F Page 56 RAIN Spring 1986 From NW Alert! would do three basie things: 1) Set up a Governor's Task Force to aid affected companies through the conversion process. The task force would identify companies involved in nuclear weapons component production and certify conversion costs; 2) Offer companies involved in nuclear weapons component production a 30 percent tax credit for costs of retraining employees and retooling machinery necessary to convert to the production of consumer products; and 3) Halt all production of nuclear weapon components by January 1, 1990 (excluding existing contracts). The operations of four Oregon companies would be affected by the initiative. Passage of the initiative would make Oregon the first state in the U.S. to create guidelines for converting from nuclear weapons production and to actively initiate ^e development of a peace-oriented economy. For more information, contact Citizens for a Nuclear Free Oregon, 1928 NE 40th, Portland, OR 97212. Urban Ecology Conference in Seattle On the weekend of March 7-9, I attended a conference in Seattle called “What Makes a Healthy City?: A Conference on the Ecology of Urban Life.” The conference was co-sponsored by the Chinook Learning Center, an educational community for emerging culture based on Whidbey Island, and the Seattle Tilth Association, dedicated to promoting organie gardening and agriculture. The conference featured Richard Register from Urban Ecology in Berkeley and Robert Gilman, editor of In Context magazine, as keynote speakers. Register discussed many ideas for creating more ecological cities, such as urban creek restoration, rooftop gardens in apartments, “slow streets,” bicycle paths, and “integral neighborhoods” (neighborhoods designed to integrate functions, maximizing local energy and food production and minimizing waste). Several of these ideas had been enacted by his organization in Berkeley; some were more visionary. Gilman’s talk framed city life in a broader cultural and historical context. The conference offered a wealth of resource people from the Seattle area with expertise in such areas as the urban food supply, aesthetics, waste disposal and recycling, neighborhood techology, water quality, edible landscaping, and political processes. A very interactive format maximized participation by all who attended. This generated many creative ideas, enthusiasm, and many fruitful connections between people. The conference demonstrated that there are many people and organizations in the Seattle area committed to building a more livable and sustainable city, and I suspect this conference will serve as a catalyst for much more good work in this area. 1 left the conference a bit envious, wanting a similar conference for my hometown of Portland. I'm sure every city would benefit from bringing its committed, creative, and visionary people together to discuss better ways of doing things at the local level, especially if sympathetic local policy-makers are involved. For more information about the ongoing work of the conference's co-sponsors, contact the Chinook Learning Center at Box 57, Clinton, WA 98236, or the Seattle 'Tilth Association at 4649 Sunnyside Avenue North, Seattle, WA 98103. —FLS Oregon Hanford Strategy Session Citizen action groups throughout Oregon gathered on January 18 at Reed College in Portland to mobilize against Hanford's weapons-material production work and its environmental hazards. The strategy session was convened by the Oregon Hanford Oversight Committee, and included Bob Alvarez, director of the nuclear weapons and nuclear power project for the Environmental Poliey Institute, as guest speaker. A draft resolution was created at the session, which is now being circulated for endorsement, and will then be forwarded to elected state officials. The resolution included the following goals: •Shutdown of liquid waste dumps to prevent further contamination of the Columbia River; •Transfer of research on environmental and health effects from defense contractors to regional universities or other independent research insitutions overseen by state and regional panels; •Make available all documentation of past operations of the Hanford site to libraries in major Northwest cities (this has begun to happen, and led to a few public revelations); •Seek an Oregon state-sponsored report on how siting a high-level nuclear waste repository might affect tourism and agriculture within the state of Oregon; and •Oppose Price-Anderson Act liability limitations currently being debated in Congress. For more information about the ongoing political work around Hanford, contact the Oregon Hanford Oversight Committee, c/o Hanford Clearinghouse, Room 408, The Governor Building, 408 SW Second Avenue, Portland, OR 97204. A monthly newsletter, NW Alert!, is available from the Clearinghouse for $ 12/year. 1
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