Frontline leaders visit Hood River to learn about community-owned clean energy solutions

Building frontline power through the Energy Justice Community Leaders Program

On October 20, members of the 2025–2026 Energy Justice Community Leaders Program (EJCLP) gathered at the Farmers Conservation Alliance in Hood River for a hands-on look at how Oregon’s energy systems work. The field trip included four stops at small hydroelectric sites across Hood River County, where participants saw how water, farming, and clean energy are connected in real life.

This year’s cohort includes 20 frontline leaders from across Oregon, already active in their communities, who have been learning about Public Utility Commission (PUC) proceedings and discussing what clean energy means to them. The field trip was part of EJCLP’s effort to make Oregon’s energy landscape understandable, accessible, and accountable to the communities most impacted by high energy costs, climate change, and extractive systems.

Learning from real-world energy systems

The visit offered participants a rare opportunity to see clean energy infrastructure up close and to wrestle with the reality that no energy solution is perfect. Hydropower, like many renewables, comes with trade-offs, but it also provides valuable lessons about local control, efficiency, and community benefits.

Rather than seeking a single “perfect” technology, the group explored what it means to keep building the new: experimenting, learning, and improving as we go. The fact is that when we build the new, perfection doesn’t happen overnight. We need persistence in revising and improving until we get it right. Every effort to use energy more efficiently and locally is part of Oregon’s Just Transition.

Energy systems we saw in Hood River

Representatives from the Farmers Conservation Alliance explaining how the hydroelectric technology works.

Participants visited four different sites across Hood River County, including facilities operated by the Farmers Conservation Alliance (FCA) and the Farmers Irrigation District. These systems generate roughly 17% of the county’s electricity by using the same water that irrigates local crops.

At each stop, the group learned how small-scale hydro turbines capture energy from existing irrigation canals, reducing both electricity use and fossil fuel emissions from traditional pumping systems. Unlike large dams, these low-impact systems work with the landscape rather than against it. The turbines are built into existing waterways, taking advantage of natural flows and minimizing disruption to ecosystems. Because they have a small footprint, they generate local energy with less ecological damage, showing what it can look like to align energy production with natural ecosystems.

In this region, irrigation is one of the largest energy demands, so projects like these aim to spend less energy on moving water from one place to another. The systems are also community-owned, with money made flowing back into the irrigation district to maintain infrastructure and support local resilience.

Questions of community ownership and equity

Participants also reflected on what community ownership really means in practice. These irrigation districts are often called cooperative systems because farmers who own land share ownership of the energy infrastructure. But that structure leaves out renters and other residents who still live, work, and contribute to these communities.

Tying ownership and profit to land assumes that only landowners meaningfully contribute to the local economy. In reality, renters, farmworkers, and other community members play a vital role in sustaining these systems. Participants asked how the districts engage non-landowner communities and saw that there is still work to do in that area.

These conversations are central to Oregon’s Just Transition. Building community energy means creating models that include everyone who depends on the land, not just landowners.

From field to energy policy

Participants of the Energy Justice Community Leaders Program having lunch after touring several hydroelectric facilities in Hood River.

The day ended with reflections on how local energy generation connects to the broader movement for energy justice. The Energy Justice Community Leadership Program shows that frontline communities can lead Oregon’s energy transition while we keep learning, improving, and building what comes next. Participants left with a clearer sense of how water, energy, and equity overlap, and how decisions made in policy spaces shape daily life in their communities. They’ll bring those lessons back home and apply them in rulemakings, advocacy, and local organizing.

The Energy Justice Community Leaders Program exists because too often, Oregon’s energy decisions are made without the people most impacted. This trip was part of our effort to build community knowledge and power in Oregon’s energy system.

“Programs like EJCLP are changing who gets to define what energy justice looks like in Oregon,” said Ana Molina, EJCLP co-facilitator and advocacy director of Oregon Just Transition Alliance. “When frontline leaders get to see these systems up close, they start imagining what a just energy future could look like in their communities.”

Investing in Oregon’s Just Transition

EJCLP continues this work year-round through training, mentorship, and field experiences that build the knowledge and confidence needed to lead. The program runs in collaboration with NW Energy Coalition, Verde, Coalition of Communities of Color, and Multnomah County Office of Sustainability. When you donate to Oregon Just Transition Alliance, you help fund community-led advocacy that keeps Oregon moving toward energy justice.

Want to support the Energy Justice Community Leaders Program and help grow community power in Oregon? Make a donation.