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Oregon

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Planning and Measurement | Targets and Caps | Reporting | Power Sector | Transportation Sector

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Planning and Measurement

State Advisory Board

Status: Completed

Details: Oregon's Governor Ted Kulongoski signed the state's first climate change legislation (House Bill 3543) on August 7, 2007. In addition to the caps on emissions, the legislation establishes both an Oregon Climate Change Research Institute within the Department of Higher Education and an Oregon Global Warming Commission. The Global Warming Commission will be charged with spearheading the state's GHG reduction efforts.The Climate Change Integration Group was established in May 2006 by Governor Kulongoski. The new integration group will continue the work of the 2004 Governor's Advisory Group on Global Warming, which developed strategies for reducing GHG emissions as part of a West Coast regional effort. The Carbon Allocation Task Force was created in 2005 to examine the feasibility of, and develop a design for, a load-based carbon allowance standard for Oregon.

Regional Initiatives

Status: Completed

Details: Governor Ted Kulongoski and British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell signed an agreement on October 23, 2007, pledging to work together on reducing GHG emissions and ocean pollution, according to a joint statement from the officials. The Memorandum of Understanding on Pacific Coast Collaboration to Protect Our Shared Climate and Ocean advances the goals of the Western Regional Climate Action Initiative.
Member of the Western Climate Initiative. The Governors of five western states established the Western Regional Climate Action Initiative on February 26, 2007, committing to establish an overall regional goal to reduce GHG emissions within 6 months, develop a design for a regional market-based multi-sector mechanism within 18 months to achieve the regional goal, and participate in a multi-state GHG registry. The WCI unveiled its draft greenhouse gas reduction strategy on July 23, 2008. A final version of the plan is due in September 2008, and each state and province will then be left to adopt the recommendations.
In November 2004, the Governors of Washington, Oregon, and California approved the West Coast Governors' Global Warming Initiative, a series of recommendations to reduce global warming pollution, covering GHG fleet standards, appliance standards, building codes, renewable energy targets.

GHG Inventory

Status: Completed

Details: Completed initial inventory in 1995 and another in 2004 as part of the Governor's Advisory Group on Global Warming's Report to the Governor. The 2004 report covers emissions from 1990-2000 and includes projections through 2025.

Climate Change Action Plan

Status: Completed

Details: The Governor's Climate Change Integration Group (CCIG) issued a final report in January 2008. Governor Ted Kulongoski established CCIG in May 2006 to continue and expand on the work of the Governor's Advisory Group on Global Warming, which prepared the Oregon Strategy for Greenhouse Gas Reductions in 2004. The most immediate responsibility assigned to the group was to make a preliminary assessment of the how the state should prepare for adaptation to the impacts of climate change, and deliver a report to the Governor with initial recommendations. In 2004 the Governors of Washington, Oregon, and California approved a series of recommendations for action to combat global warming, and directed their staffs to continue working on state and regional goals and strategies to combat global warming.

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Targets and Caps

Lead by Example Target

Status: No Activity Identified

Statewide GHG Target

Status: Completed

Details: Oregon is a member of the Western Climate Initiative (WCI). Under the agreement, by 2008 the member states and provinces will establish a cap-and-trade system to aid in meeting their regional GHG emissions target of 15% below 2005 levels by 2020.
On August 6, 2007, Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski signed House Bill 3543, which sets GHG emissions targets for the state. HB 3543 directs the state to stop the growth of GHG emissions by 2010 and to reduce GHG emissions to 10% below 1990 levels by 2020 and to 75% below 1990 levels by 2050. Oregon became a member of the WCI partnership in February 2007.

Statewide GHG Cap

Status: Completed

Details: Oregon's Governor Ted Kulongoski signed the state's first climate change legislation (House Bill 3543) on August 7, 2007. The bill sets an ambitious standard for reducing GHG emissions in the state: 75% below 1990 levels by 2050.
The Governors of five western states established the Western Regional Climate Action Initiative on February 26, 2007, committing to establish an overall regional goal to reduce GHG emissions within 6 months and develop a design for a regional market-based multi-sector mechanism within 18 months to achieve the regional goal.

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Reporting

Electricity Disclosure

Status: Completed

Details: Under Oregon's 1999 electric utility restructuring legislation, electricity suppliers are required to disclose their fuel mix and emissions. Beginning March 1, 2002, disclosure must be supplied using a format prescribed by the Oregon Public Utility Commission. Suppliers must disclose fuel mix and emissions of SO2, CO2, and NOx.

