Creating Smart Policy

The first expansion of the Oregon Bottle Bill since its inception in 1971. A broad fix to Measure 37 to pre-serve land use laws that protect Oregon from land speculators and unchecked sprawl. A new toxics reduction strategy to help clean up the Willamette River. A new electronic waste recycling law, the first comprehensive statewide waste reduction initiative since curbside recycling was enacted in 1983. A new statewide Clean Diesel Initiative to retrofit and replace polluting diesel engines in Oregon’s school buses, big rigs, construction and farm equipment. Ambitious greenhouse gas reduction goals written for the first time into Oregon law and a new state commission to reduce global warming pollution. Bold, new Oregon standards for renewable energy and alternative fuels to promote energy independence, create jobs and combat global warming.

Whether variations on an old Oregon theme or creative, new initiatives for a healthier future, these achievements made the 2007 Oregon Legislature nothing short of a landmark session for Oregonians and our environment. These important victories – which the Oregon Environmental Council and our fellow advocates within the Oregon Conservation Network worked hard to achieve – will improve the health, quality of life and economic vitality of communities across our great state.

Here are the highlights from 2007:

Global Warming Goals

The Oregon Environmental Council’s former executive director participated in the Governor’s Advisory Committee on Global Warming, which adopted a set of ambitious goals in 2005 for reducing the state’s contribution to global warming and made a series of recommendations to begin reducing Oregon’s greenhouse gas emissions. We are pleased to say that the 2007 Oregon Legislature has given these goals the weight of law by adopting them in statute.

The Legislature has also created an Oregon Global Warming Commission to coordinate local and state efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Oregon Environmental Council led the coalition effort to develop and pass this legislation, which sets the stage for establishing more meaningful and comprehensive legislation in the upcoming 2008 special session. We have already begun to develop state-level carbon reduction policies for consideration and the broad public support that will be needed to pass them.

Cleaner Cars

The Oregon Environmental Council led a broad coalition effort in 2006 to ensure adoption of “clean car standards” by the Environmental Quality Commission. These tailpipe emission standards will cut global warming pollution from new cars and light duty trucks by an average of 22% by 2012 and 30% by 2016. This legislative session, we kept a close eye on the clean car standards because state legislators tried to block their adoption last session. We’re pleased to say that they survived unassailed, the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) was granted funding to implement the standards, and a bill was passed to allow the Department of Motor Vehicles to deny registration to any new car that does not meet the standards.

Cleaner Diesel Engines

A $10.15 million fund has been created to help reduce the toxic exhaust emitted by diesel engines of all shapes and sizes, from semi-trucks and school buses to tractors and bulldozers. Exposure to diesel exhaust can lead to a wide array of health problems, including birth defects, asthma and cancer. The state will now provide grants, loans and tax credits to help Oregonians dump dirty diesel by retrofitting, rebuilding or replacing older diesel engines. The Oregon Environmental Council prioritized passage of this legislation because we knew it would help protect Oregon’s children, who breathe at twice the rate of adults and suffer among the highest rates of asthma in the nation. Along with the American Lung Association and other partners concerned about children’s health, we also supported an amendment to the legislation that prioritizes the clean-up of diesel school buses.

Renewable Fuels

The beginning of a biofuels industry is underway in Oregon. A biorefinery in Salem is converting waste vegetable oil from Willamette Valley restaurants and canola grown by Eastern Oregon farmers into biodiesel, and biorefinery plants are being built along the Columbia River to convert corn and other grains, in the near term, and waste agricultural and forestry products, in the long term, to ethanol. As soon as five million gallons of biodiesel are produced in Oregon, petroleum distributors will be required to blend a small percentage of biodiesel into the diesel sold in Oregon, with a similar phased requirement for blending ethanol into gasoline.

One of the Oregon Environmental Council’s main priorities this legislative session was this “renewable fuel standard,” [PDF] as well as tax incentives to help Oregon’s rural communities provide feedstocks for biofuels. We ensured that the renewable fuel standard can’t be met by biodiesel produced from imported palm oil (palm plantations are supplanting tropical forests) and supported legislation that ensures corn production does not receive feedstock tax credits (conventionally grown corn requires heavy pesticide application and irrigation).

As soon as the renewable fuel standard is in place, a portion of every dollar you spend at the pump will support fuels produced right here in Oregon by Oregon farmers and workers. These biofuels are also cleaner and have a lower carbon footprint than petroleum fuels. In the coming months, the Oregon Environmental Council will work to ensure that the rules implementing this legislation are written to favor the biofuel feedstocks and biorefinery operations that are most environmentally beneficial.

Resources to Protect Our Air & Water

The Oregon Environmental Council lobbied hard to ensure state agencies have the resources they need to protect our air and water quality. We are pleased to report that DEQ air quality and water quality budgets have been increased. DEQ will be able to expand programs to reduce air toxics, fine particulate matter and ozone pollution; respond to more open burning complaints and help citizens understand the need to reduce open burning; and better address air quality problems in the Columbia River Gorge. DEQ will also be able to implement water quality improvement plans; develop a new watershed-based toxics monitoring program; and increase efforts to reduce stormwater pollution. And DEQ will be able to cut a huge backlog of air and water pollution permits. The increased funding for these air and water quality programs doesn’t cover all of the department’s needs, but it’s a relief after years of significant cuts.

