Latest news with #SenateCommitteeonEnergyandEnvironment
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Oregon senators kill proposal to make fossil fuels industry pay for climate-change driven disasters
Oregon is likely to experience more intense periods of drought, heavy rain and other major weather events and natural disasters as a result of climate change and more than a century of burning fossil fuels. A bill that would have required fossil fuels companies to pay into a fund to help respond to such disasters and to help Oregonians adapt to climate change was killed in the state Legislature. (Photo courtesy of the Oregon Department of Transportation) A bill that would have required fossil fuel companies doing business in Oregon to pay for the downstream and multigenerational costs of their climate pollution will not move forward. The Senate Committee on Energy and Environment Wednesday decided not to take a vote and advance Senate Bill 1187, the Make Polluters Pay Act, effectively letting the bill die in the committee. Sen. Janeen Sollman, D-Hillsboro, chair of the committee, told her colleagues there was not enough time to dedicate to any fixes the bill might need. The bill had its first public hearing Monday. 'Good legislation requires adequate time and attention from our staff, from agencies and advocates, to ensure that it achieves its intended goals,' Sollman said. 'I will continue to work in an open and inclusive way with anyone who wants to help protect Oregon's climate. And I look forward to having those urgent conversations.' The bill, sponsored by Sen. Khanh Pham, D-Portland, who is also a member of the committee, would have created a 'climate superfund' seeded with millions of dollars in damages from the handful of companies most responsible for emitting planet-warming greenhouse gasses causing catastrophic climate change. These include companies like Exxon Mobil, Chevron, and about 50 other oil, gas, coal and cement producers that are directly linked to 80% of the world's global greenhouse gas emissions during the past decade alone. Since 2020, wildfires, drought, heat waves and winter storms exacerbated by a warming planet have directly and indirectly killed hundreds of Oregonians and cost the state more than $5 billion, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Pham told her fellow committee members she was 'deeply disappointed' they would not take a vote and that she would continue advocating for the bill in the future. 'We've known climate change would lead to these catastrophic disasters since at least 1981,' she said. 'We have had 45 years to take action. And frankly, I think further delay in finding a way to help fund Oregonians' recovery and resilience building, and holding the fossil fuel industry accountable, is an insult to the people who have died, and the Oregonians who are paying to rebuild their lives and their communities out of their own pocket.' Thirty percent of the climate superfund dollars would have been set aside for the Oregon State Fire Marshal's Office to be used specifically for wildfire prevention and response across the state, and 40% of funds would have been directed to disadvantaged communities bearing disproportionate climate impacts from greenhouse gas pollution. It was modeled on similar legislation passed in Vermont and New York in 2024. California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Virginia are considering similar proposals in their own legislatures. At the bill's first hearing Monday, lawmakers heard from dozens of young Oregonians, as well as seniors from the volunteer advocacy group Third Act, who threw their support behind the bill. So many people showed up to testify that a second hearing room had to be opened up for the overflow. Just two people opposed the bill in person at the Monday hearing: Sharla Moffett, a lobbyist for Oregon Business and Industry, and Rocky Dallum, a lobbyist for the Northwest Pulp and Paper Association, an industry group representing pulp and paper mills across Oregon, Washington and Idaho. Moffett said the bill was 'sweeping' and 'impractical' and that she and others were not given enough time to weigh in on it. Dallum said the state's Climate Protection Program, which puts a declining cap on emissions from polluters over the next 25 years already offers an avenue for polluters to pay into climate adaptation and response, via the Community Climate Investments part of the program. Those investments are essentially carbon credits companies can buy to offset some of their greenhouse gas pollution, and the money is funneled to projects that reduce emissions. Study after study has shown that putting a price tag on each metric ton of carbon dioxide a company emits, such as a fine or tax, works at reducing emissions. Modeling from the MIT En-ROADS climate-solution simulator shows it is the single most effective policy decision any government could make to accelerate decarbonization and curb the worst effects of climate change by the end of the century. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Oregon's Polluters Pay Act could charge fossil fuel companies for climate damages