GHG Registry

Status: In Progress

Details: Oregon is a member of the Western Climate Initiative (WCI), which is considering various options for establishing a GHG registry and reporting system that will require some facilities and sectors to report (and reduce) their GHG emissions. The WCI unveiled its draft greenhouse gas reduction strategy on July 23, 2008. A final version of the plan is due in September 2008, and each state and province will then be left to adopt the recommendations.
Member of The Climate Registry - a collaboration aimed at developing and managing a common GHG emissions reporting system across states, provinces, and tribes. It will provide an accurate, complete, consistent, transparent, and verified set of GHG emissions data from reporting entities, supported by a robust accounting and verification infrastructure. Members released a final General Reporting Protocol in May 2008. The Climate Registry plans to start accepting data in summer 2008.

Mandatory GHG Reporting

Status: In Progress

Details: As of August 18, 2008, Oregon legislators have proposed a mandatory GHG reporting rule for industry and utilities. The proposed regulation, which would take effect in 2009, would exempt large sectors of the economy, including transportation and agriculture. Unlike California and Washington, Oregon includes no minimum threshold for industries, meaning that small emitters-such as high-tech manufacturers-will be required to report in addition to large emitters-such as utilities, wood-products plants, and pulp and paper mills. The bill requires large landfills and wastewater treatment plants, which emit significant quantities of methane, to document emissions by 2010.
In July 2007, Governor Kulongoski asked the Chair of the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission to consider adopting a GHG reporting rule as soon as possible. In September 2007, the Council started work on a new rule requiring Oregon companies to report emissions of GHGs.
Oregon is a member of the Western Climate Initiative (WCI), which is considering various options for establishing a GHG reporting system that will require some facilities and sectors to report (and reduce) their GHG emissions. The WCI unveiled its draft greenhouse gas reduction strategy on July 23, 2008. A final version of the plan is due in September 2008, and each state and province will then be left to adopt the recommendations.

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Power Sector

CO2 Offset Requirements

Status: Completed

Details: Oregon House Bill 3283 passed in 1997. The standard is set relative to the most efficient combined-cycle, combustion turbine plant operating commercially in the U.S. Net, allowable emissions are set at a level 17% below this reference plant. The standard can be met by any combination of efficiency, cogeneration or offsets from mitigation (through CO2 reduction or donation to the Climate Trust).

GHG Performance Standard

Status: Completed

Details: In 1997, Oregon's House Bill 3283 established carbon dioxide emissions standards for new power plants, and all electricity imported into the state. The standards apply to base load gas plants, nonbase load power plants, and nongenerating energy facilities that emit CO2. The law requires any new base load gas power plant to reduce net carbon dioxide emissions 17% below the most efficient base-load gas plant operating in the U.S. The CO2 emissions standard for a non-base load power plant, regardless of fuel, is a net emissions rate of 0.675 lb. CO2/kWh of net electric power output. The Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council issues rules periodically to update the standard, as more efficient power plants are built in other states. This performance standard is based on emissions rate, rather than on a set of emissions characteristics.

Advanced Coal Technology

Status: No Activity Identified

Power Sector GHG Cap and Trade

Status: Proposed

Details: Oregon is a member of the Western Climate Initiative. By August 2008, partners will complete the design of a market-based mechanism to achieve WCI's greenhouse gas reduction goal.
HB 3543, signed by the Governor on August 7, 2007, created the Oregon Global Warming Commission and charged it with examining the suitability of a multi-state carbon cap-and-trade system for achieving the emission reduction goals.
On August 29, 2005, Governor Ted Kulongoski announced his appointment of the Carbon Allocation Task Force to examine the feasibility of, and develop a design for, a load-based carbon allowance standard for Oregon. The Task Force gave the governor its recommendation in January 2007.

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Transportation Sector

GHG Auto Standards

Status: In Progress

Details: On June 15, 2006, the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission adopted California's vehicle emissions standard. On January 2, 2008, California filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. EPA's denial of the state's effort to regulate GHG emissions from motor vehicles, in response to EPA's rejection of a petition for a Clean Air Act waiver on December 19, 2007. A waiver is required for California and other states to implement a vehicle emissions standard tougher than the federal one. The proposed auto standard calls for the reduction of GHG emissions from new vehicles of 22% by 2012 and 30% by 2016.

Low Carbon Fuel Standard

Status: No Activity Identified

Details: Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski signed HB 2210 on July 3, 2007, which requires all gasoline sold in the state to be blended with 10% ethanol (a blend known as E10) and all diesel fuel sold in the state to be blended with 2% biodiesel (a blend known as B2). The requirement for gasoline will take effect when Oregon's ethanol production reaches 40 million gallons per year, and the diesel requirement kicks in when the Pacific Northwest's production of biodiesel reaches 5 million gallons per year. When biodiesel production reaches 15 million gallons per year, the blending requirement will increase to 5% (a blend known as B5). Listed as no activity because alternative fuel requirements are not based on GHG emissions.

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