Latest news with #OregonDepartmentofEnergy
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Lawmaker argues it's a ‘moral imperative' to address high energy costs alongside climate change
A worker installs a heat pump, which have been a key feature of Maine's transition to cleaner energy. (Photo via Oregon Department of Energy) While the struggle for low-income residents to afford their power bill is not new, Rep. Sophie Warren believes that the transition to clean energy needs to prioritize such economic justice issues to ensure no one is left behind in the state's efforts to address climate change. Last session, the Scarborough Democrat introduced a bill that sought to bolster support for low-income residents to access energy efficiency and weatherization programs. Although that bill died, part of what Warren had hoped to achieve eventually came to fruition when the Maine Climate Council for the first time included in updated Climate Action Plan strategies to lower the energy burden on Maine residents. Though Warren applauds that work, she introduced LD 1037 to go a step further by requiring the climate council to include in its annual report to lawmakers specific recommendations for how to reduce the portion of Mainers' income that is being spent on electricity and home heating fuels. During a public hearing for the proposal Monday, Warren told members of the Legislature's Environment and Natural Resources Committee that she wants to ensure the work continues into the future, regardless of who sits on the council or serves in the executive branch. 'As a small, rural state with higher-than-average rates of poverty and some of the highest comparative, I both believe it is a moral imperative we fight poverty alongside climate change but also that to do so is economical in the long run,' Warren said. For low-income households in Maine, the average energy burden is 14% based on 2018-2022 data, according to the Maine Energy Plan published in January. That is nearly three times higher than the statewide average across all income levels. The Maine State Chamber of Commerce supports Warren's bill, encouraging what they described as a 'thoughtful' shift to clean energy that doesn't inadvertently increase costs for Maine businesses, said Maine Chamber Government Relations Specialist Ashley Luszczki. For example, she pointed to energy intensive businesses, such as manufacturers and food processors, that rely on cost-effective, reliable energy to stay competitive. Despite the state's current statutory goal of using 80% renewable energy by 2030 and 100% by 2050, renewable sources don't provide the affordable and consistent baseload power large-scale industrial operations need, Luszczki said. In 2023, Gov. Janet Mills called for those timelines to be moved up, asking instead for the state to strive for 100% clean energy by 2040. The chamber sees Warren's bill as a way to meet climate goals while lowering energy costs. 'A strong economy and a sustainable environmental future must go hand in hand,' Luszczki said. The Office of Public Advocate, which advocates for Maine utility ratepayers, also supports this bill, saying that the affordability of energy must be taken into account when considering new climate policy. While the Governor's Office of Policy Innovation and the Future — which manages the Maine Climate Council — agrees with the goal of the legislation, it is opposed to the proposal. Current law already requires the council to consider household energy burden and affordability, argued Senior Advisor Brian Hubbell. Additionally, the most recent climate action plan from November 2024 includes multiple strategies and recommendations in those areas, including one to 'comprehensively analyze household energy burden in Maine in 2025, including all energy sources, and set a target for reducing the energy burden for low-income residents by January 2026.' Even with those recommendations already spelled out, Warren said her proposal is still necessary because it would commit in statute the prioritization of considering poverty in climate efforts. 'I see formalizing this additional consideration of energy burden within the Council's framework and ensuring it remains in statute as its own distinct priority is key to achieving the long-term commitment,' Warren said. If there is a need for a more detailed analysis of energy burden and how to reduce it, Hubbell said it would be more appropriate for the Governor's Energy Office to complete that work and include it in its biennial energy plan. The most recent iteration of that plan published in January also already includes recommendations for reducing the energy burden on low- and moderate-income households. These include conducting regular analyses of household energy costs, increasing awareness of assistance programs and expanding education on weatherization and other energy efficiency measures. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Oregon, nine other states hit 2013 goal of getting 3.3 million electric vehicles on roads by 2025
Oregon and nine other states have met their collective goal for registering electric vehicles. (Stock photo by Master via Getty Images) Oregon and nine other states recently achieved a collective goal of shifting new car buyers toward electric rather than gas-powered vehicles in an effort to reduce pollution and combat climate change. The states have collectively registered 3.3 million new electric vehicles in the last 12 years, fulfilling a 2013 agreement to do so by 2025, according to a report shared Monday by the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management, a Boston-based nonprofit association of state air pollution control agencies. In 2013, the then-governors of Oregon, California, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont collectively agreed that they would boost policies and public information that could spur the sales of zero-emission vehicles in their states. Transportation was and remains the largest source of planet warming greenhouse gases in Oregon and the nation. When then-Gov. John Kitzhaber signed onto the 2013 agreement, just 300 electric vehicles were registered in Oregon. Today, more than 100,000 electric vehicles have been registered in the state, according to the Oregon Department of Energy. That's about 5% of all new cars registered in the state in the last decade. Gov. Tina Kotek in a news release called the growth of electric vehicle adoption in Oregon, and the realization of the 2013 goals, a 'milestone.' 'Transportation electrification is key to meeting Oregon's climate goals,' she said. 'Strong partnerships between states and private sector partners will be key to the nation's success in the years to come. In 2013, there were 16 electric vehicle models available for purchase in the U.S., according to the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management. Today, there are more than 150 models. Cumulative electric vehicle sales across the 10 states grew steadily in the first few years after the 2013 memorandum, but sales fully doubled from 2022 to 2024. In 2022, Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act that included a $7,500 tax rebate on the purchase of a new electric vehicle. Oregon's own rebate program, passed in 2017, and offers up to $7,500 back on the purchase of an electric vehicle. The program, which has paused issuing rebates since June of 2024 for a lack of adequate funding, is expected to resume sometime in 2025, according to the Department of Environmental Quality. One-third of all electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles registered in Oregon received one of the state's Clean Vehicle Rebates, according to officials at the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, which distributes the rebates. The rebates have been worth nearly $100 million since 2017. Since 2013, five more states have created their own zero-emission vehicle programs similar to those of the original taskforce states to spur electric vehicle adoption and expand charging infrastructure through public investment and tax rebates, according to the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management. Oregon and those 14 other states now account for more than one-third of all U.S. sales of new electric vehicles. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