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Oregon state lawmakers are considering a bill that would make the largest fossil fuel companies pay 'their fair share' of damages to the state for emissions driving climate change. On Monday, the Senate Committee on Energy and Environment held a hearing on , the Make Polluters Pay Act, which would require large fossil fuel companies to pay into the Oregon Climate Superfund to help Oregon become more resilient to climate change. 'It's simple: if you make a mess, you help pay to clean it up,' said Senator Khanh Pham (D-Outer Southeast & Northeast Portland), a chief sponsor of the bill. 'Oregonians are already paying the price of climate disasters fueled by the fossil fuel industry. SB 1187 will ensure the companies most responsible for the climate crisis finally contribute to our recovery and resilience.' DON'T MISS: Eagle Creek Fire led to hundreds of debris flows in Columbia River Gorge Senator Pham highlighted the importance of passing the bill as Oregon is 'on the frontline of climate change,' seeing climate emergencies from wildfires to extreme heat. 'I'm here today because during the , temperatures hit 124 degrees in my district – a new record,' Pham said. 'Oregonians died in the heat, mostly people in urban heat islands, like in my own neighborhood.' 'So how will the climate super fund work? The state of Oregon will assess the damages from climate change-driven disasters that have already happened, such as the 2021 heat dome, as well as forecast future damages for disasters that will be inevitable due to the warming baked in by the emissions of covered entities from 1995 to 2024,' Pham explained. 'The state will also develop a plan for permanent adaptation and resilience investments that are necessary for our state because of the inevitable warming from emissions.' REAL IDs will be required for air travel in May: What you need to know Under the bill, the Department of Environmental Quality would have the authority to identify the businesses responsible for the climate damages. Fossil fuel companies would be charged if they have produced one billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions globally in the last three decades. DEQ would then calculate each fossil fuel company's share of damages then issue cost notices. The state would then disperse the funds to help implement plans to adapt and protect communities from further climate damages. Sen. Pham's office told KOIN 6 News they estimate the climate superfund would generate billions of dollars, noting they don't have an exact estimate because DEQ will determine costs if the bill passes. In terms of which businesses could face fees under the bill, Pham's office pointed to large oil companies such as Exxon Mobile, BP, Shell and Chevron, which all have business presence in Oregon. 'To our knowledge, no Oregon based companies, including Northwest Natural, would meet this threshold but Oregon DEQ would do that analysis,' Pham's office said. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now During the bill's hearing dozens of community members testified, including some who shared concerns about Oregon's growing wildfire seasons. Testimony included that of Caren Caldwell of Jackson County, who shared her story from the Almeda Fire, which destroyed her son's manufactured home. 'Our communities continue to work toward replacing what was lost by those who had the least. Many of our neighbors are still living in RVs or temporary housing,' Caldwell said. 'Many others moved out of town and have not been able to return because of the higher costs of housing. I want the polluters to pay their fair share of the cost for us to recover. Make Polluters Pay could make it possible for those people to come home again.' Small plane skids off runway into water at North Bend airport, 5 hospitalized Another chief sponsor of SB 1187, Sen. Jeff Golden (D-Ashland), testified, 'These catastrophes inflict damages on people, property and communities that regularly run into the billions of dollars…We have no realistic way to pay these bills. We're struggling to pay for any of the preventative programs that could spare us from billion-dollar-plus catastrophes next year and the year after that.' 'There are two options here,' Golden added. 'One, we join other states in holding the enormously profitable industry – whose products fuel these catastrophes – responsible for some of the damage. Or two, we turn away and keep this crushing financial burden on the shoulders of Oregon families and taxpayers who had nothing to do with these fires, and in some cases, had their lives devastated by them.' Citing data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Rep. Mark Gamba (D-Milwaukie), who's also a chief sponsor of the bill, highlighted how costly recent wildfire and storm damage was for Oregon, noting, the 2020 wildfires cost Oregon over $19 billion, a winter storm in 2021 cost the state over $27 billion and droughts and heatwaves in 2022 and 2023 cost $38 billion. 'We have an opportunity to take bold action,' Gamba said. 