A2
THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, MAY 27, 2021
IN BRIEF
Fishery managers add days
to river salmon fi shing
State fi shery managers announced Wednesday
that they would add extra days of spring Chinook
salmon and steelhead fi shing on the Columbia River.
Fishing from the Tongue Point/Rocky Point line
upstream to the Bonneville Dam will open Saturday
and then again June 1 through June 15.
Above the dam to the Oregon and Washington
state border, fi shing will be open on Saturday and
Sunday and then again on June 5 and June 6.
Fishermen are able to retain hatchery steelhead
and jack Chinook caught in the river’s main stem
from Tongue Point upstream to the Interstate 5
bridge. The steelhead bag limit is one fi sh per day.
Steadfast returns to Astoria
The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Steadfast returned to
Astoria after a 49-day counternarcotics patrol in the
Eastern Pacifi c Ocean.
During the patrol, the crew intercepted a ves-
sel suspected of smuggling illicit narcotics, which
resulted in the seizure of over 2,400 pounds of
cocaine. Three suspected traffi ckers were detained.
CHECKING FISH
Luke Whittaker/Chinook Observer
Police investigate robbery at
Dairy Queen in Warrenton
Police are investigating a robbery that occurred at
Dairy Queen in Warrenton on May 16.
Offi cials say a man wearing black clothing and
a black face mask entered the building through the
back door just before 10 p.m.
The man reportedly went into the manager’s offi ce
and took money from an open safe. After employees
confronted the man and tried to stop him, he report-
edly told them he had a knife and kicked one of the
employees before running away with cash.
Offi cers searched the area, but could not fi nd the
suspect.
Offi ces close for Memorial Day
In observance of Memorial Day on Monday, all
federal, state, county and city offi ces and services,
including Astoria, Warrenton, Gearhart, Seaside and
Cannon Beach city halls, are closed. All U.S. post
offi ces are closed, and there is no mail delivery.
Astoria, Jewell, Knappa, Warrenton/Hammond
and Seaside (including Cannon Beach and Gear-
hart) school district schools, and Clatsop Commu-
nity College, are closed.
The Astoria Library, Seaside Library and Warren-
ton Library are closed.
The Port of Astoria offi ces and services are
closed.
Garbage collection through Recology Western
Oregon and the city of Warrenton garbage collec-
tion are not aff ected by the holiday. Recology West-
ern Oregon’s transfer station is open until 2 p.m.
The Sunset Pool in Seaside is open from 5:45 a.m.
to 1 p.m. The Astoria Aquatic Center is open from
7 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4 to 7 p.m.
The Clatsop County Heritage Museum, Ore-
gon Film Museum and Flavel House are open from
10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the Carriage House is open
from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Uppertown Firefi ght-
ers’ Museum is closed.
Lil’ Sprouts is closed. Fort Clatsop is open from
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Columbia River Maritime
Museum is open from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sunset Empire Transportation (“The Bus”) is
running.
— The Astorian
DEATHS
May 20, 2021
In BOYCE,
Brief
Lloyd, 72, of
Warrenton, died in War-
renton. Hughes-Ransom
Deaths
Mortuary is in charge of
the arrangements.
May 19, 2021
McCARTY,
Mary,
84, of Warrenton, died in
Warrenton. Hughes-Ran-
som Mortuary is in charge
of the arrangements.
May 18, 2021
MARSHALL, Barbara,
64, of Warrenton, died in
Warrenton. Hughes-Ran-
som Mortuary is in charge
of the arrangements.
ON THE RECORD
DUII
On
the
Record
• Jamie
Jean Corbin,
46, of Seattle, was arrested
Wednesday off of U.S. Highway 101 for driving under
the infl uence of intoxicants.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
THURSDAY
Sunset Empire Transportation District Board, 9 a.m.,
(electronic meeting).
Clatsop County Recreational Lands Planning Advisory
Committee, 1 p.m., (electronic meeting).
Cannon Beach Planning Commission, 6 p.m., (electronic
meeting).
