All Blog Posts (9)

The threats to water down Oregon's Renewable Energy Standard are still very much alive in these last days of the 2009 session. The standard was passed in 2007 to require utilities to have 25 percent of their load met by renewable resources by 2025. Two bills that would dilute the 25 by 25 standard may very well be approved by the 2009 legislature, thanks to the utilities and other industries. Both Portland General Electric and Pacific Power supported the Renewable Energy Standard in 2007 but nei… Continue

In the waning days of the legislature, there is a full-on attempt to water down Oregon's Renewable Energy Standard - the policy passed in 2007 to require utilities to have 25 percent of their load met by renewable resources by 2025. There are two bills that would do damage to the 25 by 25 standard and open the door for more mischief down the road. We need you to contact both your state senator and state representative RIGHT NOW and tell them… Continue

From Jeff Bissonnette, CUB's Organizing Director: Today there was a hearing on Senate Bill 80, the centerpiece of the 2009 Climate Package. The bill would authorize the state Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to undertake a broad-based public rulemaking process to establish a cap-and-trade system for Oregon as the state's part of the regional Western Climate Initiative. We'll have more information next week on the CUB website about the details of t… Continue

Over the last several days, there have been a lot of meetings with legislators about climate issues. Those meetings are often very interesting. The purpose is mostly to introduce the subject of climate to legislators and make connections amongst all the bills that are part of the climate package. Some legislators have thought a lot about the issue. Others may have some awareness but have most questions. While it's still early to be nailing down votes, the meetings give a good idea about which le… Continue

Today in the Oregon legislature, the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources and the House Committee on Environment and Water held a joint information hearing on climate change issues. There was no specific bill that was at issue today. The hearing was simply an overview of climate issues so that legislators would have more background on the issues once they do start to consider specific bills. The main speaker was Philip Mote, who is about to become the new director of the Oregon… Continue

Just a quick note about a non-legislative item. For the past several months, we've been pushing Portland General Electric to pay attention to some implementation issues regarding their current program to change all the meters in the service territory (a little more than 800,000 meters) over to "smart meters." Now, CUB has no issue with smart meters per se. The technology hold great promise and potential benefits to ratepayers. But there are also a whole host of policy questions that have yet to… Continue

The Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee held its first hearing today. Committee members focused on energy efficiency in an informational hearing (ie - not focused on any specific bills). The committee heard testimony from a wide range of energy efficiency experts. Bill Edmonds of Northwest Natural and David Cohan of the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance talked about the work of the Governor's Energy Efficiency Working Group. Proposals from that group will be presented to the l… Continue

The 2009 Session of the Oregon Legislature got underway today. The first day is always pomp and circumstance before legislators get down to business. A pile of bills that were introduced prior to the session were read and distributed. Committee hearings start later this week, including a Senate hearing on energy efficiency this Thursday (see the events section for details). All in all, it looks to be a busy time over the next several months. You can listen to the audio archives of the happening… Continue

On January 12, 2009, the Oregon Legislature will start its 75th session. This will be your site to get up-to-date information and help take action to pass pro-consumer bills or stop bad legislation. Join the network, bookmark this site and come visit often for updates, action alerts and ongoing information! Continue