It's highly contagious

If you're like me, you're of the opinion that the City of Portland's "clean energy fund" is a scam whereby certain well-connected nonprofit organizations, fly-by-night or otherwise, get free handouts for anything they want that uses power or can somehow be related to energy, no matter how tenuous the connection. New heat pumps? Check. New windows? Sure, re-do the whole office. Electric cars? No problem. How about classes to train your friends on the skills they need for "clean energy" jobs? Sure, money is no object, don't ask what it even means. In fact, we'll pay for you to build a brand new office building, so long as it's "green"-certified.

I see they've quietly changed the name of the thing, too. Now it's the "Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund." The "community benefits" part must be code for admitting that they're simply enriching the politicians' pals. [City commissioner Carmen] Rubio, who's been hacking around in local government for decades, has learned the game pretty well.

Anyway, her latest proposals take a bad system and make it much worse. They're such spectacularly misguided ideas that they're virtually guaranteed to be approved by the City Council. The three guys sitting next to her should know better, but at least one of them won't risk bucking the almighty "nonprofits."

Well, guess what? Today I learned that the same thing is now happening at the state level. Yes, the Oregon DEQ has something called the "community climate investment program" going, and it sure sounds like the Portland scheme spread out statewide. And before the money gets dished out to the local nonprofits who will pay their "executive directors'" mortgages with it, an umbrella nonprofit will take a cut for their "officers," too.

Seeding Justice, a Portland-based nonprofit that deals in social, racial and environmental justice, was selected by DEQ to lead the agency’s Community Climate Investment program... 

If fossil fuel companies choose to buy carbon credits rather than reduce actual emissions, the money goes toward Community Climate Investment projects, which could include creating more renewable energy, retrofitting and weatherizing buildings, and decarbonizing the transportation sector.

The intention for the investment program is to not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions in underserved communities, which research has shown carry more burden from climate change, but it also aims to reduce air pollution, improve public health and help communities transition from fossil fuels to cleaner energy.

According to Seeding Justice executive director Se-ah-dom Edmo, the organization estimates the fund would generate $150 million each year for climate action across the state.

“I’m fairly confident that $150 million per year is an accurate estimate and I do believe that it’s conservative,” she said.

So I Googled "Seeding Justice," and I didn't have to click around too long before landing on this page, which tells me all I need to know. It's from a while back, when the outfit had a different name:

I wish that I were making all of this up, or that I weren't paying attention. There must be a nice state somewhere where people aren't crazy. But Oregon isn't it.