Governor Kate Brown has signed a memorandum of understanding with 15 other governors that commits Oregon to accelerate the adoption of zero-emission for medium and heavy-duty vehicles. The memorandum is a joint action plan to electrify buses and trucks, and support charging-station investments.

The governors said in a news release that trucks and buses are responsible for a quarter of greenhouse-gas emissions, despite comprising just 4 percent of vehicles on the road. In their agreement, the governors specifically called for “accelerat(ing) the deployment of zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty trucks and buses to benefit disadvantaged communities that have been historically burdened with higher levels of air pollution.”

Oregon is also a member of the 10-state Multi-State ZEV Task Force charged with developing the joint action plan within six months. The action plan includes the need for financial and non-financial vehicle and infrastructure incentives, infrastructure deployment strategies, utility involvement, outreach to the public and private fleet managers and fostering electric trucks in urban areas.

The move to replace diesel vehicles was a controversial issue in Oregon’s 2019 legislature. Rural loggers and truckers protested that the proposal would put them out of business. The bill passed requiring medium-and heavy-duty diesel trucks and buses in the state’s three most populated counties to phase-out older vehicle engines. Heavy-duty trucks titled in these counties must be model year 2007 or newer by 2025. Newer models release fewer emissions into the air.

Let us not forget that on March 9, the legislative Emergency Board authorized $5 million for Oregon DEQ to begin work on reducing greenhouse gas emissions under existing legislative authorities, including hiring ten permanent staff to speed the effort. And, one day later, on March 10, Governor Kate Brown issued a 14-page Executive Order 20-04 on climate change. It lays out the goals for Oregon’s climate response on an emergency timeline stating: “This Executive Order establishes science-based GHG emissions reduction goals, and calls for the State of Oregon to reduce its GHG emissions (1) at least 45 percent below 1990 levels by 2035, and (2) at least 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.” The order breaks from the carbon market-based approach and instigates a declining cap on emissions – the exact timeline the Republican legislators stopped by walking out of the 2019 session.

The allocation of $5 million and the Executive Order was all timed to be cut-in-stone before and while the Governor was preparing the emergency order over COVID-19. Has the pandemic made us numb to the cap and trade issue that is helping to stall the economy?

Travel photo created by kjpargeter - www.freepik.com

--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2020-07-15 16:56:23

Last Update: 2020-07-15 16:56:34