Oregon Gov. Kate Brown signed executive orders on Monday to
impose sweeping green energy mandates on new construction and help triple the
number of electric vehicles in the state by 2020.
The governor signed the orders at a ceremony in Portland,
before she travels to Germany later this week to attend the United Nations
climate talks.
The goal of Brown's two executive orders is to "drive
the state's efforts forward in reducing greenhouse gas emissions," she
told reporters after the event. "Buildings, both residential and
commercial, consume about 30 percent of Oregon's energy use."
Under the governor's first executive order, new homes built
after September 2020 must be equipped for solar panel installation and
commercial buildings must meet the same mandate by October 2022. By October
2022, all parking structures for new homes and commercial buildings must be
wired for at least one electric vehicle charger.
And by October 2023, Brown has directed the state's Building
Codes Division to require all new homes to be "zero-energy ready."
California has adopted a similar
goal for new homes to generate as much energy as they consume. New
commercial construction will also face energy efficiency mandates, and all new
construction must use high-efficiency water fixtures.
The governor's second executive order sets a goal of at
least 50,000 registered electric vehicles in the state by 2020, a huge increase
over just three years from the 16,000 currently registered.
State government will help Oregon meet that goal, through
mandates in the governor's executive order to increase state purchases of electric
vehicles and install more charging stations on government property.
The surprise imposition of major new regulations on the
construction industry upset Sen. Alan Olsen, a
Republican from Canby who is a general contractor. Olsen is also vice-chair of
the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources.
"Why didn't she bring it to the Legislature?"
Olsen asked, before answering his own question. "Because she knew she
couldn't get it passed."
Olsen said Brown was "taking a page out of the playbook
of Barack Obama," referring to the president's use of executive orders.
Presidents of both parties, including Donald Trump, have used executive orders
to enact policies that lacked legislative support.
"You talk about not being able to afford housing,"
Olsen said. "That's going to add to the cost of a house. It's going to be
astronomical."
Others applauded Brown's executive orders. The nation's most
powerful trade group for car manufacturers said in a press release that
"Brown's leadership in committing such resources to jump-start an
(electric vehicle) marketplace sets an example for other states who have
committed to similar goals."
The group Climate Solutions also hailed the new mandates.
"Governor Brown's executive order on energy efficiency will help make all
new buildings highly efficient from the start," said David Van't Hof, the
group's acting Oregon director, in a statement. "Today's action, on the
first day of the international climate talks, demonstrates the importance of
local leadership and positions our legislature to take the next critical step
in 2018: passing Oregon's Clean Energy Jobs bill."
Brown couldn't say on Monday how much the executive order to
improve the energy efficiency of buildings would cost the state. But she
pointed out the executive orders do contain escape clauses that allow for
delays if the actions would be too costly.
The governor told The Oregonian/OregonLive her staff would
provide information on cost, but no one had done so as of Monday
evening.
Some of the initiatives outlined in the orders are not new.
For example, the governor directed the state's environmental agency to set up
an electric vehicle rebate program that lawmakers had already passed as part of
the transportation funding package earlier this year. Brown also called for the
Oregon Public Utility Commission and other state agencies to follow through on
mandates to boost electric vehicles as called for by a 2016 law. That law
doubled Oregon's renewable energy mandate and will require utilities to stop
purchasing coal power.
There are new initiatives as well, however. The state will
again change the low-carbon fuels program, to "support greater electric
vehicle adoption," and Oregon will use up to 15 percent of the state's
Volkswagen settlement over emissions test cheating to install electric vehicle
charging stations. The state will come up with a plan to install electric
vehicle chargers for both the state fleet and employee cars. It was unclear whether
the governor planned to provide free access to state employees, but Oregon's
ethics commission has in the past found the state could only legally do so if
it counted the charges as compensation.
Finally, the executive orders assign new tasks to Oregon's
much maligned Energy Department. Lawmakers and Brown have mostly ended the
agency's scandal ridden energy incentive programs over the years. But the
governor's executive orders would assign the agency more than a dozen new
tasks, from tracking energy use at state buildings to helping ensure all new
state buildings permitted starting in 2022 are carbon neutral.
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