Our Achievements

From the inception of the modern environmental movement, the Oregon Environmental Council staff and volunteers have worked across the state to advocate on behalf of all Oregonians. Our notable results have made Oregon a healthier, cleaner place for all of us, and for the generations to come. Below are some of our key achievements.

1968   

• OEC founded

• Passed Mt. Jefferson Wilderness Bill 

1969

• OEC has first full-time environmental advocate and legislative lobbyist working in Salem

• First conference on statewide Oregon environmental concerns sponsored by OEC

1971

• Led citizen support that passed Oregon’s bottle bill, the first in the nation

• OEC is sole environmental group advocating bill to establish a role for the state in energy facility siting.  Creation of the Nuclear and Thermal Energy Council puts the state in the driver’s seat with regard to nuclear facility siting

• Supported the passing of the historic Beach Bill protecting Oregon’s coast

1972

• Created Oregon’s first recycling hotline

1973

• Helped pass SB100, Oregon’s land use planning law

1975

• Secured National Recreation Area protection for Hells Canyon

1977

• Secured nation’s first ban on certain ozone-depleting chemicals

1978

• Defeated proposed Days Creek Dam on the South Umpqua River; helped gain wilderness status for French Pete Creek Valley

1980  

• Crater Lake Wilderness Area bill is adopted: established ecologically-based boundary adjustments resulted in additional 22,890 acres to the park and accounted for natural topography in the design of Crater Lake National Park

1981

• Passed Oregon’s Safe Drinking Water Act

1983   

• Passed Oregon’s law guaranteeing curbside recycling and the first legislation nationally to set pollution standards for wood stoves

1987   

• Created Oregon Superfund Program and the Governor’s Watershed Enhancement Board (GWEB, now known as Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board)

1989

• Passed Oregon Groundwater Protection Act

1991

• Secured toughest law in the nation regulating cyanide heap-leach mining
• Secured the nation’s first law requiring state agencies to minimize pesticide use

1997

• Created “50 Ways to Love Your River” booklet and distributed over 20,000 copies, with over 1 million media “hits” from public service messages in print, radio, animated TV spot

1998

• Helped launch nation’s first for-profit car sharing firm

1999

• Passed top legislative priority – a Pesticide Right to Know Law guaranteeing public access to data about all commercial pesticide use in Oregon. Only the third such law in the nation.

2001

• Mercury pilot projects swapped over 3,000 switches in cars, increased fluorescent tube recycling by 8% in targeted areas, and reduce mercury pollution from industrial boilers

2003   

• Passed a first-of-its-kind tax incentive for insurance companies to offer Pay-as-You-Drive (per-mile) auto insurance. When available, PAYD insurance will offer drivers more control over driving expenses and provide a strong financial incentive to drive less.
• Secured Environmental Quality Commission adoption of new rules to begin reducing toxic air pollution (diesel, benzene, etc.) after five years of effort. Rules go beyond EPA requirements and are a national model

2005

• Passed legislation banning toxic flame retardants that contaminate women’s breast milk

2006

• Secured adoption of clean car standards to reduce tailpipe emissions, which will cut global warming pollution from new cars and light duty trucks by an average of 22% by 2012 and 30% by 2016
• Won national EPA Children’s Environmental Health Excellence Award for our Eco-Healthy Child Care and Tiny Footprints programs that help parents and caregivers reduce children’s exposure to toxic chemicals

2007

• Passed Climate Change Integration Act which set aggressive greenhouse gas reduction goals into statute and established a statewide Global Warming Commission
• Passed Renewable Fuels Standard to promote the development of local, sustainable biofuels
• Succeeded in phasing out the Pollution Control Tax Credit, which provided taxpayer money to companies to comply with environmental laws
• Supported creation of an Oregon Environmental Justice Task Force, which will advise state agencies on how to protect all communities from pollution, enact laws equitably and involve traditionally under-represented communities in reviewing agency actions
• Helped to pass Measure 49, a partial fix to Measure 39's rollback of statewide land use planning
• Launched the Carbon Neutral Challenge for Oregon wineries, with more than 30 wineries participating to reduce their carbon footprint

2008   

• Expanded first-in-the-nation Eco-Healthy Child Care program nationwide
• Released landmark Pollution in People report, which tested the bodies of 10 Oregon men and women for chemicals, followed by the Price of Pollution report, the state’s first-ever economic assessment of the true costs of environmentally triggered disease in Oregon