On Tuesday, they’re holding a Paint Past Coal event in downtown Portland. What’s it all about? Here’s a quote from their latest email.

8am – 11:45am: We’ll be at Waterfront Park, filling in a painting that depicts the transition to clean energy in Oregon. We will meet at 8:00 at SW Salmon and Naito Parkway, but will still be in the park nearby if you arrive after that time.

Shortly before noon we will head over to PGE’s Portland offices for a sidewalk rally and press conference. Student speakers will explain why this event is so important in the fight for clean energy.

You can get some more information from the event’s Facebook Page. When I last checked, 35 people said they were going to show up and another 100 were on the “Maybe” list. If you trust the National Weather Service, it’ll be a lovely 65 degrees when the event starts but will rise to 80 degrees just in time for the Noon press conference.

Coal Free Oregon is just one of the groups trying make sure state regulators close the coal-fired Boardman power plant well ahead of the current 2040 deadline. Along with the Sierra Club and other environmental groups, they support a plan by Oregon DEQ to close the plant in either late 2015 or early 2016. In return, PGE would avoid paying about $465 million in new pollution controls.

On the other hand, PGE is still aiming for a 2020 closure, but only if it can skip about $500 million worth of pollution controls.

Whatever happens, any plan need the approval of both DEQ and the state’s Public Utility Commission.

For More Information:

DEQ: Proposal For Early Shutdown of Boardman

Portland General Electric: Boardman Plant Air Emissions

Related Story:

Game Changer: DEQ Takes A Fresh Look At Shutting Down Boardman

PGE's coal fired Boardman Power Plant. Photo from Ted Timmons

The news must have landed at PGE like a ton of coal.

Oregon DEQ says its looking at three options for an early closure of PGE’s coal-fired power plant at Boardman. They call on the utility to spend millions more to keep the plant running, or shutting it down a lot earlier than PGE wants.

The Big Picture

To see where this is going, let’s back up for a moment. There’s only one approved plan – so far – that allows PGE to continue operating the Boardman power plant. It allows the plant to generate electricity by burning coal until 2040. But PGE would have to install about $500 million in new pollution controls to bring down emissions of nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide.

This doesn’t include any controls on greenhouse gases. None are required for now, but pretty much everyone expects they will be required in the near future. Since Boardman is the state’s biggest single source of greenhouse gas, the costs of new controls could be substantial.

PGE, no surprise, would like to avoid having to pay for all that. So earlier this year it proposed a plan where it would shut down Boardman by 2020, and only have to spend about $40 million on pollution controls. That proposal was rejected by DEQ a couple of weeks ago.

DEQ’s Options

The 2020 Plan: Boardman shuts down by the end of 2020, and PGE spends $320 million on reducing pollution.

The 2018 Plan: The plant closes by the end of 2018, and PGE pays about $100 million for new controls.

The 2015-2016 Plan: Boardman shuts down in late 2015 or early 2016. The cost of pollution controls drops to $35 million

DEQ says it chose these options because it thinks they can be approved by the EPA. It’s now taking comments from the public, plans on holding hearings in September, with a goal of approving a final plan before the end of the year.

Environmental Reaction

Oregon Sierra Club, which has been leading the campaign to shut down Boardman, is praising DEQ for the new proposals. The group wants Boardman closed in 2014. While DEQ doesn’t go that far, it does get us closer.

In a statement, Cesia Kearns of the Coal Free Oregon Campaign writes:

“The options DEQ has proposed demonstrate clearly that PGE can and should phase-out their dirty and dangerous Boardman coal-fired power plant earlier than the 2020 they are currently proposing. We already know that it is better for public health and the environment in Oregon if Boardman is phased out soon. The options offered by DEQ today further detail how it will also be cheaper to phase the plant out sooner than PGE is currently considering.”

PGE Reaction

The utility is not happy with the DEQ options. It wants to keep Boardman running until 2020, but at a lower cost. It says it needs the extra time to plan and develop cleaner sources of electricity to replace the plant.

According to PGE President and CEO Jim Piro:

“We put forward a plan for Boardman that we believe reached a good balance between cost, risk and environmental benefits. We’ll do a complete analysis, but we’re disappointed that DEQ didn’t allow that plan to proceed. On the face of it we believe the new options DEQ put forward today may reflect an extreme interpretation of federal rules that won’t make sense for our customers or our state. We want to work with DEQ to find a better way to transition this resource around the 2020 timeframe.”

The Next Steps:

DEQ sets up an advisory committee to do further study, which starts meeting in July. An updated version of this plan would be ready for public hearings in September. But the agency is taking comments now and they can be emailed to, deqoptionspge@deq.state.or.us.

