Contacting the government

I have written my first letter, but before I write about that I want to share an inspiring story.

Many of you have witnessed heavy rains this week, and know that for many people near creeks and rivers there has been severe flooding.

One of those areas has been Vernonia, where my friend Jeana lives. She wrote this on Facebook on December 9th:

"I just want to point out that we as a community did the right thing in funding a new school and moving it to higher ground. Had we not done that, our schools would be under water yet again. Thank you to all of the people of Vernonia for voting to get the schools to higher ground. This has mitigated the hazards of this flooding and made it less damaging to the entire community. Yes there are many affected still but they have a safe place to go. "

That was good to read, but it was also interesting going back and finding this article:


http://www.oregonlive.com/special/index.ssf/2008/02/vernonia_school_district_seeks.html

Note that money was tight then, and it would only have gotten worse in the following months. Still, they pulled together and did it. That tells me there is hope for these coastal communities that need to move their schools. There is hope for communities that have schools that require extensive retrofitting. We can do this.

Back to what I am doing.

The recommendation was to write to local, state, and federal leaders. I started with the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management because they will be the ones working most closely with the Oregon Fuel Depot. Here is what I wrote:

Hello,

Although I live outside of the Portland city limits, I am very concerned about the Oregon Fuel Depot.

That specific concern comes from watching the Oregon Frontline Unprepared special, but I have been more aware since The New Yorker article. While I have always been interested in personal preparedness, the article reminded me that it is not enough. No one individual can fix the infrastructure, which will be necessary for the recovery of the area.

The Oregon Fuel Depot is a unique part of that equation. Not only would the loss of the fuel source in itself be devastating, but the environmental contamination of the water supply, and the ground, in addition to the fire risk, makes securing of the site well before an earthquake absolutely vital.

My understanding is that your office will be considering this issue. I hope that this will be resolved with the urgency it requires. Its importance cannot be underestimated.

Thank you for your efforts.

Gina Harris
Aloha, Oregon

It will not be exactly the same letter for everyone I write to. As their responsibilities are different, the letters will be different, but having the bare bones of what I want to say makes the customization easier. For some I may focus more on other DOGAMI recommendations.

Now I am going to put some actual leader information.

Federal - I think the Department of Energy (Ernest Moniz) is most pertinent, but you could make a case for Homeland Security (Jeh Johnson).

https://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/cabinet

I already know that my next three are Sen. Ron Wyden, Sen. Jeff Merkley, and Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, but these are easy to find.

https://www.opencongress.org/people/zipcodelookup 

Locally, Jeff Barker may represent some of you, but when we get to the state legislature the districts are a lot smaller. This is a good starting place:

https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/

If you have mayors and city councilors to write to, that is a good step. Unincorporated Aloha does not, and I am not going to write to Washington County specifically about the Oregon Fuel Depot, though I might write to them about other DOGAMI recommendations. Also, it can totally make sense to write to Metro.

http://www.co.washington.or.us/

http://www.oregonmetro.gov/

Government of the people, by the people, and for the people only has the meaning we give it.