Page 50 RAIN Oct./Nov. 1983 We have retained some breadth through administration of the U.S. Department of Energy A.T. Small Grants Program for the Oregon Department of Energy. We have shared the work on that with RAIN. People seldom speak of alternative technologies anymore; they usually refer to renewable technologies, or they speak of a particular technology. And the term appropriate technology seems anachronistic (with due respect to OAT's corporate handle) now that the technologies and the way of thinking that once was almost a movement have become more broadly accepted. However, it's still good to have something like RAIN to remind us of where we came from and that there is a connection that transcends the individual technologies. Sam Sadler was, until recently, director of Oregon Appropriate Technology, Inc., in Eugene, Oregon. He is now an energy conservation specialist at the Oregon Department of Energy in Salem, Oregon. Environmental Activism in the Northwest an interview with Don Waggoner of the Oregon Environmental Council The Oregon Environmental Council will probably, someday hence (say, fifty years from now), be the subject ofa doctoral dissertation as a model public interest group. For it will probably only be after quite a long time (at least in the obscure dens of the academy) that people will realize that such groups were the foundation ofa new form of democracy. They will look into the past to learn how centralized democracy (the Washington, D.C., model) was transformed into a decentralized, bioregionally based democracy. From that perspective, it will be difflcult to realize just how much ofa struggle it was to form and maintain a coalition of interested citizens when such coalitions were mostly considered as gadfiy nuisances. In this brief interview, Don Waggoner talks about the early days of the Oregon Environmental Council.—SJ RAIN: Both Oregon and Washington had chapters of national environmental organizations before the Oregon Environmental Council was formed. How was the establishment of the OEC a new kind of organizing? WAGGONER: In 1968, a statewide initiative came forth that would have made sure the beaches continued to have public access. That went to a statewide vote and failed. After they had failed, the environmental groups said one of the reasons we did so on the statewide vote was the various environmental groups hadn't worked together. At the same time. Brock Evans, who was regional coordinator for the Sierra Club, had already begun to establish a group similar to the OEC in Washington state. This became the Washington Environmental Council. He and Marad- del Gayle and Larry Williams were the people who brought together the initial interest in the OEC. Maraddel became the first president of the OEC in 1969 and volunteered full-time as a lobbyist in Salem during that year's legislative session. RAIN: What was the OEC's original purpose? WAGGONER: It was not to be a single-interest organization. Its purpose was to bring together the historical and multi-interest groups—the Audubon Society, the Sierra Club, and other national organizations. These groups, through their local chapters, signed up with the OEC in this coalition building effort, to make sure a wide variety of issues got heard. RAIN: As a coalihon, what did the OEC undertake? WAGGONER: There was the first shot at the Bottle Bill, energy issues—influencing the Energy Facility Siting Council (Trojan Nuclear Power Plant) and the state energy policy which started the state Department of Energy —wildlife concerns, land use, wilderness protection, and beach access. In 1969, we were involved in stopping the transportation of nerve gas through Oregon. It was the concern of those who had diverse interests to build coalitions on whatever might come up at any given time. It operated strictly on a volunteer basis; if a certain person cared about a particular issue, they would just go for it. We had a rather large number of groups that were very knowledgeable. All they had to do was start working under the banner of the OEC. RAIN: After these years of experience and struggle, what would you point to as a lesson for the eighties? WAGGONER: You have to have a wide degree of support, and it's not enough to have dedicated volunteers. There must be a number of people in elected office who share the concern for the environmental ethic. This includes people who are appointed—witness James Watt. The reason we were successful in the early seventies was because we had a number of people in the state Senate, in the House, and concern nationally coming from Earth Day. We also had the passage of the National Environmental Protection Act and a very supportive governor, Tom McCall. For example, take the Bottle Bill. If we hadn't had friends in the Senate, or in the House, or had an unsupportive governor, we wouldn't have had a Bottle Bill. Also, if we hadn't have had the people who were willing to speak out, we wouldn't have had the Bottle Bill. If you have all four, you're going to get someplace. Don Waggoner was president of the OEC from 1972 to 1974, serves on its executive committee, and is vice presiden t of Leupold and Stevens, a manufacturer of water management and pollution monitoring equipment.
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