On Monday, Eugene City Council made the difficult decision to withdraw its recently-passed building electrification ordinance. While disappointing for all of us who worked hard to pass this climate policy back in February, we understand why the City Council chose this course of action. The reasons for this are complicated, and worth explaining.

California Restaurant Association v. City of Berkeley

Back in April, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision that the City of Berkeley’s electrification ordinance was preempted by the Federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act. That lawsuit was funded by the gas industry, and the panel of Republican-appointed judges gave the industry exactly what it wanted.

We believe the three-judge panel’s decision was egregiously wrong on the merits. The City of Berkeley has already challenged the decision and is supported by, among others, the United States Department of Energy and local government leaders in Oregon. 

Eugene’s Ordinance is like Berkeley’s

Eugene’s ordinance closely resembles that of the City of Berkeley’s, as do many other electrification policies across the nation, and this decision could impact all of them. Whether the three-judge panel’s decision is overturned and whether the Supreme Court subsequently decides to weigh in are questions that will likely take several years to properly answer. In the meantime, Eugene’s ordinance would remain under a cloud of legal uncertainty, and supporters of the ordinance would have needed to spend millions of dollars just to defend it at the ballot.

The Fight Isn’t Over, Just Pivoting

As Fossil Free Eugene Coordinator Aya Cockram stated at Monday’s City Council meeting, the withdrawal of the ordinance has no bearing on the underlying merits of electrification:

“Passing the residential ordinance was absolutely the right thing to do. … Nothing has foundationally changed. We are still in a climate emergency. Burning gas in homes still causes serious health effects like asthma, and emits known carcinogens like benzene. Fracked gas still fuels justice issues from extraction to end-use, disproportionately affecting historically marginalized people and vulnerable groups. And the overwhelming majority of testimony is still coming from advocates of electrification.”

Withdrawing the ordinance also allows the City of Eugene to continue to make progress on other aspects of building electrification and transitioning off of fossil fuels – policy endeavors that were effectively placed under a gag order as a result of the ordinance qualifying for November’s ballot. We look forward to working with the City to figure out how to best fund and incentivize the energy transition in existing residential and commercial buildings so thatEugene remains a leader in climate action and community resiliency.

ICYMI: NW Natural & the Gas Industry are Anti-Climate

We couldn’t send this email without revisiting  how Eguene’s ordinance wound up on the ballot in the first place. 

Billion-dollar fossil fuel corporation NW Natural – Oregon’s largest individual greenhouse gas emitter and a frequent opponent of climate policy at all levels of government – funneled over $1 million in just a few weeks to a front-group it set up to gather signatures. NW Natural spent more money in that short time  in Eugene than it had spent on all political campaigns in Oregon in the previous seven years combined. They spent over $150 per required signature to qualify for the ballot. There was never any groundswell of community opposition to the ordinance in Eugene, but a fossil fuel company was able to buy a referendum through a blatant and gross display of corporate power.

What we are witnessing in Eugene and other communities, as we increasingly win the public debate over electrification and energy policy, is the violent death throes of the fossil fuel industry. We know that NW Natural’s tactics will become increasingly desperate and aggressive as we continue to make progress on electrification. Eugene City Council may have been forced to take a step back, but Breach and our partners in the Fossil Free Eugene coalition are not backing down. We will continue to fight for the clean, zero-emissions future that our community deserves.