For More Information:

Draft DEQ Proposal for Early Shutdown of the PGE Boardman Plant

PGE Reaction

Sierra Club Reaction

PGE's coal-fired power plant near Boardman, OR. Photo from Brian Pasko.

The campaign to shut down Oregon’s only coal-fired power plant by 2014 just got some big news.

The Department of Environmental Quality says it will recommend that the state reject PGE’s proposal to close the Boardman power plant by 2020, and take some additional time to study alternatives for an early shut down.

“We support an early shut down and we’re interested in exploring a range of options,” says Air Quality Administrator Andy Ginsburg. “Accepting PGE’s current petition would lock in only one approach as the starting point in a rule-making and we believe that additional options should considered before rule-making begins.”

That’s not the same thing as endorsing a 2014 closure. But it does put the possibility before DEQ in a very official way, and gives environmental groups a new opportunity to push for a shut down by 2014.

Originally, Boardman was supposed to keep operating until 2040. The plant is Oregon’s largest single source of greenhouse gases, the pollution that causes regional haze, and a major contributor to acid rain in the Columbia River Gorge.

But new EPA regulations on haze forced the state to take action. Last summer, DEQ adopted rules that would force PGE to reduce the plant’s nitrogen oxide emissions by 46 percent in 2011, reduce sulfur dioxide emissions by 80 percent in 2014, and further reduce nitrogen oxide emissions from 46 to 84 percent in 2017.

Those pollution controls came with a hefty price tag – about $470 million. It turned out to be more than PGE was willing to pay. Earlier this year the utility said it would close Boardman by the end of 2020, in exchange for not having to spend all that money.

When the DEQ Commission meets June 17 in Lakeview, the staff will present its recommendation to deny PGE’s offer.  That would be followed by a new round of rule-making, and then a new proposal for regional haze regulations.

During those six months, DEQ could change its mind and decide to support PGE’s 2020 closure date. But 2014 supporters will have several chances to make their case. The first chance comes at the June 17 meeting when the Commission will take comments from the public. If you can’t make it to the meeting in Lakeview, you can testify via teleconference from DEQ offices in Portland, Eugene, Bend, Medford, Pendleton and The Dalles.

As the rule-making progresses, there will be other public meetings held around the state.

For more information on the public comment process see…

Oregon DEQ: DEQ to Propose Denial of PGE’s Petition to Amend Regional Haze Rules

Related Stories:

Standing Room Only For DEQ Meeting On Boardman Coal Plant
Clean Up Or Shut Down: New Pressure On The Boardman Coal Plant
More Views On PGE’s Early Shut Down Of Boardman

PGE's coal fired Boardman Power Plant. Photo from Ted Timmons

Environmental groups hope they’ve found another way to force an early closure of Oregon’s only coal fired power plant, the PGE facility near Boardman.

The idea is to make PGE to spend so much money on pollution controls, the utility will decide that shutting down Boardman will be cheaper than cleaning it up.

This new battle over Boardman’s future starts Tuesday evening at a public meeting in Portland. Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality will take comments on PGE’s application for a Title V permit. The permit tells PGE how much pollution is allowed at Boardman – if the plant is to continue operating.

DEQ is calling for big cuts in pollution. They include:

• 46% reductions in nitrogen oxide by 2011, and an 84% reduction by 2017.
• 80% reductions in sulfur dioxide by 2014.
• 90% reductions in mercury by 2011.

But Cescia Kearns of the Oregon Sierra Club says DEQ could, and should, insist on further cuts. For example, instead of an 80% reduction in sulfur dioxide she wants DEQ to require a 90% reduction. She and other environmentalists hope that if DEQ gets tougher on Boardman, the costs of the new controls will be so expensive that PGE will agree to shut down Boardman by 2014.

“We feel they’ve been allowed to pollute for too long,” says Kearns. “Now things are coming home to roost. Now it’s time to clean up or shut down, and shutting down is a better solution.”

In some ways, the anti-Boardman campaign has already scored a major victory. Early this year, PGE said that because of the projected high cost of new pollution controls, it’s willing to close Boardman by 2020. That’s two decades ahead of schedule. But in return, PGE is asking DEQ to relax some of those proposed rules.

Kearns is hoping it’s an offer that DEQ can refuse. The Sierra Club and the Coal Free Oregon campaign are working hard to get supporters to turn out for Tuesday’s hearing. They’re also organizing a rally before the hearing begins.

