Committee hears experts on electrification, health and limits of renewable gas

Portland’s Climate Resilience and Land Use Committee heard experts, public commenters and union representatives on Thursday about building electrification, methane’s health and climate impacts, and utilities’ plans to meet Oregon’s emissions rules.

Cara Saylor, director and staff attorney at the Green Energy Institute, told the committee the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s Climate Protection Program requires fossil-fuel suppliers to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and that Northwest Natural’s Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) leans heavily on renewable natural gas (RNG), hydrogen and synthetic methane. Saylor said the utility’s present pathway raises cost and climate concerns and that the Public Utility Commission’s role is to weigh safety, reliability and fairness for ratepayers. "The PUC's mission is to ensure Oregonians have access to safe, reliable, and fairly priced utility services that advance state policy and promote the public interest," Saylor said.

Saylor and other presenters warned that biomethane remains methane and that leaks across production and pipeline systems release uncombusted methane, a greenhouse gas significantly more potent than carbon dioxide. Her presentation cited examples and noted Northwest…