A10
OREGON
East Oregonian
Tuesday, November 16, 2021
Oregon soon could require zero emissions trucks
Advocates for
Advanced Clean
Truck rule tout
benefi ts to air
quality, health
By MONICA SAMAYOA
Oregon Public Broadcasting
SALEM — An Oregon
regulatory panel is set to
vote Wednesday, Nov. 17,
on whether to require the
gradual shift of medium
and heavy-duty trucks from
fossil fuels to electric power,
starting in 2024.
The Oregon Environmen-
tal Quality Commission also
is considering rules to reduce
transportation related green-
house gas emissions and to
reduce harmful air pollutants
coming from the same emis-
sions.
The Department of Envi-
ronmental Quality’s senior
air quality planner Rachel
Sakata said it’s urgent that
Oregon reduce greenhouse
Oregon Public Broadcasting/Contributed Photo
Daimler’s eCascadia and the eM2 are two of the fi rst electric semitrailer to hit the highways.
gas emissions and pollutants
that could cause asthma and
other respiratory illnesses.
She said trucks are among
Oregon’s fastest-growing
sources of carbon emission.
“Transportation basically
accounts for 40% of state-
wide greenhouse gas emis-
sions in Oregon,” she said.
“So, while heavy duty trucks
and busses which are usually
fi lled by diesel, only account
for 4% of vehicles on the road
nationally, they’re responsi-
ble for 23% of greenhouse
gas emissions in Oregon.”
The continued burning of
fossil fuels is contributing to
higher average temperatures
and several consequences:
more intense storm events,
drought, more severe wild-
fi re seasons and the threat
of extinction for wildlife
that can’t adapt to a rapidly
warming planet.
The proposed Advanced
Clean Truck rule would
require manufacturers of
medium and heavy-duty
vehicles, like large pickups,
busses and 18-wheelers, to
sell a certain percentage of
zero emissions electric vehi-
cles starting with the 2025
model year.
“It starts at various
percentages based on the
different class types of
trucks,” Sakata said.
For example, she said
manufacturers of pickups
and vans would need to see
that zero-emission vehicles
make up 7% of their Oregon
sales starting in 2024. By
2035, manufacturers of all
types of trucks, vans and
buses would need zero-emis-
sion vehicles to make up at
least 40% of their Oregon
sales.
Sakata said the gradual
ramp up is important to help
manufacturers make the
transition.
“It recognizes the trac-
tor trailer trucks will take
a little more time and may
not necessarily be able to
switch over completely to the
zero-emissions vehicle tech-
nology,” she said.
C l i m a t e S olu t io n s’
Oregon transportation policy
manager Victoria Paykar
said if the rules are adopted,
they not only will help get
Oregon to reduce its depen-
dence on fossil fuels, they
will be a huge investment in
public health.
“Currently, Oregon has
a huge diesel problem, and
we have one of the dirtiest
fl eets as a state in the nation,”
Paykar said. “We do have a
lot of communities who are
suff ering from diesel pollu-
tion burdens.”
Paykar said low-income
communities and Black,
Indigenous and communities
of color are disproportion-
ately aff ected by air pollu-
tion due to historically racist
public land use laws and
transportation policies. She
said many of these commu-
nities are located near if not
adjacent to highways and
industrial zones.
Gov. Brown weighs special session on tenant protections, rental aid
By PETER WONG
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Gov. Kate
Brown said Friday, Nov. 12,
she is considering calling a
special session of the Oregon
Legislature to extend legal
protections for tenants at
risk of eviction while they
wait for emergency rental
assistance.
Brown also said lawmak-
ers may be asked to consider
approving additional state
aid if more federal money
does not come through.
“But it will be impossible
to serve every Oregon family
that is struggling with rent
with state resources alone,”
Brown said in her statement.
“Those conversations will
continue, with the goal of
bringing forward a proposal
for the Legislature to
consider in a special session
in the upcoming weeks.”
Brown didn’t specify
when she might call lawmak-
ers back to Salem.
The Legislature met for a
special session on legislative
and congressional redistrict-
ing Sept. 20-27. The 35-day
session in 2022 is sched-
uled to start Feb. 1; lawmak-
ers will conduct committee
meetings Jan. 11-13.
Brown issued her state-
ment after the Oregon
Department of Housing
and Community Services
announced that pending
applications are likely to
claim the rest of Oregon’s
federal money for emergency
rental assistance — and that
new applications would be
put on hold for at least six
weeks, starting just before
midnight Dec. 1.
Department Director
Margaret Salazar said her
agency was on the verge of
committing all of the $289
million it has received from
the U.S. Treasury, on top
of the $200 million that the
Legislature approved in state
funds back on Dec. 21. All of
the state money was spent by
the end of June.
“We want to make sure
we are keeping our commit-
ments to every Oregon
renter who has applied for
assistance to date,” Sala-
zar told reporters during a
conference call. “We do not
yet know whether we will
receive additional dollars
from the Treasury.”
Oregon was among the
states that committed at
least 65% of their fi rst-round
allocations of federal rental
assistance by the initial dead-
line of Sept. 30. The Trea-
sury will reallocate unused
money, which Salazar said
the agency should know in
the next few weeks.
Brown said she has asked
Deputy Secretary Wally
Adeyemo, the No. 2 offi cial at
the Treasury, for direct help.
“It is not likely, however,
that the U.S. Treasury will
be able to deploy additional
resources for rental assis-
tance immediately,” she said.
Portland and Multnomah,
Washington and Clackamas
counties also received money
from the Treasury for their
own emergency rental assis-
tance payments.
As of Nov. 10, according
to the agency’s dashboard,
it has paid or obligated
rental assistance for 23,409
households. The agency has
received more than 48,000
applications, 20,000 of which
are still under review; both
fi gures exclude 12,000 appli-
cations deemed incomplete
because tenants or landlords
have not supplied adequate
information.
An estimated 13,000
households have exceeded
the grace periods from evic-
tions allowed for tenants
who show proof they have
applied for rental assistance.
State law passed during the
last days of the 2021 session
set a deadline of 60 days;
actions by commissioners in
Multnomah and Washington
counties, plus Beaverton, set
90 days. (The Washington
County action applies only to
areas outside cities, although
Beaverton acted on its own.)
“There must be an imme-
diate action to ensure no one
who has applied for help gets
evicted while their applica-
tions are being processed,”
Sybil Hebb, an attorney for
the Oregon Law Center, said
in a statement released by
Stable Homes for Oregon
Families.
“Additionally, rent assis-
tance must remain available
without disruption for new
applications. This winter
too many Oregon renters
are living in uncertainty and
fear of losing their homes.
By coming together in swift
action, state lawmakers can
keep people safe and stable in
their homes, keep children in
school, and stop unnecessary
evictions.”
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