Monica Samayoa
Monica Samayoa is an award-winning climate and environmental journalist.
Her work has covered how communities in Southern Oregon continue to recover from wildfires, as well as the decades of groundwater pollution in Eastern Oregon and its impacts to the communities. She's also closely examined how urban planning in Portland makes heat domes particularly deadly for marginalized communities. Recently, she’s been covering the renewable energy transition, climate solutions & adaptations, the human impacts of climate change and environmental justice.
Before OPB, Monica was an on-call general assignment reporter at KQED in San Francisco. In 2017 she studied abroad in Sydney, Australia, where she attended the University of Technology Sydney to finish her degree. There, she was able to get her first taste of radio while producing and hosting for 2SER, Sydney Educational Radio.
Monica holds a bachelor's degree in broadcast and electronic communication arts from San Francisco State University.
In her free time, Monica likes to spend time with her family and friends and travel to the world. So far she has traveled to 17 countries.
Latest Stories
With federal EV support uncertain, Oregon lawmakers consider revamping the state’s popular rebate to prioritize lower-income buyers
House Bill 3597 would overhaul the state’s popular electric vehicle rebate program by offering lower rebates to extend the program for lower income residents.
Trump targets climate laws with order that could derail Oregon’s efforts
Oregon’s effort to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions through state policies could face challenges from the White House after President Donald Trump signed an executive order barring state and local enforcement of climate laws that target the use of fossil fuels.
3 Portland councilors propose PCEF tax hike to backfill city budget
Raising the Portland Clean Energy Fund tax could generate $60 million for non-climate programs.
Oregon’s proposed clean truck rules give manufacturers an off ramp from sale requirements
THe Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has proposed draft rules for the state's Clean Truck Rules.
‘The Evergreen’: OPB journalists help us make sense of federal government changes
We take a tour of OPB’s newsroom and hear from reporters covering politics, climate, health, business and more about what federal policy changes mean for people in the Northwest.
Bill would require Oregon’s multi-unit property owners to provide tenants cooling devices
Senate Bill 54 would require property owners of 10 or more multi-family rental units to provide tenants with indoor cooling in at least one room. By 2036, all bedrooms would require cooling devices.
Oregon could again delay clean truck rules to give technology, chargers time to catch up
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality staff have recommended a plan for adopting clean truck rules, but some commissioners say the industry may need a longer delay to keep up with the rules.
NW Natural residential customers could see a nearly 7% rate hike later this year
If the proposed rate increase is approved, NW Natural customers will be paying more than 50% more on their bills than they did in 2020.
‘POWER Act’ bill would require Oregon’s large energy users like data centers pay fair share of energy use
House Bill 3546 would require large energy users to pay their share of electricity use. Many data centers and other heavy users of electricity are paying lower rates than residential utility customers.
Oregon once again has access to more than $450 million in federal climate funds
State environmental officials say Oregon once again has access to hundreds of millions of dollars of federal funding aimed at climate action. That’s after the federal government froze the funds in January.