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OREP Policy Digest: Spring 2016
Legislative Review:
Oregon says No to Coal! The Clean Electricity and Coal Transition Bill passed the Oregon Legislature and was signed into law by Governor Kate Brown on March 10. Oregon is the first state to eliminate coal-fired electricity from its power supply through a legislative act. There are several key provisions of this bill that will move PGE and PacificPower toward a cleaner electric grid to serve Oregon customers.
- SB 1547 eliminates coal generation from our electricity mix by Jan 1, 2030. No more coal-fired power can serve Oregon customers, and our utilities' stake in coal investments will end at 2035 at the latest.
- SB 1547 increases Oregon’s renewable portfolio standard to 50% by 2040 for our two largest utilities. This doubles the original RPS passed in 2007 that required 25% renewable energy by 2025 for PacificPower and PGE. The RPS for community-owned utilities like rural coops and the Eugene Water & Electric Board remain the same, although most of their electricity is already from hydropower and wind through the Bonneville Power Administration.
- Community solar is coming your way by July 2017! Three out of four households in Oregon don’t have a suitable roof for solar. This provision ensures that owners and subscribers to community solar projects can share i
 n the benefits of solar generation, even if it is not on their roof. Through this new model, subscribers in PGE and Pacific Power territory will be able to receive a direct credit on their electric bill for their portion of a shared solar project, which must be located in Oregon. The bill also ensures that 10% of the capacity of the community solar program is made available to low-income residential customers.
- 8% for small-scale renewable projects! SB 1547 now requires that at least 8% of Oregon’s retail electric load must come from small-scale projects under 20MW by 2025; it used to be a goal. Led by the Community Renewable Energy Association, Renewable Energy Coalition and the Association of Oregon Counties, OREP worked with our partners to ensure this important amendment was included.
Another solar victory occurred this year with the passage of HB 4037. Signed by Gov. Kate Brown on March 16, this bill creates an incentive program for 150 MW of utility-scale solar projects in Oregon. New projects with a capacity between 2 MW and 10 MW are eligible to compete for an incentive payment of $5/MWh for five years. The program closes on January 2, 2017 or when the 150 MW capacity is reached.
OPUC upholds renewable energy rules. The Public Utility Regulatory Power Act (PURPA) provides independent power producers a way to competitively generate cleaner energy, and access the grid by ensuring standard contract terms and rates. This fundamental Federal energy policy has been under attack by efforts from Berkshire Hathaway Energy companies, including PacificCorp and Idaho Power. On March 29th, the Oregon Public Utility Commission issued orders preserving key components of PURPA in Oregon, including 20-year terms and project size limits that allow up to 3 MW facilities to receive standard contracts.
On the other side of the energy equation, two recent judicial actions are shaping up to slow the progress of fossil fuels and climate changing greenhouse gas emissions. March 9, twenty-one defendants aged 8-19 years old appeared in federal court in Eugene, OR. They’re suing the federal government for not taking comprehensive action on global warming. By neglecting to apply the Public Trust Doctrine to our atmosphere, “The federal complaint in Oregon, which the government  and fossil fuel industries have asked the judge to dismiss, says the constitutional rights of these young people -- including the right to life, liberty and property -- are being violated.” Similar suits have been filed in all fifty states and internationally over the last several years as these young people continue to stand on the front lines of climate justice, for all of us (Photo credit: Mary DeMocker).
Liquefied natural gas export through Oregon was also dealt a big loss in a fight that landowners and environmentalists have been tackling for years. On March 11, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission denied a permit to construct an LNG pipeline across Oregon that would have ended at an export facility in Coos Bay. FERC stated that, "Because the record does not support a finding that the public benefits of the Pacific Connector Pipeline outweigh the adverse effects on landowners, we deny Pacific Connector's request.” Both the pipeline and the export facility have now been put to rest, hopefully for good.
All in all, 2016 is shaping up to unleash more solar and renewable energy that benefits all Oregonians, while keeping more fossil fuels in the ground where they belong!
The following articles illustrate how the energy transition is shaping up across the US and internationally. Take a look when you have a moment, and share the news of the transition underway.
Ray Neff, and the team at Oregonians for Renewable Energy Progress
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• Peabody Coal's bankruptcy would be 'rocket fuel' to end investment in old energy companies; Andrew Freedman, Mashable, Mar 25, 2016
"A Rhodium report released in February, for example, found that the four largest American coal miners by output, Peabody Energy, Arch Coal, Cloud Peak Energy and Alpha Natural Resources, which account for nearly half of US production, were worth a combined $34 billion in 2011.
Today they are worth just $150 million, which is less than the value of the online marketplace Etsy, which is worth on the order of about $900 million."
• Fossil fuels are all but finished: Renewable energies are the future, whether the GOP acknowledges it or not; Michael T. Klare, TomDispatch, Dec 25, 2015
“Contributing to the growing reliance on renewables, the IEA finds, is a continuing drop in the cost of deploying these technologies. Once considered pricey compared to fossil fuels, renewables are beginning to win out on cost alone.”
• New Report: Protect the Climate, Save Money, and Create Jobs; Labor Network for Sustainability, 2016
“This report is good news for American workers. Protecting the climate has often been portrayed as a threat to American workers’ jobs and the U.S. economy. But this report shows that a clean energy future will produce more jobs than “business as usual” with fossil fuels.”
• Can Germany's renewable energy revolution be replicated in the United States?; Beate G. Liepert, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Feb 18, 2016
"Launched in the 1990s, the goal of the Energiewende is not just to combat climate change but also to guarantee competitiveness and growth. With this comprehensive approach, the framework affects all economic sectors and has forced major changes in energy markets. Energiewende policies set targets for carbon dioxide emission reductions, renewable energy development, phasing out nuclear energy, and improving energy efficiency and conservation."
• Rapid, affordable energy transformation possible; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Jan 25, 2016
“Our research shows a transition to a reliable, low-carbon, electrical generation and transmission system can be accomplished with commercially available technology and within 15 years,” said Alexander MacDonald, co-lead author and recently retired director of NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) in Boulder.”
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Be sure to take a look at OREP’s What’s New page or follow us on Facebook & Twitter for these and other renewable energy developments from Oregon and across the world. Communities and nations are demonstrating now, that the road to 100% renewable energy is moving forward. With your help, Oregon will do the same.
 
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 OREP is advancing the transition to locally-owned and locally-generated clean renewable energy through innovative public policy design and implementation. Your generous donation to OREP will be used well and go far towards furthering our mission.
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