Over GOP nays, Oregon lawmakers fund move to cut greenhouse gases

Part of $24.35 million allocated by Legislative Emergency Board

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — As Democratic Gov. Kate Brown finalizes an executive order to cut Oregon’s greenhouse gas emissions, a panel of state lawmakers on Monday allocated $5 million to back the effort, though Republicans opposed it and predicted a court fight.

The decision by the 20-member joint emergency board came on the heels of the most acrimonious legislative sessions in recent Oregon history, one that came to an abrupt end Friday amid a GOP walkout — over climate change legislation — with only three bills passed and more than 100 dying, the climate one among them.

Brown’s office had no comment on the upcoming executive orders. House Speaker Tina Kotek said she does not know what authority Brown has under existing law but that the governor is “making sure that it’s a defensible set of actions.”

“I do know that the executive orders will be more of a blunt instrument because, absent our ability to do it legislatively, we have to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions,” Kotek told Oregon Public Broadcasting.

The meeting of the emergency board was the first time since the walkout began two weeks ago that Oregon Democrats and Republicans voted together. The divisions remained, with no healing in sight.

Sen. Herman Baertschiger, Jr., leader of the minority Republicans in the state Senate and a member of the emergency board, said Brown’s executive action would wind up in court.

“I think all this is going to do is initiate a whole bunch of lawsuits,” he told fellow board members.

The $5 million the board allocated goes to the state Department of Environmental Quality to be used for rule-making and other actions with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Read more at: https://apnews.com/e51c8c835ff37229529f0758eaef30ab

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News release:

Legislative Emergency Board allocates $24.35 million toward urgent needs in Oregon

SALEM, Ore. – The Joint Legislative Emergency Board today allocated $24.35 million in emergency funding for critical statewide needs, including flood damage in Northeast Oregon, coronavirus response and efforts to curb statewide greenhouse gas pollution.

Below is a distribution breakdown of the funding:

Flood response

Communities in Northeast Oregon need additional resources in order to respond to the extensive property and infrastructure damage caused by last month’s flooding in Umatilla, Union and Wallowa counties. The Emergency Board allocated:

• $7.5 million to develop affordable housing units, rapid rehousing, rental assistance, and housing and infrastructure replacement.
• $3.3 million to reimburse the City of Pendleton for levee repairs and business reimbursements not covered by insurance.
• $850,000 to the Blue Mountain Foundation and City of Milton-Freewater for housing rehabilitation and cleanup costs.

Coronavirus response

Following Governor Kate Brown’s state of emergency declaration on Sunday to give Oregon additional resources to combat coronavirus, the Emergency Board allocated:

• $5 million to Oregon Health Authority to support the agency’s coronavirus (COVID-19) response. This allocation will increase the amount of federal funds available for statewide coronavirus response, if the federal government allocates funding to Oregon.

Greenhouse gas emission reduction

As Oregon continues to face the impacts of the growing climate crisis, the Emergency Board allocated:

• $5 million to the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) for rulemaking and other actions in order to reduce greenhouse gas pollution throughout the state.

Emergency preparedness

In preparation for future emergencies, including public health risks from disease, wildfire and future seismic events, the Emergency Board allocated:

• $2.7 million to the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) for emergency preparedness and response training, planning and activities.

Statement from Partnership for Oregon Communities:

Partnership for Oregon Communities released the following statement regarding the Legislature’s Emergency Board allocation of $5 million for a cap-and-trade style program:

“With today’s vote, lawmakers have handed over millions of taxpayer dollars to unelected bureaucrats to implement a controversial cap-and-trade style program under a yet-to-be-announced executive order by the Governor. It’s not clear what this program will look like, what it will accomplish and whether such an order is even legal. Oregonians from all across this state, including the leadership of 28 our state’s 36 counties, came out in strong opposition to SB 1530 and will undoubtedly oppose this new backdoor attempt at passing a similar policy through rulemaking.”

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