DEQ can’t order PGE to close Boardman. That’s a decision that belongs to the state’s Public Utility Commission. The PUC will hold hearings this summer on PGE’s operating plan for the future, known as the Integrated Resource Plan. Sierra Club will continue to pressure the PUC to order a 2014 closure of Boardman, if DEQ can’t – or won’t – apply enough pressure to make it happen.

Details:

• When: Rally and briefing for supporters begins at 6:00pm. Hearing begins at 6:30pm.
• Where: DEQ Portland Headquarters, Room EQC-A (10th floor), 811 SW 6th Ave, Portland.

Related Stories:

Oregonian: PGE plan suggests shorter time frame to close Boardman coal-fired power plant
Natural Oregon: Sierra Club: PGE Still Needs To Shut Down Boardman By 2014
Natural Oregon: More Views On PGE’s Early Shut Down Of Boardman

A new study ranks utilities by how many renewable energy customers they have, and by how much renewable energy they sell. Oregon’s two big utilities, PGE and Pacific Power, rank high in every single category.

It means that many Oregonians are willing to spend a few extra dollars a month to make sure the electricity coming to their homes and businesses are from renewable sources such as wind, solar and biomass.

Here’s how we rank, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory:

Total number of renewable energy customers:

• PGE is #1 with more than 72,000 customers as of December 2009.
• Pacfic Power is second with just over 71,000.

Participation Rates:

• PGE is #2 with more than 10% of its customers in the renewable energy program.
• Pacific Power comes in seventh with a 6.5% participation rate.
• First place belongs to the City of Palo Alto, CA. More than 20% of customers buy green energy.

Total Sales:

• PGE ranks #2 for selling almost 741,000 kilowatt hours of renewable energy in 2009.
• Pacific Power comes in third with sales of more than 578,000 kilowatts a year.

The Pacific Power numbers are little bit screwy because in some categories they include customers in other states, and in some categories they only include Oregon customers.

Although the report is national in scope, it was released locally by Environment Oregon.

Here are some of the major findings:

Capping Carbon: Six states, including California, have set caps on carbon pollution. There’s also a regional cap-and-trade program for power plant emissions in the Northeast. These efforts will cut carbon emissions by 270 million metric tons annually by 2020. Oregon tried to create a cap-and-trade system during the last legislative session, but business groups and utilities were able to kill it.

Clean Energy: 29 states, including Oregon, now require that a certain percentage of power in the state come from renewable sources. In Oregon, we’re aiming for a 25% renewable energy standard by 2025. Meanwhile, 22 states are taking concrete steps to improve energy efficiency in homes and buildings. Others, including Oregon, are looking at new rules on low-carbon fuel for cars and trucks.

States Are Leading By Example: California’s clean cars program has been adopted by 14 states, including Oregon and Washington. There’s an effort underway to make it a national program. That would mean 31 million fewer tons of carbon emissions every year, by 2020. States have also led the way on efficiency standards for appliances and lighting. The federal government is considering national standards.

More on this after the video…

The result of all these initiatives is that the United States is already on track for removing 536 million tons of carbon every year by 2020.

Meanwhile, check out the new “We’re Ready” video produced by Environment America.

For more than a year, Idaho Power has been trying to find a route for a 500 kilovolt transmission line from Boardman, Ore. to Hemingway, Idaho. That’s about 300 miles long, cutting through forests, farm land and range.

The first proposed routes were so badly received that Idaho Power dropped them and started all over from scratch.

So what are they looking at now? The latest map, courtesy the Stop Idaho Power blog, resembles a giant multicolored spider’s web covering most of Eastern Oregon. While the first routes were roughly parallel to I-84, this newest map includes routes that could run north into Washington, or as far south as Burns.

Power lines are always controversial because of the impact to homes and business. But this one, called Cascade Crossing, is planned to go through large sections of the Mt. Hood National Forest.

That’s what has the environmental group Bark so concerned. It’s worried about another adding 500 foot wide path of clear cut through the forest. And the while the power line helps bring renewable energy from wind farms into the Willamette Valley, it will also be linked to PGE’s coal powered plant near Boardman. Read more about Bark’s concerns here.

Details on Thursday’s Open House

Hilton Hotel
Broadway Room
921 SW Sixth Avenue
Portland, OR 97204

Wick stars in a new YouTube video (see below) that’s trying to get people’s attention about the Palomar Pipeline, a 220-mile natural gas pipeline that runs through the heart of Oregon’s wine country, Willamette Valley farm land, and the Mt. Hood National Forest. “Oregon’s bread basket,” as Wick likes to call it.

