OREP: Events

August Events | 2012

Governor Kitzhaber's 10-Year Energy Plan: Ten Year Energy Action Plan for Oregon released 06.0 5.12

You can read the Plan and find background from the Governor's Task Force here…

Comments were accepted until July 31, 2012. Download comments submitted by OREP and a variety of FIT advocates from across the state below:

Actions You Can Take Now:

OREP has developed a postcard (4 per page) supporting Renewable Energy CLEAN Contracts (aka FITs) in the Governor's Energy Action Plan. If you'd like to distribute the cards to individuals yourself, you can download the template here (formatted for double-side laser printing).

See and download our September 2011 joint letter with the Oregon Chapter of the Sierra Club below, outlining important points to include in future FIT legislation.

OREP-Sierra Club of Oregon: Joint Letter on FIT Design Principles to Governor Kitzhaber
September 23, 2011

Dear Governor Kitzhaber:

We support your goal of establishing a ten-year energy plan for Oregon. Designed and implemented correctly, the energy plan will stimulate job growth throughout the state, attract business to Oregon, reverse the flow of energy dollars sent out of Oregon, combat climate change and make Oregon a national model for sustainable prosperity.

The decisions we make at this pivotal time have profound impacts for future generations. Capital investments made now can bind us to decades of fossil-based energy generation whose profits flow out of state; or conversely can produce widespread local ownership, local job creation, and leadership in renewable energy and conservation.

The widely dispersed nature of renewable energy resources and the urgent need to deploy them present Oregon with new opportunities for widespread economic development and broad participation in the production and sale of electricity. We believe this calls for a shift in the way we produce energy in Oregon and our energy policy must reflect this shift by assigning value to the non-energy objectives of inclusiveness, sustainable economic development and environmental impacts, as well as cost-effectiveness.

We support a broad, robust statewide feed-in tariff as a highly effective policy mechanism to lower barriers to participation in the clean energy market, encourage rapid deployment of renewable energy, reduce the cost of renewable energy and bring sustainable economic growth to Oregon.

A just and effective FIT program for renewable energy should be designed as if community matters. Below we set forth in detail the principles for feed-in tariff design that have proved effective elsewhere. We urge you to include them in your ten-year energy plan.

A good FIT for Oregon should: 1) attract private and local capital; 2) achieve broad participation; 3) provide fair value to ratepayers; 4) distribute economic benefits fairly and broadly; 5) support local production, community ownership and local content; 6) minimize negative environmental impacts from increased electricity demand and maximize onsite production while minimizing energy use; 7) contain clearly stated program objectives that strike a fair balance between inclusivity, sustainable economic development, environmental impacts and cost-effectiveness; and 8) be administered by an agency capable of achieving all these program objectives.

Download the complete letter here...