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June 28, 2007

Call on the Governor to VETO Public Purpose Giveaway

Here at CUB, we love biology, archeology, paleontology, astronomy and all the other wonderful things that children and their adult companions discover at OMSI. However, we also believe in upholding the Oregon Constitution and making good public policy that protects the environment and reduces rates. And so CUB is opposing the recent move of the Oregon Legislature to divert $4.6 million in funds paid by PGE customers to the Energy Trust of Oregon's public purpose funds for energy efficiency and conservation projects, in order to pay off an old OMSI debt.

We urge you to call the Governor at 503-378-4582 to tell him to use his line-item veto to restore this $4.6 million of public purpose funding and protect your money for investments in energy efficiency and renewables.

Although the rationale for the diversion of funds is that the OMSI debt was used for a more energy-efficient building (more than a dozen years ago), we aren't buying it. Those Energy Trust funds are required by law to fund new energy saving projects, not retire old debts. And however close some would claim this is to the intended purpose of the funds, in the final analysis, nothing except meeting the actual goals of new energy efficiency and conservation projects will fulfill the law. Any other use of the money is a misuse.

The Energy Trust has had to defend itself from various attacks and attempts to raid its pot of conservation and renewables funding over the years, as it has worked to establish programs and acquire an exceptional track record. It is therefore doubly important that this most recent attempt to reroute public purpose funds not be allowed to happen, as it would set a precedent that weakens the Trust for the future. The Legislature should be protecting this money for clean energy, waving a big "Hands Off!" sign, not giving the green light to prospecting funding-hunters.

This most recent raid was stealthy, rushed through at the end of an incredibly busy legislative session. Senate Bill 994, which contains the money grab, was adopted as an amendment in the Ways and Means Committee with no public hearing or comment period. With great speed, the bill was through the House and Senate as well. Even though the amendment was dressed up with descriptions of "energy efficiency," it's clear that this diversion is a raw deal. It's a raw deal for everyone who believes in clean energy and energy efficiency, but especially for those customers who actually paid the $4.6 million into the Energy Trust fund that's being raided. Customers deserve the assurance that the money they pay every month toward conservation and energy efficiency will actually go there.

CUB's opinion is that this diversion of funding is not even legal. Taking this public purpose funding steals from customers twice: once, when the money paid by customers toward energy conservation and efficiency programs is directed to pay off someone else's old debt; and a second time, because those programs would have saved customers money in the long run, reducing energy usage and removing 28,000 tons of carbon dioxide from the Oregon air.

Luckily, the Legislature does not have the final say on SB 994. It still must cross the Governor's desk. With everyone from the Oregon Conservation Network to Lars Larson to the Oregonian editorial page speaking out against the diversion of funds, we urge Governor Kulongoski to use his line-item veto to restore the funds to their rightful purpose: managing energy efficiency and conservation projects in a way that will decrease Oregonians' energy usage and keep our environment cleaner.

Call (503-378-4582) or email Governor Kulongoski now and tell him to restore public purpose funding and find another pot of money for OMSI.

We appreciate OMSI and some CUB staff even support it with membership, but we believe that there must be another way to solve the museum's financial difficulty. The Legislature has dug a hole with this poorly-thought-out amendment, and we're sure the Governor can find a way out.

So help us send that message to the Governor by calling 503-378-4582 or sending an email. It will just take a minute but will make a big difference in protecting energy efficiency and renewable programs now and in the future.

Posted by Oregon CUB at 02:45 PM | Comments (1)

June 07, 2007

Governor Signs Renewable Bill, CUB Still Has Pots on the Stove

Yesterday morning, Governor Ted Kulongoski signed into law SB 838, the Renewable Energy Standard, in a room full of those people who had helped make the idea into a bill and then move the bill through the Oregon Legislature (including, in the picture below, CUB Organizing Director Jeff Bissonnette, CUB Staff Attorney Jason Eisdorfer, and CUB Board Member Fred Heutte). The morning signing was a celebratory occasion, crowning months of hard work, and resulting in a movement toward a greener electricity system for Oregon, requiring 25% renewable energy sources by 2025.

Governor Kulongoski and Clean Energy Allies at RES Signing Ceremony

This is the second serious move Oregon has taken to address the consequences of global warming, the first being adoption of California's tail-pipe emissions standards. A third move is the passage of HB 2620, which ensures that all new public building projects will designate 1.5% of construction costs to installing solar power. This is a significant change, adding to an overall "greening" shift in our power system, and the precedent it sets for successfully integrating clean energy technology is a tremendous boon to the state.

Still in the works: We're very much hoping for a fourth major move toward reducing greenhouse gases, if the Legislature passes the Climate Integration Bill, which would establish requirements for utility reporting of carbon emissions, create a state policy commission on climate change, and establish a university-based research center on climate change policy. Gathering information on climate shifts both worldwide and from local impacts in Oregon would be a great foundation for future actions we can take to protect our land and economy from the difficulties that could be approaching due to global warming.

Two other energy efficiency bills (the cheapest and cleanest power is the power you don't use, right?) have been sent to the Ways and Means Committee, and still have a shot at passage: SB 576 would require state agencies to construct new buildings to LEED Gold Standards, which could lower those buildings' energy usage by 15%; and HB 2876 would require state buildings to achieve a 20% reduction in energy usage by 2015.

Also still cooking are amendments to revise and expand the clean energy tax credits for residential (RETC) and business customers (BETC) that already exist. This is especially exciting to add a financial incentive for developers to include clean energy systems, such as solar, onto the houses they build. After all, why should clean energy be only an after-purchase add-on when it could be common practice for all new housing construction? Every energy efficiency, conservation, and renewable bill that we can pass will pay dividends well into the future in reduced energy costs and pollution.

And last but not least is SB 461, the low-income energy assistance bill, which would raise the amount of money available for those unable to pay their utility bills from $10 to $15 million, resulting in an increase of about 20 cents per residential utility bill. This is important because Oregon is not even coming close to meeting the needs of those who cannot pay their energy bills, and because a cycle of shut-offs costs all customers money in the long run. This bill could still pass and we ardently hope that it does.

On the telecommunications front, it looks likely that the Telecomm Consumer Bill of Rights is not going to pass this session, and we are hopeful that neither will any of the several dangerous deregulation bills that were floated this time around by the telecomm industry.

With all of the energy bills still in play, we are clearly not done yet, and with the leadership in Salem hoping to end the session by June 29th, we are looking at an extremely busy next few weeks. Well, that's all to the good. We're pushing hard to the end. We may send another action alert on one of our priority bills in the next few weeks - keep your eyes peeled.

Posted by Oregon CUB at 04:26 PM | Comments (2)