SALEM, Ore. — Local and regional governments across Oregon have weighed in over the past week on the potential costs and benefits of a controversial greenhouse gas emissions cap-and-trade bill, with opposition and support falling mostly along rural and urban lines.
Seven largely rural counties have filed opposition to Senate Bill 1530, along with the Eastern Oregon Counties Association, which represents 14 counties.
These counties include Coos, Curry, Deschutes, Douglas, Josephine, Linn and Polk.
Their letters raise concerns about SB 1530 increasing utility and fuel costs, harming agricultural businesses and stifling economic growth. They wrote that the benefits of the bill are in dispute and do not justify the consequences.
“We worry that Central Oregon will suffer and see jobs lost as local businesses close and move out of state,” wrote the Deschutes County commissioners. “Creating this competitive disadvantage, especially in our state’s rural and non-metro areas, doesn’t make sense.”
Meanwhile two cities — Corvallis and Milwaukie — and the Portland-area regional government Metro support the legislation.
In late January, Milwaukie became the first Oregon city to declare a climate emergency. The city council wrote to lawmakers this week that aggressive action is needed to avert the long-term impacts of climate change — such as extreme heat, storms and wildfires — and the economic drain from those events.
Corvallis leaders also urged passage.
“Please work quickly and efficiently to move legislation forward during this session. We cannot afford to wait any longer,” wrote Corvallis Mayor Biff Traber on behalf of the city council.
SB 1530 would place gradually declining limits on statewide emissions and create a marketplace for polluters to buy credits, or allowances, for each ton of emissions they release annually.
The major target of the program is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 45 percent below 1990 levels by 2035, and 80 percent below by 2050.
The bill has a similar cap-and-trade framework to House Bill 2020 from the 2019 legislative session, but there are changes that Democratic lawmakers say protects rural Oregonians.
The bill also specifies that investments must target those most impacted by climate change, which includes rural areas.
