Governor Says Oregon Must Control It`s Own Energy Destiny

(PORTLAND) - Addressing the Northwest Industrial Energy Users Conference Wednesday, Governor Ted Kulongoski declared his goal of making Oregon a national leader in producing and using renewable energy.

To achieve that goal, he has proposed a `renewable portfolio standard` a term that describes the array of renewable energy resources the state uses to meet its needs.

The Governor has set a goal of meeting 25 percent of Oregon`s needs with renewable energy by 2025.

`Oregonians feel a growing urgency to become more energy independent," the Governor said. `They are increasingly interested in conservation, renewable forms of energy, and cutting greenhouse gases that lead to global warming."

Two fundamental questions face Oregon`s energy policy planners, the Governor said. The first is: `Do we control our energy destiny, or do we let someone do it for us?"

The second is: `Do we work together as a state to tackle our challenges, or do we let individual interests make the decisions over the short term, to our collective detriment over the long term?"

The state of Oregon should decide for itself what it must do to move toward energy independence, the Governor said.

`I recently called for state government to meet 100 percent of its energy needs through renewable energy by 2010. I`m doing this to send an unmistakable message that state government must and will do its part."

Though he acknowledged `raising some eyebrows" among big industrial energy users over the economic benefits he foresees in pursuing the renewable portfolio standard, the Governor highlighted the long-term benefits of such investments, and said he wants to build the momentum toward renewable energy that is now under way in the state.

`We not only can we must develop new, cost-effective energy policies that will protect the environment and economy of Oregon, and contribute to the worldwide reduction in greenhouse gasses," the Governor said.

But investing in new forms of energy is not enough, he cautioned. `We must also make the most efficient use of energy.

Conservation makes good business sense, because we can achieve it at less than one-third the cost of adding new generation."

That means using new strategies to promoting investment in conservation, including tax credits to help businesses make these investments in cost-effective ways.

More than 9,000 Oregon businesses have used the state`s Business Energy Tax Credit to invest more than $600 million in energy efficiency, and another $130 million in renewable energy, the Governor said.

The Oregon Department of Energy estimates these investments reduce energy bills by $225 million a year.

The Governor also pledged to renew his efforts to ensure that state agencies use energy more efficiently and wisely.

Earlier this year, he issued an executive order requiring agencies to reduce energy use in state buildings from 10 percent to 20 percent below 2000 levels.