For more information on Clean Energy & Global Warming issues, contact:
Brock Howell
State Policy Advocate
(503) 231-1986 x314
Brock@EnvironmentOregon.org
Background
Clean Energy & Global Warming In the News
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Op-Ed: Energy tax credits help emerging businesses
- The Statesman Journal (new window)
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2010-02-19 |
| A book on the electronics genius Nikola Tesla sits on a table. Engineers bend metal into smooth contours. Programmers finish design details. A tour guide pounds a piece of plastic, demonstrating its safety benefits. A sleek, dark blue electric vehicle rests in the workspace, inspiring Oregon's first plug-in electric vehicle manufacturer, Arcimoto Inc., to dream big. Founded in 2007, Arcimoto Inc. expects to build its first 500 cars by the end of the year. This will mean new jobs for a community that, like many across Oregon, is struggling because of business downsizing and closure. With lots of work, a little luck and the help of strategic incentive programs like the Business Energy Tax Credit (BETC), Arcimoto Inc. could be the next Nike or Intel. | |
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Nike, Starbucks, other Northwest businesses push Congress for 'clean energy economy'
- The Oregonian (new window)
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2010-02-16 |
| Just pass it? Nike and other businesses, including Starbucks and Portland's Gerding Edlen development firm, called on Congress to approve comprehensive climate change legislation this year and said a "clean energy economy" is the next great economic boom. At a news conference on the Nike campus Tuesday, representatives from businesses, unions and youth groups, joined by U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., announced a "Race for American Jobs" campaign that they hope will persuade the Senate to pass legislation similar to that passed in the House. | |
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More Views On PGE’s Early Shut Down Of Boardman
- NaturalOregon.org (new window)
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2010-01-17 |
| This weekend, Environment Oregon released its take on PGE’s proposal to close the coal-fired power plant near Boardman. The group has been active in the campaign to close Boardman by 2014. PGE’s most current plan is to shut it down by 2020. | |
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Sierra Club: PGE Still Needs To Shut Down Boardman By 2014
- NaturalOregon.org (new window)
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2010-01-15 |
| In the campaign to shut down the coal-fired power plant at Boardman, the Oregon Sierra Club isn’t ready to declare victory. Doing so might have been understandable. PGE’s decision to close Boardman by 2020, two decades ahead of schedule, is major news. | |
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An Early End to PGE's Boardman Coal Power Plant?
- Natural Oregon (new window)
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2010-01-14 |
| A very big story from the Oregonian. PGE says it’s thinking about shutting down the state’s only coal fired power plant in Boardman. | |
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PGE plan suggests shorter time frame to close Boardman coal-fired power plant
- The Oregonian (new window)
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2010-01-14 |
| Portland General Electric Co. would shut down the state's only coal-fired power plant 20 years earlier than planned under a proposal it hopes to finalize with state and federal regulators in the coming months. | |
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Three Oregon clean energy projects land $87 million in federal tax credits
- The Oregonian (new window)
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2010-01-08 |
| Three clean-tech companies with Oregon operations, or plans for one, captured $87 million in tax credits Friday as the White House announced $2.3 billion in credits to help create jobs. The Oregon recipients were SolarWorld Industries America, which received $82.2 million in credits for its new solar wafer factory in Hillsboro; Centrosolar Oregon, which received $4.7 million in credits for a manufacturing plant proposed in Gresham; and Pacific Metal Fab in Eugene, which received $304,000 for producing solar hot water systems. | |
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Report details CO2 emissions from Boardman, other power plants
- The Oregonian (new window)
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2009-12-23 |
| A survey of 1,200 U.S. power plants by Environment Oregon ranks Portland General Electric's coal-fired plant in Boardman as the 161st highest in carbon emissions in the nation in 2007, making it Oregon's top emitter of CO2. | |
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Enviros: PGE’s Boardman Coal Plant is Oregon’s Dirtiest
- Willamette Week (new window)
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2009-12-22 |
| Oregon enviros rolled out their “naughty and nice” list today as part of a new report by Environment Oregon entitled, “America’s Biggest Polluters: Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Power Plants in 2007.” | |
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Santa Talks ‘Dirty’ About The Boardman Power Plant
- NaturalOregon.org (new window)
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2009-12-22 |
| With a combination of holiday gimmick and serious talk, two of Oregon’s leading environmental groups are kicking off a new drive to shut down PGE’s coal-fired power plant near Boardman. | |
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U.S. states have taken big steps to cut greenhouse gas emissions, report says
- The Oregonian (new window)
