June 26, 2019
For Immediate Release
Media Contact:
Andrew Miller
(503) 222-1676
STIMSON LUMBER URGES COMPANY-WIDE BOYCOTT OF OREGON BUSINESSES PUSHING FOR REGRESSIVE CARBON TAXES
CEO applauds Dutch Bros. Coffee and Fort George Brewery for recognizing that HB 2020 would have severely impacted their customers
PORTLAND, OR
. – Stimson Lumber Company CEO Andrew Miller announced today that he is urging all Stimson employees and contractors to boycott the businesses that signed onto the group ‘Oregon Business for Climate’ in support of the disastrous House Bill 2020, or “Cap & Trade” legislation. After a groundswell of pushback from Oregon’s natural resource industries and rural Oregonians, Dutch Bros. Coffee and Fort George Brewery withdrew from the controversial group whose mission clearly states that it supports instituting “a price on carbon emissions”. The statewide pushback has generated several rallies at the Capitol to oppose carbon taxes and precipitated a walkout by all Senate Republicans to stop the legislation. As a result, Senate President Peter Courtney announced yesterday that HB 2020 does not have enough votes in the Senate to pass and that the bill is ‘dead’.
"I applaud Dutch Bros. Coffee and Fort George Brewery for recognizing that the passage of HB 2020 would have been the death knell for many of our rural communities," stated Andrew Miller, CEO of Stimson Lumber. “This legislation would have imposed billions in new taxes on Oregonians who can least afford them, while having an imperceptible impact on our climate. Cap & Trade’s carbon pricing and credit schemes have always been about funneling taxpayer money to special interest groups with little accountability and results to show for their efforts to combat carbon emissions”, Miller said.
Mr. Miller explained that HB 2020 was a flawed concept that allowed for a massive carbon credit scam, would have sent revenue to out-of-state special interests, increased fuel costs to excessive levels, created a huge new bureaucracy to manage it, and would have destroyed Oregon's natural resource jobs. He credits the new #timberunity grassroots organization for mobilizing quickly and rallying tens of thousands of Oregonians to stand up and fight for their livelihoods.
“I read Steve Duin’s latest piece of garbage ‘journalism’ that spit in the face of thousands of Oregonians who fought back against an overreaching government”, Miller said angrily. “Many of the #timberunity members are my employees and I cherish them. I would rather share a beer with a ‘lumberjack in the dusty neighborhood saloon’ any day of the week than hang around with elitist city-dwellers who can’t grasp where their toilet paper and organic fruits and vegetables originate from. It is disturbing to me that urban legislators so carelessly disregard Oregon’s working families in favor of ramming through political agendas that only pad the pockets of their special-interest campaign donors.”
Miller explained that he is urging his employees and anyone who does business with Stimson to boycott the companies that blindly signed on to ‘Oregon Business for Climate’ and pushed for passage of HB 2020. He stated that many of these corporations and industry groups have already taken advantage of huge taxpayer subsidies to upgrade their equipment and facilities. Some corporations like Nike continuously use high-powered lobbyists to carve themselves out of legislation like HB 2020, but sign on in support knowing that they will not feel the direct impact of the taxes.
“How disingenuous of these large corporations and industries to sign on in support of billions in new carbon taxes knowing fully that they will get their carve-outs and everyday Oregonians will get whacked with the bill,” Miller stated. “Many of them won’t feel this new carbon tax because they make their products in 3rd world countries and won’t be subject to House Bill 2020. It’s hypocritical. I urge my employees to take a long look at the list below and realize that these companies don’t care if mills shut down or our families are impacted. They are go-along-to-get-along corporate cronies that are only concerned about their own skin. They don’t care about Stimson’s families or the devastating impact of legislation like HB 2020. I urge you to spend your hard-earned dollars with businesses who respect you.”
Here is a complete list of businesses who support the Oregon Business for Climate’s effort to pass billions in new carbon taxes:
A&R Solar
A to Z Wineworks
Adelsheim Vineyard
adidas
Airbnb
Ameresco
ARCIFORM
Arcimoto
Bassetti Architects
Beneficial State Bank
Blue Planet Law
Bora Architects
Brink Communications
Brooks Resources Corporation
Capital Power Corporation
Cairn Pacific LLC
Celilo Group Media
City of Roses Disposal and Recycling
Code Unlimited
Columbia Green Technologies
Copper West Properties
Crosby Hop Farm
Cypress Creek Renewables
Deschutes Brewery
East Fork Cultivars
EC Electric
ECONorthwest
Ecotrust Forest Management
EDP Renewables
Elliott, Powell, Baden & Baker Inc.
Energy 350
ENSOGO Analytics
Equilibrium Capital
Fishpeople Seafood
GBD Architects
Genentech
Gensler
Gerding Edlen
Getaround
Goldsmith Blocks
Green Zebra Grocery
Hacker Architects
Hoffman Construction
Hydroflask
Indie Hops
Indow Windows
The Joinery
Karnopp Petersen
Larkins Vacura Kayser
Lever Architecture
Lyft
Longstream Capital Management
Metropolitan Group
Moda, Inc.
Morel Ink
National Grid
Neil Kelly Company
New Seasons Market
Nike
Opsis Architecture
Organically Grown Company
Pacific Ag
Pacific Ethanol
PECI
The Portland Clinic
Portland Timbers FC/Portland Thorns FC
Portland Trailblazers
Providence Health & Services
Propel Fuels
ReRack
Ruffwear
Russell Development Company, Inc.
SeQuential
7 Devils Brewing Company
Shiels Obletz Johnsen
Sam A. Mesher Tool Co.
Skanska
Sokol Blosser
SolAire Homebuilders
Stillwater Energy
Stumptown Coffee Roasters
Sustainable Northwest Wood
Sustainable Restaurant Group
Threemile Canyon Farms
Trillium Asset Management, LLC
Truitt Family Foods
Turtle Island Development
Uber
Urban Development + Partners
Vernier Software & Technology
Vigor Industrial
Walsh Contruction Co./OR
Widmer Brothers Brewing
Wildwood/Mahonia
Willamette Valley Vineyards
Worthy Brewing
ZGF Architects LLP
Stimson Lumber currently operates in Tillamook, Clatskanie and Forest Grove.
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