Cap and trade poised to pass in Oregon

SALEM, Ore. — Oregon is on the precipice of becoming the second state after California to adopt a capand-trade program, a market-based approach to lowering greenhouse gas emissions.

Supporters call it the United States’ most progressive climate policy, saying it not only cuts emissions but invests in transitioning the state economy and infrastructure.

“We have an opportunity to invest a substantial amount into low-income communities off the backs of the 100 or so major polluters that caused this problem,” said Shilpa Joshi, with the lobbying group Renew Oregon. Joshi has spent years working with dozens of organizations around the state to help shape the final legislation.

Cap and trade has been a top priority this year for Oregon’s majority Democrats, and Gov. Kate Brown has said she would sign the measure, noting in a statement that “Oregon can be the log that breaks the jam nationally” on climate policy.

Though the program’s approval is shaping up to be a sure bet, a decade’s worth of baggage from California’s cap-and-trade program has fractured support for the policy among environmental groups.

“Strong climate policy requires steep regulations on business and a total transformation of our current infrastructure,” said Shawn Fleek with OPAL Environmental Justice, one of the main organizations on the left against the bill. “Cap and trade does none of that. Just like in California, Oregon’s bill has instead turned into a Frankenstein’s monster in handouts to industry.”

Under a cap-and-trade program, the state puts an overall limit on emissions and auctions off pollution permits for each ton of carbon industries plan to emit. Oregon’s program aims to reduce emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.