Concerned citizens pass smoke solutions to Congressman Walden

Medford, Ore — Southern Oregon citizens fed up with the smoke have formed a committee and U.S. Congressman Greg Walden was in town to listen.

The group, representing a wide range of industries including logging, tourism, and real estate shared their ideas and concerns with the Congressman.

Since the group, now known as ‘Southern Oregonians for Clear Skies’ started their campaign, they say some progress has been made, but there’s a lot to be done.

“What this group has done is to activate citizens, regular folks, to let our congressmen, women know, we need to fix the smoke problems, it’s killing us here, literally,” said Claudette Moore, co-founder of SOCS.

“The impacts of these forest fires, where they just let it burn or we just haven’t done the management ahead of time to minimize the emissions is having a real and dangerous impact on public health,” said Rep. Greg Walden.

The group now plans on circulating a list of politicians for regular citizens to contact with their own air quality concerns.

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Matt Jordan is the Chief Meteorologist for KOBI-TV NBC5. Matt joined the NBC5 weather team in 2014 after a year as a reporter and anchor in Alexandria, Louisiana. His experience with the severe weather of the Deep South and a love of the Pacific Northwest led him to pursue a certification with Mississippi State University as a Broadcast Meteorologist. You can find Matt working in the evenings of NBC5 News at 5, 6 and 11 as well as online. Matt also has a degree in Journalism from the University of Oregon. In addition to being passionate about news and weather, Matt is a BIG Oregon Ducks fan. When not rooting for the Ducks or tracking down the next storm over the Pacific, Matt can be found outdoors in the Oregon wilderness with his wife, his daughter and their dogs Stanley and Gordi.
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