Oregon Senate passes bill to protect state renewable energy mandates

By: Ted Sikinger
The Oregonian

A bill designed to shield Oregon’s renewable energy mandates from a potentially game-changing ballot measure sailed through the Senate’s Business and Transportation Committee Tuesday, even as opponents called it a back-room deal hatched to benefit industry insiders and ignore average citizens.

Oregon’s renewable energy standard requires “large” utilities to meet 25 percent of demand with renewable power by 2025, and includes lower targets for smaller utilities. The law is one of the defining legacies of former Gov. Ted Kulongoski, and is a darling of environmentalists, renewable developers and even large utilities, who are investing heavily in new wind and solar facilities to meet the requirements.

Backers say the law has been effective at spurring development of clean energy and has created jobs and enhanced tax revenues in the process. Utilities also claim those resources were least-cost choices to meet demand, though they were based on natural gas price forecasts that proved far too high. Read more