'SB 1187 will help safeguard Oregon's future while ensuring our most vulnerable communities are not left behind. Costs like these cannot continue to be borne by the taxpayers of Oregon. They certainly can't be borne by small cities that are going to suffer these things.' Multnomah County Board members unveil plan to put county in 'driver's seat' of economy Larry O'Neil, Oregon's state climatologist, was among others who testified, describing the impact climate change will have in Oregon. 'Overall, the past century has seen significant warming of earth's climate and Oregon, and the Pacific Northwest have been no exception to its adverse impacts – including human health and safety, water resource management, agriculture, wildland fire, hydropower, timber industries and the tourism sectors.' 'More recently, observations indicate that last year, actually, finishes Oregon's sixth warmest year on record despite the fact that we had a rather cold start and a really large ice storm in January,' O'Neil said. What salary do you need to actually take home $100K after taxes in Oregon? According to the state climatologist, hot weather is continuing to increase in frequency, noting, 'Salem, for example, used to average only 17 days per year with high temperatures above 90 degrees during the 20th century. Over the last five years, however, that number has doubled to 34 days and by 2070, that number of 90-degree days is projected to exceed 70 (days) or nearly every single day of the summer.' O'Neil noted that 90-degree days can have adverse impacts on human health and infrastructure, adding that by the end of the century, summer temperatures in the Willamette Valley will mirror summer temperatures currently experienced in the Sacramento, California valley. 'The temperatures above 105 degrees Fahrenheit as occurred during our heat dome a few years ago in 2021, are projected to be an annual occurrence in Salem rather than a once-in-a-generation event,' O'Neil furthered. KOIN 6 News has reached out to Republican members of the Senate Committee on Energy and Environment, Sen. David Brock Smith (R-Port Orford) and Sen. Noah Robinson (R-Cave Junction). This story will be updated if we receive a response. A second hearing for SB 1187 is scheduled April 9 after the committee ran out of time to hear all testimony on Monday. The bill could also undergo a work session the same day. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bill could limit how Oregon utilities pay for lobbying, ads
Powerlines in Hood River County above the Columbia River move electricity from the Bonneville Dam to customers across the region on July 25, 2024. (Photo by Jordan Gale/Oregon Capital Chronicle) A bill that aims to ensure Oregon ratepayers are not paying for utilities' lobbying and advertising expenses could provide transparency and some relief from high energy bills for Oregon ratepayers. On Monday, the state Senate Committee on Energy and Environment heard Senate Bill 88, labeled the 'Get the Junk out of our Rates' bill by advocates. Natural gas rates and electric rates are set through a process that allows utilities to charge rates that cover the cost of doing business, and then to turn a profit. The bill would essentially create more clarity around utility spending and when it must come out of those allowed profits. If they spend on advertising, political influence, litigation, or pay for trade associations or membership fees and fines, that spending would not be allowed to push up rates — it would have to be taken from profits instead. Some of the state's largest private utilities and their trade groups have opposed the bill, arguing that inflation, safety repairs and compliance with regulatory mandates are what drive rates higher — and that the proposed legislation is not necessary, because their allowable spending is already regulated. Sen. Janeen Sollman, D-Hillsboro, said the bill is about transparency and will allow Oregonians to better understand what can and cannot be included when rates are set. But she warned that ratepayers may not see a significant decrease on their energy bills with this proposed legislation. 'I want to be really clear with folks too, just so they have kind of a level setting is — You're not going to see a big difference on your utility bill with this bill,' she said. 'This isn't the bill that I've seen that people are saying, 'Oh, they're going to save me money,' so I want to really make sure that people understand.' The bill would require utilities to submit a report to the Oregon Public Utility Commission on spending that is nonrecoverable from ratepayers. Senate Bill 88 comes at a time when many Oregonians are paying 50% more on their energy bills than they did five years ago. Although lawmakers say the legislation would not provide much relief on energy bills, it would create more transparency. It would also help streamline the utilities' rate case process, which is the regulatory process in which the Public Utility Commission and intervenors, like nonprofit consumer advocacy groups, vet and question utility rates. Senate Bill 88 would ensure that shareholders profits are reduced to pay for costs related to advertising or lawyer fees or political influence — and that spending can't be baked into rate structures. Sarah Wochele is the policy associate with Oregon Citizens' Utility Board, or CUB, a nonprofit utility watchdog group created by voters in 1984. She said during a general rate setting process, intervenors comb through hundreds of pages of testimony. Because it can be a tedious task, Wochele said, the current process favors trying to keep rates down by going after higher costs. That sometimes leads to not discussing smaller utility spending choices. 