The Oregon Legislature meets for a “short,” month-long session in even-numbered years, and the agenda is carefully scripted in advance. Cascade Policy Institute’s top legislative priority for this legislative session was defensive: Support the broad-based coalition opposing the legislative majority’s cap-and-spend plans and publicize electric resource reliability in the wake of scheduled shutdowns of coal-fired power plant shutdowns in the Northwest.

Oregon leaders’ progressive climate agenda would increase energy costs across the economy. Combined with less available power load, cap-and-spend would create an economic crisis affecting all Oregonians. Given Oregon’s total greenhouse gas emissions peaked in 1999 and have dropped steadily since (despite its growing economy), cap-and-spend is a legislative proposal in search of a purpose.

Cascade will recommend a more useful energy resource agenda that will include the following:

• Investigate the possibility of extending the regulatory life of Portland General Electric’s Boardman coal plant for at least five more years. Oregon’s only coal-fired power plant was designed to run until 2040 and is now scheduled to be shut down at the end of 2020 for political reasons (the Sierra Club’s “Beyond Coal” campaign). But there is no plan for replacing the 500 megawatts of reliable power with another reliable and affordable energy source, and the Northwest region will face a megawatt deficit of several thousand over the next several years. A regulatory extension of Boardman’s life past 2020 would be key to avoiding blackouts.

• Consider referring to the voters a referendum to re-legalize nuclear power. Some of the most cutting-edge research on smaller-scale nuclear energy is conducted in Oregon, but any commercialization of that research will have to take place elsewhere. It’s time to have a public conversation about this energy source.

Cascade Policy Institute is the leading voice for free-market environmentalism in Oregon. Improved environmental quality goes hand-in-hand with economic prosperity, and both flourish when property rights and technological innovation are respected. The free market is the greatest system for allocating scarce resources—an ideal at the heart of environmental ethics.

Cascade urges Oregon policymakers to embrace technological solutions that reduce environmental impact and lower costs, while respecting individuals’ freedom—rather than force top-down behavior change on Oregonians. Numerous energy stakeholders admit the Northwest is likely to have inadequate energy resources to power the grid, and brownouts are possible beginning this year. Beyond the 2020 session, Cascade will warn state policymakers about the high risks of pursuing an ideological climate agenda at the expense of Oregon’s livability. Reliable, affordable power is an issue that is not going to go away.