Laura Etherton is OSPIRG's Advocate. She is responsible for coordinating the organization’s policy development, research and legislative advocacy. She led OSPIRG’s efforts to reduce prescription drug costs through expansion of a purchasing pool, the Oregon Prescription Drug Program. She also led OSPIRG’s efforts to enact payday loan consumer protections at the local and state levels, and authored the 2006 study Predatory Lending in Lane County. Laura joined OSPIRG staff in 1995 as campus organizer, and served as Administrative Director beginning in 1996. As Field Director from 2001-2005, Laura led the organization’s field efforts to stop the rollbacks of the nation’s landmark environmental laws, including fighting proposals to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling and defending the Roadless Area Conservation Rule to protect nearly 2 million acres of national forests in Oregon. She is a 1993 graduate of Macalester College.
