Governor John Kitzhaber stood up to Big Oil today, while standing with business, legislative and labor leaders in Salem to announce two actions on Oregon’s Clean Fuels Program.

In mid-January, during the State of Oregon’s “Legislative Days”, three business leaders in Oregon testified to the effects of climate change their industries are facing right now.

A quiet milestone has been reached in the evolution of solar and other clean energy solutions brewing along Oregon's South Coast, one built on concerted community effort in hand with public, private and nonprofit collaboration.

Specifically for the 2014 short session, there was a collective agreement that lifting the 2015 sunset on the Clean Fuels Standard is a key priority, as is protecting the Renewable Portfolio Standard.

Both California and Washington are making strong progress toward establishing a clean fuel standard.

When the opportunity recently arose to set a long-term community climate action goal, Beaverton sustainability officials wanted to do their homework. So they called the New Energy Cities team to help them figure out what it would take to make deep cuts in climate pollution community-wide.

This year is closing with a flurry of activity throughout the Northwest and 2014 is shaping up to be a critical year on the path to make the clean energy future a present reality in our region.

Fossil fuel companies are trotting out another round of warmed over allegations that climate policy, in particular a clean fuels standard, is unworkable and will crash the economy. They’re running up against a difficult opponent: reality.