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2009-12-04 |
| State climate change policies will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 536 million metric tons by 2020, about 7 percent of the United States' 2007 emissions, a new report from Environment America concludes. | |
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Oregon Iron Works will build first buoy for wave farm off Reedsport
- The Oregonian (new window)
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2009-12-04 |
| A New Jersey firm has hired Oregon Iron Works to build the first of 10 wave energy buoys that it will begin installing off the Oregon coast next year in the country's first commercial-scale wave energy farm. | |
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Letter to the Editor: Threat to energy tax cuts deep into rural Oregon budgets
- The Oregonian (new window)
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2009-12-04 |
| It distresses me to see The Oregonian being so callous as to take bets over how deeply a huge funding source for rural Oregon counties will be cut. | |
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VIDEO: Ready For Copenhagen, Thanks To The States
- NaturalOregon.org (new window)
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2009-12-03 |
| While Congress dithers on climate change legislation, a new report says we’re actually in pretty good shape for the upcoming global warming talks in Copenhagen. The reason, according to the report, is that several states are showing strong leadership on global warming and that’s giving the U.S. a head start on reducing carbon emissions. | |
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Energy Advocates Preparing For Changes In Project Incentives
- OPB News (new window)
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2009-12-03 |
| Renewable energy advocates are taking a close look at how Oregon is planning to change its incentives for new projects. State agency directors suggested that the tax credits for large wind projects be capped, among other changes. Rachel Shimshak of Renewable Northwest Project said: “So long as the rules . . . are vague, that’s not so good.” | |
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Op-Ed: State Treasurer presses climate transparency for investors
- Oregon Business Report (new window)
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2009-11-28 |
| In life and investing, there’s a truism that “What you don’t know can hurt you.” Oregon State Treasurer Ben Westlund is asking the Securities and Exchange Commission to reduce that uncertainty when it comes to climate change, and how the impacts could help or hinder companies and their bottom lines. | |
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Editorial: No new nukes -- plants, that is
- LA Times (new window)
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2009-11-28 |
| Nuclear power plants are being pushed as part of climate-change legislation. But the focus should be on renewable power sources, which are getting cheaper and don't produce radioactive waste. | |
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Climate change speeds up since 1997 Kyoto accord
- Seattle Times / AP (new window)
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2009-11-23 |
| Since the 1997 Kyoto international accord to fight global warming, climate change has worsened and accelerated — beyond some of the grimmest warnings made back then. As the world has talked for a dozen years about what to do next, new ship passages opened through the Arctic's once-frozen summer sea ice. In Greenland and Antarctica, ice sheets have lost trillions of tons. Mountain glaciers in Europe, South America, Asia and Africa are shrinking faster than before. | |
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Storm Over the Chamber
- New York Times (new window)
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2009-11-19 |
| Many of the chamber’s big-business members are deeply split on the issue, with some standing to profit from an economy moving away from reliance on fossil fuels, while others could see devastating increases in costs. The companies that resigned this fall — Apple, Levi Strauss & Company, Mohawk Paper and the utilities Pacific Gas and Electric, Exelon and PNM Resources — cited the chamber’s climate policy as counterproductive. All said that some form of greenhouse gas regulation or legislation was coming and that they did not want to pay dues to an organization that appeared to be standing in its way. | |
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Editorial: Sliding backward on climate change
- The Oregonian (new window)
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2009-11-19 |
| Global warming is so multi-faceted, its effects so far-flung, and the time between the cause and consequences so prolonged that it gives us all "the illusion that we have a luxury of time." During a global recession, the truth has a way of slip-sliding away -- and proving even more inconvenient. 2009 is shaping up as a hugely disappointing year on the climate-change front. It was supposed to be a turning point. | |
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Time for a Coal-Free Northwest
- BlueOregon.com (new window)
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2009-11-19 |
| If we are going to be serious about reducing greenhouse gas pollution - we have to stop burning coal. Amazingly, burning coal accounts for 40% of Oregon’s electricity consumption, even as it is responsible for 87% of the Northwest power system’s global warming pollution. Now its time for the Governor to push for the phaseout of outdated and dirty coal-fired power sources, like PGE’s Boardman plant, while working with other regional Governors and the NWPCC to create a coal-free Northwest. | |
