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|  | Starry sky on Mt. Hood in Oregon. Photo by Annabel Sahler
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The Best of 2024.
Inspired by NYT author Melissa Kirsch's appeal to issue a "best-of" list for the year— and reflect on all we and others have accomplished—we thought we would have some fun before the chaos and drama of the next four years is upon us. We invite you to share your "best of" moments with us as we continue to work together toward the future we want to see.
After the Oregon Court of Appeals issued its decision concluding Oregon's Climate Protection Program—the cap and reduce program GEI helped design and support—failed to provide the requisite notice to a subset of entities impacted by the rules, GEI served on the Rulemaking Advisory Committee for the next iteration of the rule. We're happy to report that the Environmental Quality Commission unanimously adopted the new version of the CPP. The best new climate policy regulation goes to the CPP! To learn more about it, click here.
GEI continued to assist local governments inside and outside of Oregon after the Ninth Circuit's January decision denying the City of Berkeley's petition for rehearing en banc; that decision left local governments scratching their heads about whether their efforts to prohibit or otherwise restrict natural gas in buildings were precluded by federal law. We started the year by participating in an interview and a webinar hosted by Safe Cities at Stand.earth. We ended the year on a webinar with experts from the Mitchell Hamline School of Law Public Health Law Center, the Institute for Market Transformation, and the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School, called Legal Landscape of Building Decarbonization in 2024: Current Cases and the Paths Forward. Please contact me if you are interested in watching the recording. To help local governments move forward with this work, the best new GEI publication is Funding Building Decarbonization: Policy Options for Local Governments in Oregon.
It's been quite the year for GEI at the Oregon Public Utility Commission (PUC). Rate increases and related disconnections, extreme weather events impacting electricity reliability, and record setting heat underscore the need for an affordable, reliable, and clean electricity grid. GEI is joining forces with other advocates to explore the appropriate remedy to address PacifiCorp's failure to demonstrate continual progress towards meeting the emissions reductions goals in HB 2021, Oregon's 100% Clean Energy law. We have also intervened in state court seeking dismissal of the utility's appeal of that order. The best motion to dismiss goes to the collaborative effort of GEI and Sierra Club in Oregon's third judicial district seeking to dismiss PacifiCorp's appeal of the PUC's finding of no continual progress. The best law clerk blog of the year suggests it is Time to Consider Public Power in Portland (Again).
2024 also marked the first time GEI supported environmental justice intervenors in three rate case proceedings: one filed by NW Natural, one by PGE, and one by PacifiCorp. We worked with partners to encourage the PUC to accompany any rate hikes with support for energy burdened residents and environmental justice communities. Read our closing brief in the PacifiCorp rate case here. We expect decisions from the PUC by the end of this week in both PGE's and PacifCorp's rate cases. The best environmental justice intervenors goes to Verde, Coalition of Communities of Color, and Community Energy Project.
Finally, if you are a law student interested in our work, check out our law clerk posting here. You could be the best new law clerk next year!
Thanks, as always, for all you do to support us.
Carra Sahler
Director and Staff Attorney, Green Energy Institute
Lewis & Clark Law School
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The Oregon Public Utility Commission Reins in NW Natural
After the hard work of many intervenors, involving three separate settlement stipulations and lengthy testimony and briefing, as well as a purchased gas adjustment filed by the company, NW Natural's residential customers will see only a 4.7% increase to their natural gas bill (down from an atrociously high 18%!). Importantly, the PUC rejected NW Natural's self-described first of its kind line extension allowance (LEA) proposal, which would have allowed NW Natural to profit off of existing customers by expanding the gas system. The PUC noted (in part) that if new customers continue to prefer gas, "there seems to be no justification for offering incentives that run a risk of not being paid back over time." Additionally, the PUC ordered $13.7 million of undepreciated expense be removed from rate base going forward. It concluded that NW Natural had been "consistently underestimating construction costs and providing line extension construction costs in excess of its authorized LEAs since at least 2018, shifting costs and risk to ratepayers." The PUC found the company failed to properly track its government affairs time, making it impossible to evaluate whether the company accurately classified its staff time as "core utility business" or as lobbying. As a result, the Commission removed an additional 25% from the company's government affairs budget. The PUC directed NW Natural to update its government affairs procedures so that future filings record time spent attempting to influence public officials in regulatory decisions; the Commission will apply a rebuttable presumption of 50-50 sharing between customers and shareholders moving forward. Read the full order here.
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Best Power Couple and Best Doppelganger
New staff attorneys Cole Souder and Jamie Johnson joined GEI in September of 2024. Both Jamie and Cole are recent Lewis & Clark graduates. In law school, Jamie served as Executive Editor for Environmental Law Review, clerked for Earthrise and Renewable Northwest, and externed for Judge Marco Hernandez of the U.S. District for the District of Oregon. Jamie worked with local governments in the midwest on clean energy and energy efficiency policies before coming to law school. Cole represented Lewis & Clark on its Environmental Moot Court team, served as Submissions Editor for Environmental Law Review, and externed for Judge Michael Simon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon. He also externed with Vestas American Wind Technologies during law school. In addition to a JD, Cole earned a Masters in U.S. History from San Francisco State University.
Carra and Jamie are not related, but we could see how you might think we are!
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GEI is Hiring Law Clerks!
GEI seeks law clerks for 2025 who are committed to and passionate about climate policy and energy law. The role will include working with our fantastic team of attorneys on climate policy and energy law-related proceedings before the Oregon Public Utility Commission and other state agencies. GEI is at the cutting edge of Oregon policy development and implementation in Oregon. We offer a fun, intellectually-stimulating, engaging, and pet-friendly atmosphere.
Please share this exciting opportunity with your law student colleagues. Check out the posting here.
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| Thank you for your continued support,
Carra Sahler, Alex Houston, Jamie Johnson and Cole Souder
The Green Energy Institute Team
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