Brown: I’ll Use Executive Power To Lower Carbon Emissions

Oregon Governor Kate Brown announced Monday that she’s ready to use her executive power to lower carbon emissions.  Her announcement follows what come call a political crisis in the state, where Republican senators fled the Salem for more than a week sow Cap And Trade legislation could not be voted on.  The Democratic governor said she wants to move forward on a statewide Cap and Trade plan through the executive branch if lawmakers can’t find a compromise.

The proposal caps climate-changing emissions and requires businesses to buy or trade an ever-dwindling pool of pollution credits or “allowances.”  The idea divided the Statehouse and revealed lingering tensions between liberal cities like Portland that support the idea, and rural areas of the state where the legislation was seen as a further threat to industries like farming, logging and trucking.

Brown says she wants lawmakers to go back to rural communities and find points of compromise for future legislation that would create the nation’s second statewide cap and trade program, after California.

Senate Republicans walked out for nine days to delay a vote on the measure and only returned after receiving reassurances it was dead. They said the legislation would kill jobs, raise the cost of fuel and gut small businesses in rural areas.  Democrats say the legislation is critical to make Oregon a leader in the fight against climate change and will ultimately create jobs and transform the economy.

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