Two Portland-based lobbying firms advocating on behalf of the state’s largest gas utility are also lobbying on behalf of conservation and public health groups and local governments interested in ending natural gas hookups and combating climate change caused by burning gas. Conflicts of interest between NW Natural and a number of government bodies and nonprofits were analyzed in a new report from the Pennsylvania-based nonprofit climate group F Minus and the Oregon-based nonprofit climate advocacy group Breach Collective. The groups are calling on organizations and local agencies to stop working with fossil fuel lobbyists, and are calling on the Oregon Legislature to require lobbyists to disclose their compensation and their positions on specific bills so they are not being paid to fight for and against policies that are at odds with one another.  James Browning, executive director of F Minus, said by allowing lobbyists to play for both sides of an issue, Oregon officials are allowing an “ethical wasteland, beyond what lawyers are allowed to do.”  The groups’ report focused on lobbyists from two Portland-based lobbying firms – NW Public Affairs and Eames – who work for NW Natural and also work for local governments and climate and public health advocacy groups in Oregon, including Clackamas County, Wild Salmon Center, Oregon Primary Care Association and Health Share of Oregon. Representatives from Eames did not respond to requests for comment from the Capital Chronicle. Phil Donovan of NW Public Affairs who lobbies on behalf of NW Natural and Wild Salmon Center declined to comment. Natural gas is almost entirely methane gas, among the most potent climate-warming greenhouse gases, which trap heat in the atmosphere. When natural gas is burned it produces carbon dioxide. One-third of global warming is due to human-caused emissions of methane and about two-thirds of global warming is due to carbon dioxide emissions, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  Conflict in Clackamas County Browning said among the most stark conflicts is with NW Public Affairs lobbyists working for NW Natural and Clackamas County. NW Natural lobbied against Clackamas County’s Climate Action Plan last year, and has fought the ban on new natural gas hookups in the city of Milwaukie, which is mostly in Clackamas County. Yet Clackamas County also pays for a NW Public Affairs lobbyist to advocate for county priorities. “It’s an amazing dynamic there,” Browning said. “If you’re a resident of Milwuakie, you have your utility dollars going to NW Natural and their lobbyists to promote gas, and you have your tax dollars going to a county trying to phase out gas, that’s employing the same lobbyists.” Milwaukie Mayor Lisa Batey declined to comment, citing a lack of time. Wild Salmon Center officials also did not respond to a request for comment, but Oakley Brooks, communications director for the group, told the Capital Chronicle last year that Donovan of NW Public Affairs has been effective at securing legislative wins for fish, forests and water in Oregon.  F Minus and Breach Collective’s latest report builds off a database F minus published last year, which shows that more than 1,500 lobbyists across the country are working at the state level for the fossil fuels industry as well as for conservation groups, public health entities, social justice organizations and local governments trying to respond to environmental and health issues caused by the burning of those fuels. F Minus identified at least 28 Oregon lobbyists, among the more than 1,000 registered in the state, who are working for more than 500 organizations and companies with conflicting values around climate change.  Browning, who used to be a lobbyist for the American Cancer Society, said when he worked for the nonprofit it refused to hire lobbyists who also lobbied on behalf of tobacco companies. But today, the American Cancer Society in Oregon shares a lobbyist – Drew Hagedorn – with Canadian tar sands oil distributor Kinder Morgan.  Browning said as climate change poses larger, more disastrous and expensive threats to the quality of life, public health and the natural world, governments and nonprofits should begin to look at gas lobbyists the same way some looked at tobacco lobbyists years ago. “In the long term, hiring these lobbyists is dangerous and it’s self-defeating,” he said. Oregon Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oregon Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Lynne Terry for questions: [email protected]. Follow Oregon Capital Chronicle on Facebook and Twitter. STORY TIP OR IDEA? Send an email to Salem Reporter’s news team: [email protected]. The post New report scrutinizes lobbyists working for NW Natural gas and for public health, climate groups appeared first on Salem Reporter.