'These are things such as costs related to advertising, activity related to supporting advertising, costs from travel, lodging, entertainment, food for utilities boards of directors,' she said. 'CUB has seen utilities try to include Blazer basketball tickets and Oregon Ducks football tickets in rates. Another utility once tried to include baby pigs for a 4-H program in eastern Washington.' Nearly three years ago, dozens of organizations and some lawmakers called on an investigation into what they claimed was NW Natural's 'misleading advertisement' to the public and in school work books. At the time, Oregon CUB became aware of the alleged misuse of funds during NW Natural's general rate case. Avista Natural Gas has also been found to use ratepayer funds to fight state climate action regulation. Carra Sahler, director and staff attorney of the Green Energy Institute at Lewis and Clark Law School, said Oregonians are tightening their belts and this bill would help utilities do the same. 'The proposal is intended to provide a bright line direction about what is recoverable from ratepayers and what isn't,' she said. 'The point of the bill is to cut out the needless back and forth between ratepayers advocates like the Citizens Utility Board, other intervenors, staff at the public utility commission, and the utilities themselves.' Similar bills have been passed in other parts of the country, like Colorado, Connecticut and Maine. Stephanie Chase is the research and communications manager for the Energy and Policy Institute, a watchdog organization that counters misinformation by fossil fuel and utility interests. She said those states passed similar legislation in 2023 and ratepayers are already seeing benefits. For example, a recent analysis from her organization found that since the law went into effect in Connecticut, the state's investor-owned utilities have disclosed over $9.7 million that was spent on costs that are not allowed to be recovered from ratepayers. 'In Colorado, the Public Utility Commission disallowed more than $775,000 in annual costs for lobbying fees, trade association dues, and investor relations that one utility at Xcel Energy had tried to recover,' she said. Overall, she said, among the immediate benefits Senate Bill 88 would be 'bright lines' around certain costs and expenses, that make it easier to highlight during the general rate case process and save the PUC and intervenors' time during the settlement process. Those bright lines are found in other states. But utilities like Cascade Natural Gas, Northwest Natural and the Northwest Gas Association oppose the bill claiming it's redundant with what already exists in current law and with the Public Utility Commission's orders on reviewing costs to determine if they are appropriate to recover from ratepayers. 'It's already within the PUC's power and means to impose penalties for violation of rule, law and order,' Cascade Natural Gas external affairs manager Alyn Spector said. For example, PUC allows utilities to recover 75% of their trade association fees, and are permitted to engage in 'just and reasonable' promotional activities. The utilities' also say the bill does not address energy affordability, is not clear on what type of community engagement would be allowed as an expense, and would require utilities to spend additional resources on providing an additional annual report. 'As written, we're afraid that the bill would stifle innovation by punishing utilities who attempt to recover costs on overly broad definitions of advertising and political influence activity. We do try to be good stewards of ratepayer dollars.' This story was originally published by Oregon Public Broadcasting. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
NW Natural pushes back on bill that would require notifying customers about use of hydrogen