PUBLIC MEETINGS
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Halibut fi shing is heating up off the coast. A fi sh checker from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife measured the
catch on a charter fi shing boat in Ilwaco on Sunday.
Big climate bill generates little friction
Legislation grew out
of a listening tour
By DIRK
VANDERHART
Oregon Public Broadcasting
Oregon would adopt one
of the country’s most ambi-
tious timelines for eliminat-
ing carbon dioxide emis-
sions from its power grid
under a major bill advocates
believe will pass the Legis-
lature this year.
House Bill 2021 — a
product of intensive nego-
tiations between the state’s
largest utilities, environmen-
tal justice groups, renew-
able energy boosters and
more — advanced out of
one state House committee
last week. It must now navi-
gate the state budgeting pro-
cess before fi nal votes in the
House and Senate.
In a legislative ses-
sion when police reform,
COVID-19 assistance, racial
equity and wildfi re relief
have been at the forefront,
HB 2021 could be among
the most impactful bills law-
makers will decide.
The bill sets a timeta-
ble by which Oregon’s two
major power companies,
Portland General Electric
and Pacifi c Power, must
eliminate emissions asso-
ciated with the electricity
they provide. Five electric-
ity service suppliers in the
state also would face regula-
tion, though their emissions
are tiny compared to the big
utilities.
HB 2021′s central thrust
isn’t groundbreaking by
today’s standards. At least
17 other states and the Dis-
trict of Columbia have
already adopted similar
goals, according to the Clean
Energy States Alliance.
But advocates say Ore-
gon’s plan stands out in
both approach and time-
line. The bill requires PGE
and Pacifi c Power to submit
plans to reduce emissions by
80% from a baseline amount
by 2030, 90% by 2035 and
completely eliminate emis-
sions by 2040.
That end date is nota-
bly ambitious. It’s a nearer
deadline than nearly every
other state that has adopted a
clean power plan, including
Washington and California.
Oregon would measure
its progress in an atypical
way, too. Most states have
opted to ratchet down green-
house gas emissions by
requiring utilities to gradu-
ally increase the amount of
power they get from renew-
able energy sources like
wind and solar. Oregon,
which has already had such a
renewable portfolio standard
since 2007, is taking a more
straightforward approach:
requiring PGE and Pacifi c
Power to reduce their over-
all carbon emissions, which
are tracked by the state’s
Department of Environmen-
tal Quality.
“What we’re doing is
harder, but I think it’s more
honest,” said Bob Jenks,
executive director of the
Oregon Citizens’ Utility
Amelia Templeton/Oregon Public Broadcasting
Wind energy will be a major ingredient if Oregon hopes to fully decarbonize its power grid.
Board, which advocates on
behalf of utility customers
and supports the bill.
By targeting emissions,
Jenks and others say, Ore-
gon can focus on more than
just ramping up its use of
renewables. It can also place
a premium on helping the
state use power in a smarter,
more effi cient manner.
“It’s going to lead to a lot
of renewable energy devel-
opment; it’s going to lead
to a lot of effi ciency devel-
opment,” said Jeff Bisson-
nette, a consultant with the
Northwest Energy Coali-
tion, which also backs the
bill. “We’re really asking
utilities to change the way
they do business. That’s a
big deal.”
a coalition called the Oregon
Just Transition Alliance held
in cities around the state as
it worked to develop an Ore-
gon version of the Green
New Deal.
“What we heard from
communities is our energy
policy is not serving our
front-line
communities
and is not meeting our cli-
mate goals,” said state Rep.
Khanh Pham, D-Portland,
who at the time of the lis-
tening tour served as interim
director of the alliance .
Pham and the environ-
mental justice groups that
form the alliance emerged
from the tour with ideas for
how Oregon might decar-
bonize its energy grid, create
jobs and ensure that people
‘THERE IS A LACK OF CLARITY
FOR HOW WE AS AN INDUSTRY
ARE GOING TO GET THE LAST
BITS OUT. I DON’T KNOW
ANYBODY IN OUR INDUSTRY WHO
KNOWS HOW TO GET TO ZERO
WITH THE TECHNOLOGY WE
HAVE TODAY.’
