CUB Hosts Sold-Out Audience at Changing Climate: Adapting to New Regulations

Posted on October 31, 2014 by Amelia Lamb
Tags, Climate and Conservation, Consumers and Utility Customers, Outreach and Events

On Friday, October 24th, the CUB Policy Center held our fourth annual policy conference, Changing Climate, Adapting to New Regulations. Sold-out and chock-full of engaging content, The CUB Conference brought together many of the best and brightest from the region’s energy industry and its stakeholders to tackle some of the toughest issues emerging today in the field of energy policy.

We are grateful to the University of Oregon School of Law for once again hosting us at the historic White Stag Building in Old Town Portland. Another great big thank-you goes out to our speakers and panelists for their thoughtful contributions to the day’s conversations, and to all our attendees for taking the time to bring their energy and ideas.

For years, as the science has built up on the damage climate change is causing around the world, lawmakers and utilities have debated the merits of a carbon tax and other regulatory fixes as well as cap and trade, renewable incentives, and other voluntary actions. The CUB Conference provided an unprecedented opportunity for candid discussion among the region’s energy leaders to tackle what has historically been - and still is - considered a politically charged and controversial topic.

Particularly notable was the opening panel, moderated by NW Energy Coalition Executive Director Sara Patton, which convened three of Oregon’s top utility executives: Gregg Kantor – NW Natural, Jim Piro – Portland General Electric, and Patrick Reiten – Pacific Power. CUB’s own Bob Jenks joined this panel to discuss opportunities for utility leadership in mitigating the effects of climate change. The panelists spoke with candor and respect about the challenges facing utilities in the absence of a comprehensive federal climate policy, agreed that climate change is real and human-caused, and that collaborative action is necessary if effective solutions are to be found.

Another highlight was Midday Keynote speaker Dr. Philip Mote, who brought his expertise and the latest scientific research from agencies at three different levels of government on climate change since the turn of the century: the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the US National Climate Assessment, and the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute (of which Dr. Mote is the Director). Although the Pacific Northwest is in much better shape currently than many other parts of the world vis a vis the effects of climate change, Dr. Mote’s presentation demonstrated that we are not likely to come away unscathed - for instance, a 2-foot rise in sea level at Newport OR is projected to occur by the end of this century. You can find and download Dr. Mote’s presentation from the CUB Conference website.

Afternoon breakout sessions examined the topics of the EPA’s new proposed 111(d) rules for existing coal plants, utility projects in the pipeline to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with Oregon Senate Bill 844, balancing renewables with baseload fossil fuels, and the role of natural gas in a carbon-constrained world.

Bill Bradbury, former Secretary of State and present Chair of the NW Power and Conservation Council deftly moderated the closing panel featuring many good insights from CUB Policy Director Jeff Bissonnette, Pacific Power VP of Community and Government Relations Scott Bolton, OPUC Utility Program Director Jason Eisdorfer, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Energy Efficiency Team Leader Lisa Schwartz, and Sierra Club Managing Attorney Gloria Smith.

This year’s conference was a big success, and there is no doubt that we could not have made it happen without the support of our sponsors and partners as well as our Black Bear Community Partners, In-kind donors and vendors:

• Polar Bear Sponsors: PacifiCorp, Portland General Electric
• Grizzly Bear Sponsors: NW Natural, Northwest Power and Conservation Council
• Brown Bear Sponsors: Bonneville Power Administration, Oregon Department of Energy, Sierra Club
• Honey Bear Sponsors: Avista, Cable Huston, Energy Savvy, Energy Trust of Oregon, McDowell Rackner & Gibson PC, NW Energy Coalition, Renewable Northwest, Research Into Action
• Media Sponsor: Conduit

Many supplemental reading materials were collected to augment the educational content of the panels and presentations. Those materials continue to be available for download on the conference website. We also renewed a partnership this year with Conduit NW to produce video coverage of the CUB conference’s panels and presentations. The video footage is currently being edited and will be available on Conduit’s website and subsequently on our Youtube channel. You can also check out their article about the event posted Thursday October 30th on the Conduit blog. Check back for updates as these videos come online!

We are already looking forward to the next CUB Policy Conference, and hope you will save the date to join us on October 23, 2015!

Opening Panelists (l-r): Sara Patton, Gregg Kantor, Jim Piro, Patrick Reiten, Bob Jenks