Oregon’s New Climate Change Plan
Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez’s “Green New Deal” . . . clean energy bills . . . the ongoing debate over nuclear versus coal. Many agree that reducing pollution and carbon emissions is a good idea for our planet, it’s much harder to come up with a plan for change that everyone can get behind. But the state of Oregon is trying, with a climate plan that seeks to bring about true environmental change while avoiding some of the perceived flaws and pitfalls of earlier plans.
Cap-and-Trade
Oregon’s plan models itself after California’s, which passed in 2016 and was the first of its kind in the nation. The California plan called for a system in which a cap is placed on the total emissions that can be produced, and companies are each given a certain number of pollution “permits.” If a company doesn’t use all of its permits, it can sell them to another company. This provides an economic incentive for companies to use fewer permits. Moreover, the total number of permits provided–the “cap”–will continue to be lowered over time. Ultimately, California’s goal is to reduce emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.
Learning From Past Mistakes
The California plan sounds great, right? Maybe not. The problem is that business leaders fear that the plan goes too far and will cost them too much money, while environmental leaders say that the legislation doesn’t go far enough to reduce total emissions.
Now, Oregon lawmakers are trying to learn from California’s mistakes. For one thing, California set its cap too high and issued too many pollution permits, meaning that there were more than enough permits to go around and so companies didn’t really have to change their emissions practices much. So the Oregon plan will issue fewer permits. The money companies pay for the permits will then go toward support for energy conservation and renewable energy methods, such as wind and solar, which will help to reduce total emissions over time.
On the business side of things, Oregon plans to issue free or cheap permits to companies that are struggling and might go out of business or leave the state otherwise. There will also be a rebate system in place to help low-income and fixed-income households deal with potential price-hikes that might result from the new, cleaner practices.
What Is The Response?
Many environmentalists have praised the new plan, saying that while cap-and-trade is probably not the only policy needed, it’s a fast and effective way to both cut total emissions, and to jump-start investment in clean and renewable energies quickly.
Despite all of this, other environmental groups remain critical of the Oregon plan, saying that it still doesn’t go far enough to reduce emissions. Under both the Oregon and California plans, for example, companies can continue to pollute as long as they purchase extra permits–what environmentalists call a “pay to pollute” system. Lawmakers hope that the Oregon plan, which is much longer and more detailed than the California plan was, will avoid these loopholes, and learn from the past in order to create a better future.