Environmental advocates track Oregon’s progress on climate goals

It’s been two years since Oregon Gov. Kate Brown signed an executive order creating the Oregon Climate Action Plan. The goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across state agencies, and it includes a number of specific directives. A coalition of environmental advocacy groups has been tracking the state’s progress and recently put out a report. We hear more from Nora Apter, climate program director at the Oregon Environmental Council and Brad Reed, campaign manager for Renew Oregon.

This transcript was created by a computer and edited by a volunteer.

Dave Miller:  From the Gert Boyle Studio at OPB, this is Think Out Loud, I’m Dave Miller. It’s been two years now since Oregon Governor Kate Brown signed an executive order creating the Oregon Climate Action Plan. The goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across state agencies and it includes a number of specific directives. A coalition of environmental advocacy groups has been tracking the state’s progress and recently put out its latest annual report. Nora Apter is the Climate Program Director at the Oregon Environmental Council, Brad Reed is the Campaign Manager for Renew Oregon. They both join me now, welcome back.

Brad Reed: Hi Dave! Thanks for having us.

Nora Apter: Thank you, Dave.

Miller: You wrote in the introduction to the new report that since Governor Brown created this plan, Oregon has both regained a position of national leadership in the clean Energy transition and become a poster child for climate change. So let’s take those broad ideas one by one, Nora First, how is Oregon a leader?

Apter: Thanks, Dave. I am so happy to share some great news, especially coming out of our last conversation with you a year ago. So this past year, the Oregon Climate Action Plan Coalition, which our groups are part of, have been advocating to maximize positive outcomes for Oregon’s climate and communities. We have a coalition of some 50 organizations representing climate, environmental justice, labor, public health, business and faith communities in Oregon and have really managed to maintain some incredible engagement in the many simultaneous state agency processes that have come from Governor Brown’s executive order on climate, and as you noted, we’ve worked with state agencies to achieve some really significant wins and benefits for Oregon. Just in this past year alone, we’ve been able to secure new mandatory limits on climate pollution from oil companies and methane gas utilities that will require them to reduce their emissions by 50% by 2035, and 90% by 2050. That same program will also invest millions of dollars in clean energy projects in environmental justice communities across the state. We now have first-ever goals to promote carbon sequestration on Oregon’s forests and waters and farmlands. We’re improving public health and supporting job growth by phasing out polluting diesel engines in favor of zero-emissions trucks and buses and vans. We’re also on track to have the strongest standards in the nation to protect workers against climate-fueled extreme heat and wildfire smoke, and that’s really just just the tip of the iceberg.

Miller: I want to hear more about all that ice and other policies that are new, but I want to stick with that first sentence I mentioned. Brad, just to remind listeners of the context here, not that probably too many folks have forgotten this stuff, but in what ways is Oregon now a poster child for climate change?

Brad Reed: It’s so sad to think about, you know, we all love Oregon so much and all it offers, but just in the last two years, as we’ve been working on these executive programs, we had 100 people die from extreme heat dome. We’ve had wildfires burning huge swaths of the state and inundating us with smoke. Your last segment described all the drought that’s going on, and so people are living through this. And what I think is really interesting is I believe that’s one of the things that has driven the incredible engagement in this process. Like we talked about executive agency rulemaking and it’s like, oh, watching paint dry, that’s not exciting, it’s not flag waving, marching in the streets, but what we’ve had happen over these processes is tons of people showing up, Oregonians concerned about these things that are happening, wanting their state to take action. And it’s moved almost every one of those programs Nora talked about from where they started to a better, stronger place. It’s just been, it’s overwhelming, for instance, 7,600 comments from Oregonians into the Department of Environmental Quality when they were designing the Climate Protection Program.

Miller: Well, let’s turn to that one. But that was one of the ones that has gotten the most attention over the last year and a half, and rulemaking can take a long time, but certainly that’s one of the things we talked about last year when we got the one year anniversary check in. There were big questions about what exactly the Department of Environmental Quality would include in the rules and the details are really important. So where does that stand now? What did they decide?

Apter: Yeah. Thanks Dave. So these are new rules that the Environmental Quality Commission adopted at the end of last year and are now in place and we are really thrilled with where the rules landed, and again, that’s a huge part due to the tremendous groundswell of support and activism from people across the state. So the three big things that this new Climate Protection Program will do are to cut greenhouse gas emissions from oil companies and fossil gas utilities in the state, like Northwest Natural, 50% by 2035 and 90% by 2050. Those are much stronger targets than had been originally proposed and are much more in line with what the science says is necessary to avoid the most catastrophic climate impacts. The program also sets new science-based targets for industrial facilities. So, these are large manufacturing facilities in Oregon, and requires them to come up with plans to reduce their emissions from their processes. Lastly, I mentioned earlier, investments. This program includes a piece called the Climate Community Investment Program and what this does is gives covered fossil fuel suppliers the option to invest in projects that will cut emissions in Oregon communities as part of their compliance and depending on how much those entities choose to use that part of the program, it could result in up to $500 million dollars annually in investments in Oregon communities in projects that will cut emissions and help create healthier communities and people across the state.

