EVs can weigh more, but is that missing the forest for the trees?

Join Climate Solutions and Building Resilience for a community event on Wednesday, December 10th to hear all about the dangers of methane in our communities!

The long-awaited Energy Strategy report is here, providing a roadmap for a clean energy transition, and, with the first-of-its-kind climate executive order from Governor Kotek that directs swift implementation of the findings, a cleaner, reliable, and more affordable energy future is more possible than ever before.

Our north star is simple: we need to be investing in Oregon, not DOGE’ing essential safety, transit, and climate programs or discouraging the transition to clean transportation.

Migration, displacement, and climate insecurity are inextricably linked. Struggles for social justice and immigrant rights have deep intersections with climate advocacy– anchored in respect for neighbors, community, home, and the protection of a healthy, vibrant future we can all share in together. The team at Climate Solutions is honored to join our coalition partners in Oregon for All, standing together to protect and advance immigration justice. This collaboration is dedicated to seeing our communities thrive.

Oregon lawmakers approved a transportation funding stopgap in the special session that ended Monday.

In recent rate cases, we have secured big wins for customers and the climate! This spring, we reached an agreement with Avista Gas to reduce climate pollution through an electrification pilot. In our NW Natural rate case, we have an agreement to eliminate gas subsidies for developers, and we are still fighting to improve energy choice for low-income customers.

The grid is the ‘superhighway’ on which electricity travels. It is a vast network of transmission lines and infrastructure that delivers the electricity we need to power our daily lives (i.e., our homes, businesses, and industrial sites). The grid is crucial for maintaining reliable and affordable power for Oregonians. Importantly, the grid must also evolve to accommodate our state’s clean energy transition and to serve our growing population and economy. Two recently passed pieces of legislation will help modernize the grid, relieving congestion and streamlining permitting of new transmission lines.

Last week, Governor Kotek signed two bills into law, HB 2065 and HB 2066, which will create a process for developing community-owned microgrids. Microgrids are a key part of Oregon’s decarbonization and energy resiliency goals. But their development has been hampered by technical and regulatory challenges. What are microgrids, why has building them been challenging, and how does this legislation help?

Something is up, and unfortunately, it may be a higher utility bill for Oregon gas customers. In a time when communities are already bracing for Congressional Republicans’ new energy tax hike, NW Natural Gas Company is trying to raise costs on Oregonians as well. Even worse, they aim to raise our gas bills to boost their shareholders’ profits and invest in expensive fuels under the guise of decarbonization, rather than providing lower-income customers with the option to install an energy-efficient heat pump! Climate Solutions does not intervene in every rate case, but when we think there is an opportunity to protect customers and the climate, we enter the ring. This is one of those cases!