We are also pleased to report that we led an effort to increase funding to improve watershed health on agricultural, forest, rural and urban lands. The coalition successfully advocated for funding for much-needed staff positions at watershed councils and soil and water conservation districts to provide expert technical assistance and outreach to private landowners who want to improve management of their land to protect water quality and restore habitat for native salmon. The Oregon Environmental Council’s lobbying efforts also helped to increase funding for planning and design of on-the-ground watershed and salmon recovery projects, monitoring to track progress in improving watershed health, and watershed education and outreach efforts.

Cleaner Energy

Ten years ago, Oregon enacted the first law in the U.S. addressing global warming pollution from power plants. That bill required new power plants built in Oregon to offset part of their emissions of carbon dioxide, the most abundant greenhouse gas.

This session the Legislature took a much more significant step and joined 24 other states that have enacted a “renewable energy standard.” Oregon’s new renewable energy standard, which will require the state’s three largest utilities to meet 25% of their customers’ power needs with renewable energy by 2025, is among the toughest in the nation. Small utilities will be held to a less aggressive standard, but if they invest in or buy coal-based power, they’ll be required to meet the same standard as the bigger utilities. As the standard is phased in, more and more of the electricity that you use will come from a variety of renewable resources such as wind, solar, geothermal, biomass and wave energy. Like the renewable fuel standard, the renewable energy standard will drive economic development because these resources are plentiful in Oregon.

The Oregon Environmental Council played a supportive role in passage of this legislation, with Environment Oregon (formerly OSPIRG) and the Fair and Clean Energy Coalition leading the charge. The Legislature also passed several other bills that will reduce our use of outdated, dirty energy sources, from stricter energy efficiency standards for certain appliances to more energy efficient design of public buildings to greater use of solar energy by public buildings.

Electronics Recycling

Thanks to the hard work of Representatives Jackie Dingfelder and Scott Bruun, and Senator Frank Morse, with the Oregon Environmental Council playing a supporting role, the manufacturers of certain electronic products will now be responsible for recycling these toxic-laden products when they reach the end of their life. Oregonians chucked 32,500 tons of computers, televisions, and other obsolete electronics in 2005, most going straight into landfills or dumps where toxic metals such as mercury, lead and cadmium could eventually leach into our ground water. Manufacturers will finance free, convenient and environmentally sound recycling services for televisions, personal computers, laptops and monitors.

Environmental Justice Task Force

In many communities, pollution and poverty go hand in hand. Research shows that low-income communities and people-of color bear the greatest burden of this nation’s environmental hazards. The Legislature has established an Environmental Justice Task Force to advise state agencies on how to protect all communities from pollution, enact laws equitably and involve traditionally under-represented communities in reviewing agency actions. We supported this initiative and we’re very pleased that this legislation finally passed after having
been introduced every session since 2001.

Measure 37 Reform

Many Oregonians who voted for Measure 37 in 2004 now realize that this initiative was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Cash-strapped communities can’t afford to pay landowners for claims; instead they grant waivers allowing them to develop their property, sometimes in very undesirable ways. Detrimental developments, like gravel pits, in turn cause neighbors’ property values to plummet. The measure has earned the nickname, “the bad neighbor law.”

Responding to these concerns, the Legislature is forwarding to the November 2007 ballot a fix to Measure 37 that better balances the rights of landowners with strong protections for neighbors, farmlands, forests and ground water supplies. The revision will, among other things, prohibit all Measure 37 claims for industrial and commercial development, including billboards and quarries; protect water by prohibiting claims for subdivisions in critical and limited groundwater areas; and prohibit claims for subdivisions on our best farm and forest lands. We have 1000 Friends of Oregon to thank for tireless work to fix Measure 37, and the Oregon Environmental Council will play a strong supportive role this fall in supporting the ballot measure.

Bio-Economy and Sustainable Research Center

We lobbied for funding for a research center, which will develop new technologies supporting renewable energies, bio-based products and green building materials. The Oregon BEST Center will help position Oregon industry as a leader in developing safer bio-based products. Clean, renewable energy is an industry with tremendous growth potential. Conservative estimates project that the clean energy industry in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia alone will grow to a total of $2.5 billion over the next 20 years. The design of less toxic alternatives to everyday products – such as non-toxic glues, biodegradable plastics, and formaldehyde-free building materials – holds similar economic promise, while greatly benefiting human health.

Urging Congress to Tackle Toxins

The Legislature passed a joint memorial urging the U.S. Congress to require accurate labeling of all the ingredients in cosmetics, personal care products and toys and to enact federal laws to ensure that the chemicals in these products are tested, reviewed, and approved as safe for humans. Of increasing concern are phthalates, which make plastics soft and flexible, but have been associated with a number of reproductive abnormalities in humans. We worked with Rachel’s Friends to ensure passage of this joint memorial. While the resolution is largely symbolic, it sets the stage for the passage of state-level policies to address toxics in coming sessions, a key priority for us.