For Wick, it’s a personal battle. The proposed route runs through the middle of his small farm, cutting a 150-foot wide path in a field where he wants to plant grapes and across 20 acres of forest that he and his wife have nurtured since moving here in 1992. If the pipeline goes in, Wick won’t be able to plant those grapes or replace the trees that would be cut down. Just the idea that a pipeline might come in means there’s not much he can do with his property until the issue is settled. “I’m up in limbo here,” he says.

Wick isn’t alone. He tells of one neighbor whose organic farm will be destroyed by the Palomar Pipeline. Others he knows will lose chunks of their hazelnut orchards.

And one more thing. “A lot of people don’t know about this,” says Wick. One of the partners in this project is NW Natural Gas, the home-grown, Portland based company that’s been around since before Oregon was a state. In Wick’s view, “They’re doing this to Oregon and there’s no need for it.”

It’s that last point that has become the central message for Wick and others working to block the pipeline. They formed a campaign called Hey! NW Natural that’s using social media tools like Facebook and Twitter to get NW Natural customers and shareholders involved in the fight against Palomar. Well known environmental groups like the Oregon Sierra Club, Columbia Riverkeeper, Bark and Friends of Living Oregon Waters are helping to spread the word.

Monica Vaughan is one of the organizers of the social media effort, which kicked off less than a week ago. “We’re asking NW Natural customers,” she says, “to think about where your gas is coming from.” Like Wick, she says most people in the Portland area aren’t aware that the utility is developing the pipeline. She hopes the video and website will help farmers tell their stories, and convince customers to take action to block Palomar. Future plans include handing out anti-LNG inserts that can be mailed in with utility bills and anti-LNG stickers to slap on natural gas meters.

Her goal, get NW Natural to drop Palomar before its next stockholder meeting in May of 2010.

Ask Wick what’s so bad about Palomar and he can list a number of things. Like others in the anti-LNG movement he says none of the natural gas that will flow through Palomar will serve people in Oregon, even though our state will feel all the impact. The Palomar website is vague on the point, saying it will deliver gas to Oregon and “other western states”. For many anti-LNG’ers, that means its really going to California.

Palomar is also controversial because it ties in to the proposed Bradwood Landing LNG Plant on the Columbia River near Astoria. Opponents are concerned that Bradwood poses a risk to salmon habitat, to fishing and shipping on the river, and is a danger to public safety. Without Palomar, Bradwood isn’t connected to interstate pipelines. So anti-LNG opponents hope that by killing one project, they can kill both of them.

Meanwhile, here’s the video featuring Steve Wick.

So as we used to say in televsion, let’s go right to the highlights.

Field Burning Ban

Those late summer smoky skies over the Willamette Valley should pretty much disapear over the next few years thanks to Senate Bill 528.  The bill, passed today by the House, phases out most field burning by 2013.  Now it goes to Governor K.  The bill exempts about 15,000 acres of hilly terrain.

According to the Department of Environmental Quality, current law allows for about 65,000 acres of field burning, but over the past few years the actual number of acres burned is closer to 50,000.  But in the mid 1980s, as many as 250,000 acres were burned each year.

Invasive Species

The final passage of House Bill 2020 means state officials will be able to move faster against outbreaks of invasive species.  The bill sets aside $350,000 that can be tapped for such things as rapid response to outbreaks, inspections and eradication of invaders.  Today’s approval by the Senate puts this bill into the hands of the Governor.

Coal Burning Power Plants

Senate Bill 101 makes it harder for electric utilities to get power from coal burning power plants.  It says the coal burning plants have to meet certain standards for greenhouse gas emissions before utilities can enter into long term contracts for their power.  In addition, it says Oregon utilities can’t sign long term contracts with any kind of power plant, unless the plant’s emissions are as clean as ones that run on natural gas.  This bill goes to the Governor after getting final passage by the House.

Renewable Energy

This is one area where the environmental agenda has taken some hits, including today’s final passage of House Bill 2940.  The bill means utilities won’t have to work so hard to meet Oregon’s Renewable Energy Standard.  By law, utilities have to get 25% of their power from renewable sources by the year 2025.

Originally, the law said anything built before 1995 didn’t count towards meeting that standard.  But HB 2940 creates an exception for nine older biomass plants that were built before the 1995 deadline.  By letting utilities include them as renewable sources, enviros say it makes it too easy to meet the Renewable Energy Standards.

The renewable standard has been credited with helping create the boom in renewable energy projects around the state, especially wind and solar.  So if this bill becomes law, the fear is that it will slow the growth of renewable energy and the slow the growth of green jobs in the state.

The Oregon League of Conservation Voters is hoping Governor Kulongoski will veto the bill.  One of his spokesman told the Oregonian last week it would be hard for him to support it.

Thanks to Evan Manvel of the Oregon League of Conservation Voters for today’s updates.