Oregon is set to receive nearly $200 million to boost efforts to lower greenhouse gas emissions from the state’s biggest sectors.
On Monday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded Oregon $197,181,796 over the next five years through its Climate Pollution Reduction Grant program.
“We’re funding projects that reduce exposure to extreme heat, improve air quality, reduce energy costs burdens for lower income households and improve climate resilience,” EPA Regional Administrator Casey Sixkiller said.
At a press conference in Southeast Portland Monday, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek applauded the coordination that resulted in the EPA announcement and said the investment will help ensure that the state meets its climate goals.
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, left, talks to representatives of Immigrant & Refugee Community Organization (IRCO) in Portland, Ore., at a press conference Monday, July 22, 2024, announcing a $200 million federal environmental grant awarded to the state.
Monica Samayoa / OPB
“We have a strong record here in Oregon, a strong track record of implementing measures to reduce emissions,” she said. “Our state is well positioned to quickly and efficiently invest these climate pollution reduction investments to support sustainable and transformative approaches to tackling the climate crisis.”
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality pitched the EPA earlier this year with the proposal to reduce emissions in three sectors — buildings, transportation and waste and materials management.
“Oregon is one of only 25 grantees selected across the country,”Sixkiller said at the press conference where the funding was announced. “And our award to Oregon will be the largest our agency makes here in the Pacific Northwest.”
The Nez Perce Tribe was also selected to receive nearly $38 million that would fund projects like residential energy efficient retrofits and adding renewable energy infrastructure like solar panels.
The investment in Oregon recognizes the role the state plays as a leader in the Pacific Northwest and across the country in reducing carbon emissions and addressing climate change, Sixkiller said.
Oregon’s building, transportation and waste and materials sectors are responsible for nearly 70% of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to DEQ. Programs aimed at reducing emissions from the building and transportation sectors are slowly growing throughout the state.
Leah Feldon, director of DEQ, said EPA chose to fund the agency’s proposal because it would expand climate, pollution and resiliency programs already in place.
Those initiatives include Oregon’s popular electric vehicle rebate, which has run out of funding two years in a row. Earlier this year, the program only had enough money to reopen for two months. Other programs include investments in charging infrastructure for EVs and the expansion of a heat pump program aimed at renters.
With federal support to expand those programs, Feldon predicted Oregon’s effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will accelerate.
“We estimate these initiatives will result in a reduction of 1.2 million metric tons of greenhouse gasses by 2030 and 6.5 million metric tons by 2050,” she said.
That’s the equivalent of removing emissions of more than 1.5 million gas powered vehicles by 2050, according to the EPA.
Environmental and climate groups applauded the progress Oregon has already made on the climate crisis. Nora Apter, director of programs at the Oregon Environmental Council, said the state was in part successful in its bid for EPA funding because it already had legislation in place focused on climate action.
But she said more work is needed.
Recently, the Oregon Health Authority released a report that outlines how climate change continues to impact the state’s most vulnerable Oregonians. It called on the state to increase climate action and resiliency programs, like the ones DEQ proposed to the EPA, to provide relief to Oregon’s most vulnerable communities.
“As we celebrate this critical down payment for Oregon, we must be clear-eyed that this one-time investment will not solve all of our funding needs,” Apter said. “Looking to the 2025 legislative session, it is vital that our policymakers provide continued funding to keep our successful climate and community programs sustainably running into the future.”
The Climate Pollution Reduction Grant program will provide $5 billion in funding for programs across the U.S. through the Inflation Reduction Act. It targets community-driven projects that reduce carbon emissions and help the transition to more renewable energy.
DEQ expects to begin using the EPA funds mid-Spring 2025.