Miller: Brad, when the rulemaking was being debated, it seemed like one of the biggest debates had to do with which industries or sectors would get which carve outs of which size. How satisfied are you now, with the extent to which major stationary sources of emissions are actually covered?

Reed: Yeah, that was part of the debate, it was really fierce for advocates, and you’re right. Pointing that out is really important, as happy as we are with some of these benchmarks and targets that the state now must reach. They did leave out, for instance, power plants that burn methane gas that export electricity from Oregon. So neither the 100% clean electricity legislation nor this program managed to address those polluters, which are some of the largest in the state, and then we certainly would like to see continued work on fixing that and with these large industrial polluters, they do have some targets now, but they’re not quite as stringent  as the ones on oil and gas, and so there’s work to be done there for sure.

Miller: Nora, if I understand correctly, Brad was introducing another big development that happened within the last year into this conversation, which is House Bill 2021 that the Legislature passed last summer, which is focused on the electricity sector. So how does that connect to what we’re talking about in terms of the Climate Protection Program, which is managed by the Department of Environmental Quality?

Apter: Yeah. So this legislation that we’re talking about, the 100% Clean Energy For All Bill, HB2021, essentially requires Oregon’s electric utilities to cut their emissions associated with Electricity sold to Oregon consumers and effectively will transition those utilities to 100% clean emissions-free energy sources by 2040. So that means by 2040 the electricity grid that brings power to Oregon homes and businesses will be powered by clean renewable sources like solar and wind. But we know electricity is just one piece of the puzzle, and again, as Brad mentioned, neither that Bill nor the Climate Protection Program covers all of the electricity sector. So there’s still a need to rein in emissions from fossil gas plants that export electricity, as well as the state’s investor-owned utilities and public utilities. So, the interaction between this and the Climate Protection Program is, if you think about Oregon’s electric grid, that’s really the clean energy backbone that will power our buildings and transportation and industries as we make this transition to a clean energy future. So that’s really where the Climate Protection Program comes into play, and again, that program is what sets the limits from transportation, fuel suppliers or oil companies and our fossil gas utilities like Northwest Natural and  Avista to cut emissions. But even with those caps in place, we know that there will still be additional action to make sure that we are on track to meet our climate goals in all of those sectors.

Miller: So let’s turn to buildings, which you mentioned there as a part of the list.  Brad, what did the legislature do in House Bill 2062, specifically about clean buildings?

Reed: 2062? I don’t know that number right off the top of my head. Is that the clean, efficient appliances?

Miller: That’s my understanding…

Reed: Ok…

Miller: Yeah. Sorry… the numbers are maybe needlessly helpful or not helpful.  So,...

Reed: …last year…

[Voices overlap]

Miller: But…this, this does seem like a key piece of part of the transition, given the role that buildings and appliances play in our lives and play in emissions. So what’s going to change in Oregon?

Reed: Yeah. So that bill specifically came out of the Oregon Climate Action Plan that will require certain appliances in homes and businesses to be more energy efficient. That will save us  tens of millions of dollars and tons of pollution. But it’s a much broader conversation that we’re just beginning in earnest, thankfully, the Legislature set the process in motion this year, to be talking about buildings and essentially they are our second source, second largest source of climate pollution. And also in the converse, thinking about defense against extreme heat and wildfire smoke. That’s our first line of defense, is our homes and buildings. And so what we really need to do is electrify everything, that’s most of your heating and cooling, your hot water heater and then cooking and we need to do that quickly. We also need to design buildings clean from the start. That’s something that we could use some work on. One of the border… one of the parts of this order was to raise the standard in Oregon for new buildings we’re going to be building, from today through 2050, a third of the buildings that will be standing in 2050 we’ll be building starting today. And so we need a higher standard for those new buildings to be energy efficient, which will save money, reduce pollution and just make things more comfortable for people. So that work is a little bit slow going. The Building Codes Division did not update its standards in an aggressive manner the last time around. So we’ll be looking for more action from them there, and then also helping people whose current homes and business buildings and things need to be retrofitted to get off of fossil gas onto clean, cheaper, safer electricity.

