FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, September 26, 2025
CONTACT: Masayo Simon, 541-852-2883, Masayo@RogueClimate.org
Advocates raise concerns about port expansion at Oregon Coast Economic Summit
Coos Bay, Ore. – On Thursday, September 25th, community members voiced their opposition to the Pacific Coast Intermodal Port project (PCIP) at Taste of the Oregon Coast, the opening reception for this week’s Oregon Coast Economic Summit. As Oregon faces massive budget cuts, coastal residents are calling for limited public funding to instead be directed towards essential services like transportation, healthcare, and climate resilience, not the $2.3 billion PCIP.
“A central focus for this year’s Oregon Coast Economic Summit is ‘Ports,’” said Tina Mendizabal, Coos Bay resident and Rogue Climate Board of Directors member.. “And we’re here because our community believes that building a massive ship-to-rail container terminal in Coos Bay will not, in reality, benefit the local people or economy. We are urging elected officials and economic development leaders to invest in our healthcare system, our crumbling transportation infrastructure, and upgrades to neglected maritime infrastructure that our seafood industry needs to thrive.”
The group wore crab hats, one of the many species that is essential to the health of the Coos Bay estuary and economy–a species that will be under threat if the Port of Coos Bay follows through with its expansion proposal, which would require extensive dredging of critical habitat in the navigation channel to allow for international container ships.
“Decision-makers for this project are ignoring the fact that maintaining healthy marine life is key to a thriving economy here on the coast,” said Ashley Audycki, South Coast Coordinator at Rogue Climate’s Coos Bay office. “The success of our primary economic sectors, from tourism and recreation to fishing and seafood production, depends on the Coos Bay estuary. Construction of this project will forever alter the character of our community, and the economy that supports us. Oregon must invest in a thriving Coos Bay, not a corporate container project.”
At the end of the 2025 legislative session, Oregon lawmakers passed $100 million in funding for the PCIP in the ‘Christmas Tree’ bill. This came after legislators forecasted $500 million less in Oregon’s budget for the next two years than originally anticipated.
“If the community was handed a blank check for $100 million, there are dozens of immediate needs that would improve health, safety and the local economy.” said Zöe Serrano, Legislative Coordinator at Rogue Climate. “There is a sense of betrayal seeing this massive investment pass during the 2025 legislative long session to fund a risky port development project, while life-saving statewide programs like Community Resilience Hubs and Community Heat Pump Deployment programs got the axe.”
Outside of the reception, community members created sidewalk art to engage the public about what kinds of investments locals would like to see in Coos County.
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About Rogue Climate: Rogue Climate is a Southern Oregon based community organization bringing people together for climate justice through stopping new fossil fuels, facilitating youth leadership development, and campaigning for a just and equitable energy transition.
