Topic:
Residents and visitors alike cherish Oregon’s 360+ miles of coastline, from Astoria to Brookings. This beautiful and
bountiful coast is also home to some of the most promising sites for renewable energy development in the United States.
Just this year, the federal government identified two areas (the Coos Bay “call area” and the Brookings “call area” – see map, courtesy of Bureau of Ocean Energy Management) off the Southern Oregon Coast for future wind energy development.
In addition, recent findings about wave energy have led the federal government to award a $25 million grant to Oregon State University to build a first-of-its-kind wave energy testing facility off the coast of Newport.
While these projects could produce clean electricity to power thousands of homes, there are significant concerns about potential impacts to the environment and economy. Experts from the Coast who work in the non-profit, private, and public sectors and who hold a diverse array of viewpoints about the future of energy on the Coast will discuss the costs and benefits of the proposed wave energy project.
Note the Thursday, Oct. 27, meeting date!
Speakers
Title:
Organization: Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission/Fishermen Involved in Natural Energy
Website:
Biography:
Bob Eder is a career commercial fisherman who has worked in numerous West Coast fisheries, mainly trapping Dungeness crab and sablefish. He began fishing in Port Orford in the 1970’s and moved to Newport in 1986. He has partnered in oceanographic and fisheries research with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Oregon State University, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and the University of California at Santa Cruz. He represented fisheries on the board of the Oregon Wave Energy Trust for five years. He currently serves on the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission and is vice-chair of FINE, Fishermen Involved in Natural Energy, of Lincoln County, Oregon.
Title: Vice Chair
Organization: Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw
Website:
Biography:
Julie Siestreem is the Vice Chair of the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw. She serves on the Oregon Legislative Commission on Indian Services (LCIS).
Title:
Organization: Sol Coast Companies/Pacific Ocean Energy Trust
Website:
Biography:
Shannon Souza owns Sol Coast Companies, which provides sustainability consulting and contracting to support strategic growth, responsible development, and sustainable living. She is Policy Director for Pacific Ocean Energy Trust (POET) and co-founder of Oregon Coast Energy Alliance Network (OCEAN). She served for four years as Oregon Solar + Storage Industry Association’s (OSSIA) Policy Chair, and represents the Professional Engineers of Oregon on Gov. Brown’s Resilience Mitigation Advisory Council. She is a professional engineer and water rights examiner with the state of Oregon, and her practice has included low impact development, habitat restoration, public water supply planning and expansion, industrial waste minimization, and net zero building design. She earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Santa Clara University and in 2019 was named Oregon’s Engineer of the Year.
Title: Regional Supervisor, Office of the Environment
Organization: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
Website:
Biography:
Jean Thurston-Keller is the Regional Supervisor in the Office of the Environment in the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Pacific Regional Office. She is a renewable energy expert and has served as the Coordinator of BOEM’s California Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Task Force.