Miller: Nora, one thing that people in the climate community talk about is bans on gas hookups for new construction, where does an idea like that stand in the legislative process or rule making process?

Apter: Great question, Dave, and as you noted, yes, this is an idea that’s coming up more and more and we’re seeing it being proposed in neighboring jurisdictions and really across the country. And the reason for that is, as Brad alluded to, buildings are our second biggest and growing source of pollution. They’re responsible for 34% of emissions in Oregon. That’s just second to transportation, and that’s due to the fossil gas that’s used for electricity as well as, as Brad mentioned, to heat our homes and commercial buildings. So to cut to the chase what… what we all know as natural gas is really an explosive, toxic fuel, it’s methane, and it’s been on the rise in Oregon and unfortunately the gas industry has been extremely effective in painting fossil gas as natural to really kind of distance customers and the public more generally from the fact that this core product is methane and to make people feel more comfortable piping it into our homes and burning it for energy. So addressing gas and making sure that we are transitioning off of this fossil fuel and using the clean energy solutions like efficiency and electrifications that are accessible and at our fingertips that are healthier and can be more affordable for people is really where we need to be headed. And so again, as we’re thinking about how these regulated industries are going to meet our climate goals rather than expanding our reliance on fossil fuel use in homes and commercial buildings. We need to embrace efficiency, we need to embrace electrification, solutions like heat pumps, those solutions will all help communities transition to cleaner, healthier living environments and again, cut emissions from our second largest polluting sector.

Miller: Let’s turn to transportation, which I think is the number one sector. Brad Reed, what has changed in Oregon in terms of transportation over the last year?

Reed: One of the big ones that we highlight in this is that Oregon has passed two clean trucks rules. Trucks, for the small amount of vehicles they are on the road, less than 10%, they are responsible in Oregon for 70% of smog pollution, 64% of black carbon, which is that stuff that sticks in our lungs. And almost half of climate pollution. So that’s just a portion of transportation we really needed to tackle. Oregon was the first state to adopt these after California. They will essentially mean that all the trucks sold – that’s vans, school buses, semi-trucks, going to the future, an increasing percentage will be electric on the road. And then also if they are fossil fuel powered, they have to be significantly cleaner in a short period of time. So, those were really tremendous. We’ve done, we’ve seen some things around planning for electric charging all over the state, that will mean a little bit more work, but what’s been really striking on working on the clean truck rule with community groups is how much of a local issue it is, reducing that pollution means so much to our health and our quality of community as well as the climate, which tends to be viewed as a global problem. So that was a really exciting development. Five or six states adopted those rules after Oregon in pretty rapid succession. So those have been some really positive things, but otherwise, there’s a long way to go, especially for the Oregon Department of Transportation to continue to shift its mission to an agency that is about transportation, about moving people and things where they need to be rather than paving roads mostly.

Miller: Nora, given everything that both of you are outlining, are we on track right now, to meet the emissions reductions targets in the Climate Action Plan, meaning 80% below 1990 levels by the year, 2050?

Apter: I’m…a million dollar question, Dave, I’m so glad you asked. We’ve made some really incredible progress. We’re still not quite on track to meet our goals, and actually the same day that our coalition released our progress report, a nonpartisan energy and environmental policy firm, Energy Innovation, released a separate report analyzing Oregon’s recent climate climate policies and how they match up with our emissions reduction goals. That report found that with our recent climate policies, Oregon is on track to cut climate pollution 25% below our 1990 emissions levels by 2035 and nearly 30% below those 1990 levels by 2050. And doing that, they found, will add $140 million to the state’s economy,  create jobs, and of course, continue to provide health benefits well into the future, but I think really importantly, the research in this study shows that by adopting stronger policies across the economy, so again, solutions that we’ve been talking about to support more equitable and accessible transportation options, cleaner and efficient buildings, stronger carbon sequestration policies, we can reduce our emissions 50% by 2035, and 74% by 2050. And with that, the outcome will be boosting our state’s GDP by almost $4 billion and creating almost 20,000 jobs in 2050. So there’s a lot to be excited about. There’s also a lot of work ahead.

Miller: Nora Apter and Brad Reed, thank you.

Apter / Reed: Thank you, Dave.

Miller: Nora Apter is the Climate Program Director at the Oregon Environmental Council, Brad Reed is Campaign Manager for Renew Oregon Environmental Council.

Contact “Think Out Loud®”

If you’d like to comment on any of the topics in this show, or suggest a topic of your own, please get in touch with us on Facebook or Twitter, send an email to thinkoutloud@opb.org, or you can leave a voicemail for us at 503-293-1983. The call-in phone number during the noon hour is 888-665-5865.