A bill in the Oregon Legislature would require gas utility notification when hydrogen is blended with natural gas for residential customers. (Photo by) Last summer, a Democratic state senator heard from hundreds of constituents in southeast Portland who were concerned about NW Natural secretly supplying residents with natural gas blended with small amounts of hydrogen. Sen. Khanh Pham of Portland told the Senate Committee on Energy and Environment at a hearing Monday that they weren't just concerned that NW Natural didn't notify them, but that it wasn't required to inform the state's Public Utility Commission either. In response, Pham is now sponsoring Senate Bill 685 to require utilities to notify customers and the commission that it's going to supply residences with hydrogen-blended natural gas. 'Every gas pipeline has risks. The goal is that when hydrogen gas is introduced into Oregonians' homes, there should be a minimum public notice,' Pham, a member of the committee, told the senators. The bill, based on regulations in Washington state, would also require utilities to notify the commission of blend ratios and potential safety and health risks, and inform local fire and health departments about their plans. Two years ago, NW Natural scrapped hydrogen blending plans in Eugene due to public outcry over lack of transparency. A growing body of research shows that burning natural gas in homes is unhealthy, and although there is less research on the risks of burning hydrogen-blended natural gas in homes, studies show that burning these blends releases nitrogen oxides, which can cause respiratory illnesses. Natural gas also brings environmental concerns. It is almost entirely methane, a potent greenhouse gas. When burned, it releases carbon dioxide, another greenhouse gas warming the planet. Hydrogen does not emit greenhouse gases, but the hydrogen NW Natural is making to blend into its natural gas is created through a controversial and energy-intensive process that requires heating methane to capture the hydrogen molecules in it. NW Natural, which opposes Senate Bill 685, maintains that blending hydrogen with natural gas will help lower harmful emissions from burning natural gas alone. During the hearing, company representatives said hydrogen is safe to burn in homes and that giving customers and the commission advance notification would be onerous, expensive and impede the company's climate goals. 'Policies that add unnecessary expense and complication to reducing emissions and developing clean energy resources do not serve Oregonians,' Mary Moerlins, NW Natural's environmental policy director. 'Instead, they cost our customers additional time and money. Oregon should not add additional requirements that don't improve safety at a time of extreme pressure on utility rates.' Environmentalists argue that hydrogen — which can be energy intensive to make and only clean if it's derived from water and the energy used to make it is sourced from renewables — should be used to power big ships, trains and manufacturing facilities, not homes. Studies from the International Renewable Energy Agency have found that replacing 20% of natural gas with hydrogen only reduces emissions from natural gas by up to 7%. And each ton of emissions cut from blending hydrogen with natural gas costs three times as much as the next most expensive method of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which is to draw carbon from the atmosphere using large machines, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency. The better solution, many environmentalists say, is to hasten a transition to electric heating and cooking infrastructure in homes and away from burning fossil fuels like natural gas. But a 7% reduction is meaningful to the company's efforts to meet state decarbonization targets, according to Chris Kroeker, decarbonization director at NW Natural. He told the committee it would equate to a reduction of 400,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year, equivalent to taking 85,000 gas-powered cars off the road every year. Kroeker said the company does not typically alert customers about gas blending because 'there's no significant impact on downstream equipment, it increases costs for customers to do so, and it could also cause messaging fatigue.' Pham and other supporters of the bill question that reasoning. Carra Sahler, director of the Green Energy Institute at Lewis & Clark Law School, said customers deserve to know what they are paying for. 'The monopoly utility is now using ratepayer dollars for this project, but does not need to alert anyone if it increases the amount of hydrogen it blends,' she said. Pham told the committee that before introducing the legislation she toured the NW natural facility where the hydrogen blending is taking place, and met with the Portland-based Renewable Hydrogen Alliance and carpenter, electrician and ironworker unions to understand their concerns. 'As a NW Natural customer, I know that you send notices in the mail, and I imagine that you could probably include a notice in the mail,' Pham said. Methane gas extracted from the earth is made of carbon and hydrogen molecules. The hydrogen NW Natural is making – 'turquoise hydrogen' – is created when that methane is heated to temperatures so high that the carbon and hydrogen molecules split from one another. This process is called 'methane pyrolysis.' NW Natural is heating methane, capturing the hydrogen and blending it into natural gas. They're also using some of the hydrogen as energy to heat more methane to create more hydrogen. And they are capturing the carbon and using it to make products like asphalt. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
