Fight is Not Over After Oil and Gas Industry Challenge Delays Cornerstone Climate and Community Protections
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 20, 2023
MEDIA CONTACT:
Nora Apter, Oregon Environmental Council
noraa@oeconline.org | 971.275.6179
Fight is Not Over After Oil and Gas Industry Challenge Delays Cornerstone Climate and Community Protections
Salem, OR – The Court of Appeals today found that Oregon’s cornerstone Climate Protection Program was invalid on procedural grounds after the oil and gas industry and their allies challenged the rule.
A coalition of environmental justice, climate, and business organizations who intervened defensively in the case issued the following statement in response to the ruling:
“The oil and gas industry just delivered a lump of coal — literally — into Oregon’s Christmas stocking. Today’s Court ruling focused on a procedural technicality. The Court did not undermine the Environmental Quality Commission’s authority to set climate pollution reductions on the oil and gas industry. The EQC should quickly move forward with a process that meets the requirements specified by the Court and we look forward to supporting that process. This must not be delayed.
Oregon must move forward to protect our communities, especially Black, Indigenous, people of color, low-income, rural, and other communities who have historically borne the brunt of climate pollution and economic disinvestment. We have faced wildfires that have wiped out entire communities, toxic smoke choking our lungs, deadly heat waves, and record-breaking droughts; we will not stop holding the oil and gas industry accountable for the impact it is having on our lives, our families and our communities. Without swift state action to restore these protections, the court’s decision to invalidate the Climate Protection Program based on a procedural technicality will cause incalculable harm to Oregon families, workers, and local economies, now and in the future.”
Background: The Oregon Environmental Quality Commission adopted the Climate Protection Program in December 2021 following an extensive 18-month rulemaking and robust stakeholder engagement process. The Department of Environmental Quality received more than 7,600 public comments on the CPP rules, the overwhelming majority of which were in favor of the program. The
CPP requires oil and gas companies in Oregon to reduce their emissions 50% by 2035 and 90% by 2050; establishes first-ever requirements for major industrial facilities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; and enables millions of dollars annually to be invested in clean energy projects that benefit environmental justice and other communities across Oregon. NW Natural, Cascade Natural Gas, Western States Petroleum Association, Oregon Farm Bureau, Oregon Business & Industry Association, and Associated Oregon Loggers and a dozen industry petitioners filed a challenge to the program in March 2022.
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