Sunny Radcliff e | director of governmental
aff airs and energy policy at PGE
Jumping together
Advocates of clean elec-
tricity have been talking
about decarbonizing Ore-
gon’s power grid for years.
In 2015, Stanford Uni-
versity researchers laid out
a roadmap for what switch-
ing to 100% clean energy
might look like in each state
by 2050. A proposed bal-
lot measure for 2020, ulti-
mately abandoned, would
have forced Oregon power
providers to transfer to clean
power by 2045. And Presi-
dent Joe Biden campaigned
on a proposal to switch
to 100% clean power as a
nation by 2035, though that
proposal’s chances of clear-
ing Congress are unclear.
With HB 2021, Oregon
appears to be on the verge
of setting its own ambitious
goal in stone.
The bill got its start
last summer, months after
Republicans cut the 2020
legislative session short with
a walkout over Democrats’
sweeping proposal to reduce
the state’s greenhouse gas
emissions with a cap-and-
trade system.
HB 2021′s origins, back-
ers say, lie in a listening tour
disproportionately impacted
by climate change were not
left behind. Soon, alliance
members were talking with
utilities, labor organizations,
renewable energy develop-
ers, lawmakers and more.
What has emerged nearly
a year later is a climate
bill that supporters say has
buy-in from an uncommonly
broad coalition. Pham, who
was sworn in to the House
in January, is a chief spon-
sor of HB 2021, alongside
Rep. Pam Marsh, D-Ash-
land, chairwoman of the
House Energy and Environ-
ment Committee.
Though the bill’s center-
piece is cleaning up Ore-
gon’s power grid, it contains
a lot more. HB 2021 also:
• bans expansion or new
construction of power plants
that burn natural gas or other
fossil fuels;
• sets strong labor stan-
dards for any large-scale
renewable energy projects
built in the state;
• includes $50 million
in grants for community
renewable energy projects
in cities other than Portland,
which has its own fund for
such projects;
• allows cities in Oregon
to create so-called “green
tariff s,” where they agree to
pay utilities more money for
power from a cleaner mix
of sources in order to meet
their own climate goals;
• requires power compa-
nies to consider input from
low-income
ratepayers,
environmental justice com-
munities, federally recog-
nized tribes and others as
they develop strategies for
reducing emissions.
While all of those pro-
visions — hashed out over
months of sometimes tense
discussions — have given
HB 2021 a solid support
base, a big reason the bill
seems to have a shot at pass-
ing this year lies in some-
thing else: a lack of orga-
nized opposition.
Unlike the ambitious
cap-and-trade proposal that
would have ratcheted down
emissions throughout the
economy, and developed
many enemies as a result,
HB 2021 touches far fewer
entities. And many support
the bill.
“We feel optimistic
enough that we can get ( to
zero emissions) that we
were willing to move for-
ward to support this,” said
Sunny Radcliff e, the director
of governmental aff airs and
energy policy at PGE, the
state’s largest electric utility.
PGE already has a goal
of reducing greenhouse gas
emissions 80% by 2030, but
to date has only set an aspi-
rational target of eliminating
emissions entirely by 2040.
That’s because of a stick-
ing point common to clean
energy requirements: No
one’s entirely sure how util-
ities will eliminate the fi nal
10% or 20% of their emis-
sions, the fossil fuel-gen-
erated power that can help
ensure lights remain on
when sun isn’t shining and
wind isn’t blowing.
“There is a lack of clarity
for how we as an industry
are going to get the last bits
out,” Radcliff e said. “I don’t
know anybody in our indus-
try who knows how to get to
zero with the technology we
have today.”
Boosters for clean energy
targets point out that renew-
able energy has become
far cheaper as technology
improves, and they expect
that trend to continue. As
Radcliff e put it: “As an
industry focuses on an out-
come, ( research and devel-
opment) tend to follow.”
See Climate bill, Page A5