City Committee Advances Electrification Policy Recommendations

Earlier this week the City’s Environment and Climate Committee advanced the first round of recommendations for electrification policies and programs. The recommendations for City Council consideration are the culmination of months of policy analysis and stakeholder meetings and seek to fulfill the Council goal of sustainable development through natural gas regulation.  

The recommendations are broad sweeping and aim to regulate natural gas infrastructure in new residential and commercial buildings, implement fees to generate revenue for incentive programs and provide education to the development community. To read the committee’s recommendations please visit the Committee website.  

The Bend Chamber staff has been engaged and following the ECC’s work on electrification throughout the summer and early fall. We have sought input from business members and regional chamber partners and participated in stakeholder meetings conducted as part of the consultant team’s policy analysis.  

Understanding that we have a wide swath of members from varied industry sectors, and the Chamber strives to be a moderate voice in a complex policy environment. We understand the urgency of addressing climate change and the devastating impact it has on our community, our businesses, and our economy. As such we advocated for three key recommendations: 

Focus on Education and Outreach: Impactful change is challenging to achieve without education and buy-in from the community. We recommend initiatives which focus on voluntary programs, education, and incentives; and partnership with gas and electric utilities to design a smooth and sustainable transition. 

Legal Feasibility: The City’s legal team has provided a thoughtful analysis of legal feasibility of various policy options based on other municipalities’ experiences and the current legal environment. We are concerned that several of the ECC’s recommendations are contrary to legal counsel and the consultant team’s recommendations. We urge careful assessment of  legal risk to manage expectations of the community and be wise stewards of city resources.  

Process and Capacity: Many of the policy options under consideration are complex and novel, which necessitates a thoughtful and pragmatic approach. We recommend that a representative from the Bend Economic Development Advisory Board (BEDAB) and other relevant city advisory committees be included in ongoing assessment as there will be impacts on the city’s economic development strategy and growth plan. We are concerned about policies that would add cost, time and additional burdens to housing development and put the city in the crosshairs of their state mandated housing production goals from the Oregon Housing Needs Analysis.  

While we are disappointed in the current recommendations from the ECC, the Chamber will continue to advocate for a thoughtful balance between environmental sustainability and economic health.