Oregon lawmakers set to hear from climate advocates on heat death prevention

PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — As the five year anniversary of the tragic 2021 heat dome in Oregon approaches, lawmakers will hear from advocates about the need to renew funding for programs to help cool homes for people that cannot afford it.

The anniversary of the month that saw triple-digit temperatures for multiple days in a row and took the lives of over 100 people comes amid one of the season’s first heat waves in the metro area.

“Beyond the immediate impact to individuals, there’s also other impacts of extreme heat to our economy, our infrastructure, the broader environment. We’re here today to say, ‘hey, look, we are already facing breaking, record breaking temperatures this summer. We’re on track to be the second warmest sort of year on record and we need to prepare our homes, our buildings, our communities for this extreme heat,’” said Ben Brint, Senior Climate Program Director at Oregon Environmental Council ahead of the Tuesday hearing.

He noted that the informational hearing will be a way to call lawmakers attention to the issue and raise awareness about some climate programs that have either already expired or are set to.

“Lawmakers should feel really good about responding to that heat dome and passing really impactful state programs like a community and rental home heat pump program, community resilience hubs, a healthy homes program. And what these all do are offer, you know, basically incentives to say, ‘let’s get this lifesaving technology in your home,’ or ‘let’s give you a place to go for your community. If you need to go cool down, or maybe you don’t live in a home or have access to cooling, here’s a central place that you can go to.’ And so we’re here saying, please, please reinvest in these programs,” Brint said.

The community and rental home heat pump programs are both set to expire.

You can watch the full hearing using this link or below: