Energy, Environment and Natural Resources

Background

Oregon’s natural beauty and significant natural resources have made it a highly appealing state in which to locate and operate businesses as well as to work, live and recreate. Yet, myriad public policies are eroding Oregon’s desirability due to the high cost of siting, permitting and operating a business, and the high cost of living.

Oregon’s regulatory environment has created substantial challenges by layering new, poorly coordinated and sometimes conflicting policies. The scope, speed, volume and frequency of rulemaking have also significantly increased. This sometimes volatile and rapidly evolving regulatory landscape has challenged businesses’ ability to respond and adapt to new regulations. This has affected businesses’ ability to grow, take advantage of market opportunities and compete in national and international markets. Additionally, regulatory agencies are increasingly proposing rules that lack feasibility, are cost prohibitive, excessively complex and unnecessarily stringent even when protecting the environment and public health do not demand these exceptionally conservative approaches. This regulatory expansion has also increased demands, straining agency resources, extending permitting timelines and challenging the capacity of agencies to reduce the permitting backlog.

These factors are diminishing the competitiveness of businesses, discouraging investments in the state and even causing companies to reconsider their Oregon footprint.

OBI’s energy, environment and natural resources work will be guided by the need to improve agency accountability, transparency and efficiency, streamline regulatory processes, focus on delivery of core programs, support business needs and foster economic growth while protecting the environment and public health.

OBI’s energy, environment and natural resources policy principles:

Carbon and Climate Policy: The business community plays an important role in transitioning to a lower-carbon economy, and many sectors have made major strides in increasing efficiency and reducing energy use. In the absence of a federal climate regulatory program that establishes a level playing field for regulating emissions in all 50 states, OBI supports state greenhouse gas emissions reduction policies that:

• Result in actual, net global greenhouse gas reductions
• Feature a market-based, economywide program that better aligns with programs of other jurisdictions in lieu of a regulatory climate policy program that is a significant outlier compared to other jurisdictions
• Prohibit double regulation of a unit of carbon emissions
• Include sufficient accountability mechanisms to ensure that revenue achieves the intended objectives
• Are focused on positive environmental and economic outcomes
• Are fair and affordable for all Oregonians
• Recognize the need to balance global environmental and economic issues with efforts to reduce in-state emissions resulting in possible leakage of jobs, economic activity and emissions to other jurisdictions if regulations become too burdensome
• Do not create competitive disadvantages for Oregon businesses
• Do not focus on a single sector of the economy
• Address the unique challenges of Oregon’s diverse business sectors
• Are commensurate with the state’s emissions relative to global emissions and goals
• Nurture Oregon-based innovation
• Include adaptation and mitigation strategies for long-term planning
• Provide regulatory and compliance certainty for businesses

Chemical Use Laws: OBI supports advancing the safe and responsible use of chemicals. OBI supports chemical laws that are based on sound science and recognize that many public health and consumer protections are currently in place. When sound science identifies the need for chemical regulations, OBI supports state-based laws that are consistent with federal laws and not unnecessarily duplicative. OBI opposes the addition of burdensome, state-specific regulations that do not align with other state and federal regulations.

Consistent Regulatory Authority: OBI supports the consistent and uniform state-level application of delegated air, water, cleanup and energy regulatory and permitting authority. OBI opposes new, expanded and duplicative regulatory overlays at the local level. Programs must be consistent with their underlying statutes and not seek to expand agency authority beyond that delegated by the Legislature. OBI opposes new, expanded and duplicative state regulations for federally implemented programs.

Core Regulatory Programs: Given limited funding, it is important to prioritize core regulatory programs, like permitting, over emerging programs that increase regulatory requirements and stretch DEQ staffing. OBI opposes new regulatory programs that are not scientifically supported or do not seek to resolve environmental challenges first through existing regulatory channels.

Effluent Trading/Market Development: OBI supports the creation and use of voluntary and equitable trading and market-based options for effluent reductions and habitat improvement.

Energy Infrastructure: OBI supports employing and optimizing existing energy infrastructure. Further, we support cost-effective state and federal policies that encourage, incentivize, streamline and facilitate the planning, permitting and construction of upgraded, expanded new electric, natural gas and alternative energy infrastructure that sustains Oregon’s energy needs and provides for future economic development.

Energy Recovery, Biofuels, Renewable Fuels and Biomass: OBI supports state and federal incentives to promote the use of biofuels, renewable fuels and biomass. OBI opposes new laws and regulations that hinder the use of these fuels or energy recovery from otherwise discarded or disposed material.

Exceptional Events: OBI seeks to ensure that industry is not penalized for events outside of industry’s or DEQ’s control. For that reason, OBI supports policies and proactive requests to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to exclude ambient monitoring data influenced by natural events, such as wildfires, in providing a representative dataset to use in air permit applications.

Fees for Permitting and Other Uses: Fee structures should support regulatory certainty and serve the needs of the regulated community. Fees must support workable and reasonable permitting programs vetted by industry and processed with clear conditions and timelines to minimize impacts on business operations. OBI opposes fee increases that are not accompanied by proportional increases in non-fee funding; if a program does not meet the needs of the regulated community; or if used for unrelated/non-beneficial state activities or pass-through surcharges for other state agency activities. OBI opposes fees that are not reasonably tied to environmental benefits as well as those that are applied inequitably among regulated entities. OBI opposes the addition of local fees that impose unreasonable cost burdens or duplicative fee structures.

Food Innovation: OBI supports policies that advance Oregon’s food and beverage industry in the areas of research and development, technical assistance, workforce development, distribution infrastructure, market development and government regulation.

Forest Resilience: OBI supports active forest management to address and prevent tree-related disease, increase forest productivity, reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire and provide both commodity and non-commodity values.

Franchise Taxes: OBI seeks to ensure that any expansion of or increase in franchise taxes demonstrates consumer benefits that warrant added costs.

Increased Ambient Monitoring: OBI supports funding further monitoring of state air and water quality as long as increased monitoring is not financed primarily by unreasonable fee increases paid by the regulated community.

Maintenance of Regulatory Application for Departments of Agriculture and Forestry: OBI supports the current regime wherein environmental activities relating to agriculture and forestry are regulated by their respective departments.

New State Environmental Impact Statements: Generally, OBI opposes the imposition of new layers of regulatory oversight and permitting, including a state environmental impact statement program.

Oregon Agricultural Heritage Program: OBI supports voluntary, statewide incentives that encourage agricultural landowners to keep land in agricultural protection while supporting fish, wildlife and other natural resource values on those lands.

Reasonable Regulations: OBI supports air and water quality laws and regulations with which Oregon businesses can comply; that do not create competitive disadvantages relative to other states; and that do not inhibit economic activity without a clearly identified and scientifically supported basis for increased stringency that regulated entities can reasonably implement.

Renewable Portfolio Standards: OBI supports renewable power and the allowance of increased flexibility within the portfolio with appropriate rate protections in place.

Tax Incentives for Additional Environmental Investments: OBI supports tax incentives for additional environmental investments that exceed federal requirements, improve environmental outcomes and/or enhance Oregon’s economy.

Water Quantity and Quality: OBI supports regulatory structures that recognize the intersection of water quality and water quantity and the importance of balancing both to protect resources and support robust business operations.

Water Reuse: OBI supports legislative and regulatory efforts to develop programs that favor water reuse as a way to use limited water resources efficiently and maintain minimum stream flows to protect aquatic species.

Water Storage and Delivery: OBI supports innovative solutions that address increasing competition for limited water resources that balance the needs of irrigated agriculture, cities and industry, hydropower and sustainable fisheries, such as continued investment in infrastructure for new storage.