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Oregon LNG wins two battles over Port of Astoria lease
- The Oregonian (new window)
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2009-11-18 |
| The liquefied natural gas company Oregon LNG has gotten two important thumbs up on its controversial lease with the Port of Astoria, boosting prospects for its plans to build a terminal on 92 acres near Youngs Bay. On Tuesday, a federal magistrate ruled that Astoria's Port should extend both its sublease with Oregon LNG and its lease with the Department of State Lands for three decades, despite the Port's concerns that it might lose money if the LNG terminal doesn't pan out. | |
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Kulongoski Requests Second Look At Business Energy Tax Credit
- OPB News (new window)
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2009-11-18 |
| Governor Ted Kulongoski asked the leaders of two state agencies Tuesday to take another look at what's called the Business Energy Tax Credit. "What the governor would like is a list of recommendations about the BETC program as it's applied to large-scale renewable energy generation facilities – and he'd like recommendations as to whether this credit is necessary for these facilities to continue to contribute to our state and local economies." | |
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Governor orders review of Oregon energy tax credits
- The Oregonian (new window)
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2009-11-17 |
| Gov. Ted Kulongoski ordered a hurry-up review Tuesday of Oregon's incentives for renewable energy companies in the face of ongoing criticism of the tax breaks. In a letter to two state agency heads, Kulongoski asked for recommendations on whether the increasingly expensive Business Energy Tax Credit "is necessary for continued economic opportunity in renewable energy and, more specifically, wind energy." | |
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Op-Ed: Oregon governor defends green tax breaks
- The Oregonian (new window)
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2009-11-14 |
| The numbers prove that the BETC program is one of the most effective economic development tools in our effort to create green jobs. Since we expanded the program in 2007, Oregon has ranked in the top 10 states in wind energy production; has become the leading solar manufacturer in North America, with SolarWorld, Sanyo, PV Powered, Solaicx and Peak Sun; and according to the Pew Charitable Trust, Oregon has the highest percentage of green jobs per capita of any state in the nation. | |
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Oregon's greenhouse gas emissions rise, despite drop in vehicle pollution, report says
- The Oregonian (new window)
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2009-11-13 |
| Despite Oregon's green reputation, the state saw a disturbing rise in greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels for electricity, according to a report released Thursday. Oregon's greenhouse gas emissions grew 41 percent since 1990, despite a promising drop in carbon emissions for transportation, according to Environment Oregon, a statewide environmental advocacy group. The nonprofit organization used government data to analyze state-by-state carbon emissions from fossil fuels between 1990 and 2007 for the report, "Too Much Pollution." | |
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New rules proposed for green tax credits
- Portland Business Journal (new window)
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2009-11-13 |
| The Oregon Department of Energy on Friday issued a new proposed “pass-through” rate for its Business Energy Tax Credit program that cut the rate of return on an investment significantly. The pass-through option allows owners of an energy project to transfer the tax credit to a partner in exchange for cash. | |
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Enviro groups want carbon costs in power plan
- NBC News Channel 13 (new window)
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2009-11-13 |
| Environmental groups are asking Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer to push for changes in a pending regional power plan so that it reduces greenhouse gas emissions over the next 20 years. The Northwest Power and Conservation Council is considering a 20-year plan that would meet almost all the region's increased power demands through energy-efficiency measures. | |
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Oregon increases its global warming pollution
- Statesman Journal (new window)
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2009-11-12 |
| Oregon’s global warming pollution increased by 41 percent since 1990, according to a new analysis of government data released today by Environment Oregon. | |
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White House Steps Up Climate Efforts
- New York Times (new window)
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2009-10-27 |
| The Obama administration and some Senate Democrats expressed fresh urgency on Tuesday about the need to address climate change and refashion the nation’s energy economy. In a Senate hearing on a new climate change and energy bill and in coordinated appearances by President Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., the administration promoted measures to cap greenhouse gas emissions and support new means of fueling homes and vehicles with far less carbon dioxide intensity. Mr. Obama appeared at a solar energy installation in Florida and Mr. Biden at an auto plant in Delaware that will produce electric vehicles, talking about the potential of alternative energy to create jobs. | |
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