While Governor Kulongoski’s long term goal calls on his soon to be created energy council to eventually reduce dependence on foreign oil, participants in Wednesday’s summit on Oregon’s Energy Future were encouraged to collaborate on both short and long term plans, based on the reality of today’s available energy.
Waiting for Washington D.C. to act on a comprehensive energy plan is “as futile as seeking Sasquatch,” according to Governor Kulongoski. Speaking at his summit held at the Nike Campus’ Tiger Woods Convention Center, the Governor called making a plan for Oregon’s energy future a moral imperative. He asked suppliers, business leaders, environmental groups, labor groups and individual consumer representatives “to speak openly, disagree respectfully, and work collaboratively” on an energy plan that he said could “bridge the gap between the status quo – which is no longer acceptable – and free from carbon, which is not yet attainable.” He stated that in other words, “we need to chart a short-term strategy while we advance our long-term vision for an energy independent Oregon.”
The Governor stated that he called the summit for four specific reasons: 1) to explain to Oregonians how the transition to a clean, renewable and energy independent economy can happen; 2) to celebrate Oregon’s national leadership on the issue of renewable energy and conservation while reviewing the progress that has been made to create a sustainable energy policy; 3) to bring together a diverse group of Oregonians to work collaboratively on an energy plan to chart a short-term strategy while \advancing a long-term vision for an energy independent Oregon; and 4) to put cold facts on the table so the public knows what’s at stake; knows what options are available. And the end he wants the public to know “that my bottom line is this: When it comes to energy – Oregon families and businesses must always have supply certainty and price stability.”
While acknowledging that Oregon is on the track to sustainable, renewable energy Kulongoski stated that Oregonians must also acknowledge the “hard truth” that “as we think and invest long-term, we need a reality check about the short-term.” In 2007 Oregon passed energy legislation which set renewable electricity and fuel standards resulting in 25-percent of Oregon’s electricity coming from renewable sources by 2025. However, Kulongoski countered, Oregonians must “put some uncomfortable truths on the table.” By 2030 Oregon’s population is projected to see a 41-percent increase, with more demands for energy, more vehicles on the road and an increase in the CO2 emissions.
The demand for energy will increase with one million more people and more businesses tapping into the grid.In order for Oregon to be able to maintain certainty and stability, supply will have to increase. Kulongoski stated that Oregonians must face the fact that renewable energy, by itself, at least for the next decade, will not be able to satisfy Oregon’s demand for energy.
The three elements of Oregon’s energy infrastructure – generation, transmission, and distribution – were acknowledged as facing major economic and environmental obstacles. Kulongoski listed the conventional energy sources of coal, oil and natural gas, along with their current associated problem of contributing, in varying degrees, to global warming. He discounted nuclear power plants as a viable solution to Oregon’s energy problems, calling them hugely expensive and time-consuming to build while calling out that the industry has still not solved the problem of how to store radioactive waste. The Governor reminded attendees that construction of new generation facilities – including hydroelectric – is slowing at the same time electricity use is soaring.
A topic which directly affects Clatsop County residents, and voters in the upcoming September 16th special election, was discussed. One of the important facts that the Governor called to the attention of the summit attendees was even if there were enough energy sources generating capacity to meet the future demand for electricity – Oregonians need to invest in a transmission infrastructure to move that electricity from where it is generated to where it is distributed and from there to the consumer. In Clatsop County ballot measure 4-131 is about the transmission of energy. Proponents of measure 4-131 want to allow conditional use permits for energy cables and pipelines through remote and seldom used areas of Clatsop County. Opponents of the measure want to block it, in the hopes it will forestall an LNG terminal from being built in the area. Mark Dodson, with NW Natural explained that if the measure is defeated Clatsop County will not have a way for new transmission lines of energy to be placed. “If we can’t build pipelines, we’re in trouble,” Dodson stated, “we only have one line into Clatsop County at this time and there won’t be a way to increase capacity if we can’t put in more.”
On the panel for energy suppliers graphs were shared by presenters from Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), NW Natural, Portland General Electric, PacifiCorp, and McMinnville Water and Light as they provided an overview of the current energy supply. Steve Wright, with the BPA, talked about a theme from a children’s book, The Plight of the Beaudelaires, with the conclusion being what is “noble enough”? Wright stated that Oregon does not have adequate tools today to optimize for rates, reliability, CO2 emission reductions and salmon mitigation. The potential tools at hand are wind forecasting, storage of energy and a smart grid, increased gas supply, accelerated energy efficiency implementation, transmission construction, protection of existing resources and broadening balancing authority reach.
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Gregg Kantor, with NW Natural, presented graphs for the west that showed rising energy consumption and rising demand for more energy with the demand in 2007 being at approximately 1.2 Bcf/d and projected to be at 2 Bcf/d by 2025. His last slide asked if the West was “ready for the rush to gas” depicting a map of the United States with pipelines and LNG terminals covering the Midwest to the East Coast.
On the panel representing the environmental groups at the summit was Andrea Durbin with the Oregon Environmental Council. Durbin stated that the white elephant in the room was that 40-percent of Oregon’s energy comes from coal. She questioned whether retrofitting Oregon’s only coal plant in Boardman with scrubbers, to the tune of 40 million dollars, was a prudent investment or something that Oregon would regret in the near future. Durbin said that all energy plans must recognize carbon emissions as a central component in the planning stage.
Rachel Shimshak with Renewable Northwest Project, another member of the environmental panel, declared that transmission of energy must be the number one concern, at this time with number two being that not enough people were educated regarding how energy was transmitted and energy providers must team with education providers, local community colleges and technical schools, to provide more people to get the job done.
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The final member of the environmental panel, Margie Harris, urged a plan that was not predicated merely on fossil fuel but concentrated on energy efficiency. Harris encouraged using “living buildings” to not only conserve energy but to actually acquire energy. She advocated for building right the first time, as retrofitting or fixing buildings later was often more costly, took more energy at the outset and was less beneficial then doing it right at the onset. Appliance efficiency was one of the most practical ways for individual households to help with energy conservation and to have an impact on their fuel consumption (or, see a savings on their energy bill).
On the panel for the individual consumer and labor, Tom Chamberlain with the AFL-CIO stated that while this is both a difficult and exciting time he worried that Oregon working families were the ones that would end up paying for it. “When we start talking about bridge fuels a lot of the discussion is about long term, let’s talk about short term,” Chamberlain stated, “let’s talk about LNG, or a pipeline to the Rocky Mountain states. All of a sudden you see this tremendous uproar among consumers. They don’t understand that without that bridge fuel, not only is it going to raise their rates, it can cost them their jobs. We’re talking about the Oregon economy. Something so vital to workers it is life itself, it is bread on the table, it is a roof over their heads, it is kids in school. What we need in this state is what we don’t have right now. We really don’t have a clearing house to come together, show the data and engage the Oregonians in a discussion on how this impacts them. We need to come together, all different viewpoints, on short term and long term strategies. This is crucial to my members, it is crucial to Oregon families, it is crucial to Oregon.”
Governor Kulongoski concluded the summit by announcing his intentions of creating, by executive order, a council whose focus will be energy. The proposed name for this new entity is: The Oregon Planning and Energy Council – or OPEC for short. The Governor emphasized that one of the council’s tasks would be reducing, not eliminating, Oregon’s dependence on foreign oil.
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