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DEQ Officials Outline Reinstated Climate Protection Program, Emphasize Equity and Flexibility
Summary
DEQ updated the Senate Committee on Energy and Environment May 28 on the reinstated Climate Protection Program, describing mandatory, declining emissions limits for fossil fuels (excluding electricity), a community climate investments option and timing that phases some industrial facilities into compliance later to allow time for adjustments.
Colin McConaughey, manager of the Office of Greenhouse Gas Programs at the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, told the Senate Committee on Energy and Environment on May 28 that the Climate Protection Program is a centralizing climate policy that establishes "mandatory, enforceable and declining year over year emissions limits on greenhouse gas emissions" for most uses of fossil fuels in Oregon.
McConaughey said a key design objective is an equitable transition: the rules include Community Climate Investments to direct funds toward projects that benefit environmental justice communities and to avoid leaving low-income, rural and coastal communities behind. "One of the core tenets for the Climate Protection Program ... is to do so in as equitable a fashion as possible to bring along Oregon's disadvantaged communities," he said.
DEQ staff described the program's history and recent rulemaking. The program first took effect…
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