projected to keep climbing as western states phase out this powerful atmospheric pollutant.
Erode public trust in the integrity of district leadership. This situation may cause the community to wonder what it means when PPS leadership adopts a policy, what process led to the violation of this policy, whether PPS regularly disregards District policy, and what recourse is taken when staff members disregard District policy. As Abraham Lincoln said, “Law without enforcement is just good advice.”
Lock in greenhouse gas pollution for decades. Last year PPS purchased $3.5 million in methane gas from NW Natural and, despite major renovations, usage (in Therms) has increased across the District over the past 10 years. Assuming some efficiency gains, if Benson consumes half as much fossil gas as it did in 2018-19, it will still emit 561 metric tons CO2, (equivalent to driving 1.4 million passenger car miles) each year until it is fully-electrified. Oregon’s large institutions know that the state’s electric grid will be 100% renewable by 2040, so installing appropriate equipment today is the best way to leverage regional public and private carbon reduction investments.
We understand that requiring Facilities and Asset Management to repair this mechanical design error may increase the project cost and extend the renovation timeline, impacting Benson families and staff traveling to the Marshall campus, and the timeline for subsequent projects. We acknowledge and regret both the costs and inconveniences, but believe that in the long term they are dwarfed by the scope of the climate disaster before us and the prospect of funding a second Benson modernization bond within 27 years. Portland voters are counting on PPS to invest in our collective future wisely, and not throw more money at a bad decision.
We appreciate your urgent consideration of these issues.
Ben Stevenson, Political Empowerment Lead, Sunrise Movement PDX
Adah Crandall, Organizing Lead, Portland Youth Climate Strike
Ella Shriner, Organizer, Portland Youth Climate Council
Dineen O’Rourke, Campaign Manager, 350PDX
Samantha Hernandez, Climate Justice Organizer, Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility
Danny Noonan, Climate and Energy Strategist, Breach Collective
Noelle Studer-Spevak, Board Officer, Families for Climate
Margaret Butler, Coordinating Team, Extinction Rebellion PDX
Debra Higbee-Sudyka, Conservation Committee Chair, Oregon Chapter Sierra Club
Bill Bigelow, Tim Swinehart, Jan Zuckerman, Katherine Muller, Treothe Bullock, Mike Rosen, PPS Climate Justice Committee Steering Committee
Lenny Dee, Onward Oregon
Luis Alvarez, Owner, Gabriel’s Bakery
Brett Baylor, Rick Brown, Linda Craig, Pat DeLaquil, Daniel Frye, Debby Garman, KB Mercer, Michael Mitton, Rich Peppers, Rand Schenck, Jane Stackhouse, Catherine Thomasson: Metro Climate Action Team Steering Committee
Mary Peveto, Executive Director, Neighbors for Clean Air
Linda Craig, Nancy Harrison, Keith Iding and Roberta Richardson, Portland First Unitarian Community for Earth Steering Committee
Elianne Lieberman, Harriet Cooke, co-chairs, Havurah Shalom Climate Action Team
Joana Kirchhoff, Raging Grannies
Footnotes:
https://www.pps.net/cms/lib/OR01913224/Centricity/Domain/4814/3.30.080-P.pdf
://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2017/03/mental-health-climate.pdf
Former PPS board member, Michael Rosen made a formal records request in early October and found that a cost-benefit analysis comparing electric to fossil gas heating was never performed.
U.S. electricity generation from renewables is at 22% and steadily rising https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/steo/pdf/steo_full.pdf
Two electrification scenarios for Oregon commercial buildings. https://www.synapse-energy.com/net-zero-emissions-oregon-buildings
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3918955
https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2022/05/the-kids-are-not-ok/
https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMp1905504
https://www.oregon.gov/oha/PH/HEALTHYENVIRONMENTS/CLIMATECHANGE/Pages/Mental-Health-Effects.aspx
https://oregoncub.org/news/blog/gas-utilities-sue-to-avoid-reducing-emissions/2505/
See PPS Utility Dashboard, available at https://www.pps.net/Page/2093
https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gases-equivalencies-calculator-calculations-and-references
https://www.opb.org/article/2021/06/26/oregon-lawmakers-carbon-emissions-reduction-goals-state-energy-grid/