Help Restore Oregon’s Climate Protection Program
The Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) just released draft rules to restore Oregon’s cornerstone Climate Protection Program (CPP), kicking off a short public comment period. Help us restore the CPP and hold polluters accountable!
QUICK LINKS TO TAKE ACTION:
-> Send this Letter to DEQ to Restore the CPP
-> DEQ Comment Deadline – 9/27 by 4 PM
-> Testify to DEQ – 9/26 at 3:20-5:20 PM – Testimony Prep
-> More Info – ORClimateJustice.org
The Climate Protection Program is vital to achieving our statewide climate pollution reduction goals and delivering justice for environmental justice communities statewide. It is essential that DEQ hear broad public support for maintaining the integrity of the CPP and reinstate this critical program by the end of this year. It’s time to speak up!
The Climate Protection Program will require oil and gas companies to cut 90% of their climate pollution by 2050, and enable upwards of $150 million annually in investments for clean energy projects in Oregon communities. These protections and benefits were derailed last year after the oil and gas industry sued to overturn the CPP. Thankfully, DEQ and Governor Kotek responded with a bold commitment to restore the program, and launched a rulemaking to reinstate the rules by the end of this year. Now, it’s up to us to deliver climate justice!
Join OEC in making your voice heard:
STEP 1: Submit public comments using our template letter to DEQ by Thursday, September 27 at 4:00 PM and personalize your message. You can also email comments directly to CPP.2024@DEQ.Oregon.Gov.
STEP 2: Testify at DEQ’s public hearing on Wednesday, September 26 from 3:20 -5:20 PM.
STEP 3: Spread the word! An outpouring of support is essential to restoring a strong CPP. Tell your friends and neighbors about this vital opportunity to deliver climate justice for Oregon.
Recently, OEC joined forces with environmental justice, climate, and community-based partner organizations from across the state to form the Coalition for Climate and Economic Justice. With our collective power, we are working tirelessly to make sure the CPP is restored, and pushing back against oil and gas industry attempts to weaken the rules.
Together we’re sending a clear message to DEQ:
- Deliver climate justice by maintaining a strong and effective Community Climate Investment program that prioritizes communities that experience climate change impacts first and worst, and ensures near-term investments.
- Follow the science and uphold a strong emissions cap that will ensure near-term emissions reductions.
- Hold industrial polluters accountable to the harm they have caused Oregon communities for generations.
Check out the coalition’s take on DEQ’s proposed rules, below, and consider uplifting these messages in your public comments:
CPP RULE LANGUAGE WE SUPPORT:
- Follow the Science! Uphold a Strong Cap: A science-based emissions cap is essential to moving the needle on climate pollution. We strongly support DEQ’s proposal to adjust compliance periods to every two years. Delivering near-term emissions reductions which will provide immediate public health benefits by reducing harmful co-pollutants that disproportionately affect BIPOC communities and low-income Oregonians. Near-term emissions reductions will also deliver significant economic benefits, by encouraging investment in clean energy and other emissions-reducing technologies and innovations.
- Keeping it Local! No Offsets Allowed: Oil and gas companies want to invest in projects outside of Oregon to get out of reducing their own climate pollution in our communities. Unlike Community Climate Investments, offsets do not support Oregon environmental justice communities in the transition to clean energy, do not prevent climate emissions or health-harmful co-pollutants, and do not deliver clean air benefits to local communities. We agree with DEQ in saying no to offsets! Our state’s climate and people deserve the full benefit of these investments in reducing pollution and fostering community resilience.
- Standing Firm on Strong CCI Prices: By maintaining a strong price for Community Climate Investment (CCI) credits, the CPP will drive meaningful investments to reduce climate change and benefit our communities. CCIs offer an important flexibility option for regulated companies; if a company cannot meet its pollution reduction requirements, they can instead choose to invest in CCI credits to meet some of their obligations. By keeping CCI prices strong, these funds will go towards meaningful clean energy projects to help our local communities and economies thrive.
- Regulating Industrial Methane Gas Emissions: Directly regulating natural gas emissions from large industrial polluters under the CPP’s declining cap. Including these emissions within the cap is a good way to provide certainty to Oregon-based industries, deliver meaningful emissions reductions, and improve air quality in impacted communities. We support DEQ’s proposal to directly regulate industrial natural gas emissions while maintaining the integrity of the cap.
CPP RULES WE OPPOSE:
- NO More Loopholes; Deliver Climate Justice: Adding new compliance tools for oil and gas companies will weaken our ability to cut climate pollution. Providing an oversupply of compliance tools will benefit fossil fuel companies’ bottom lines at the expense of communities most impacted by climate pollution, and severely weaken the CPP’s ability to deliver near-term climate, economic, and public health benefits.
- NO More Delays; One Year Compliance: We have already lost three critical years of pollution reduction and community investment because of oil and gas litigation. Delaying compliance requirements would reward them for overturning the CPP. The first compliance period must be one year. Justice delayed is justice denied.
- NO Emissions Left Behind; Hold Industrial Polluters Accountable: As currently proposed, the rules would exclude emissions from industrial processes from regulation under the cap. Instead, the rules would allow large industrial facilities to self-identify personalized pollution reduction plans. DEQ should hold all industrial source pollution accountable to mandatory limits under the cap to best protect Oregonians and reduce harmful co-pollutants in our air and water.
The CPP public comment period will conclude on September 27. We need your help to make sure DEQ restores a strong CPP without delay! With your support, we can advocate for the best possible outcomes for Oregon’s climate future. Thank you for joining us in this historic effort.
OEC’s work to advance meaningful, lasting environmental progress is made possible by people across the state who care about safeguarding Oregon’s future.
Make a difference. Become a member of OEC today.
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