The way news cycles and the legislative process work, you typically don't get a sense of major accomplishment just from paying attention to daily coverage of the progress of particular bills. It's really only after all is said and done that you can look at the whole picture and fully appreciate the body of work that has been written into law.

This is certainly the case with the accomplishments of the recently concluded Oregon legislative session. Thanks to Jesse Jenkins and It's Getting Hot In Here, we can look back on what Jesse calls a "landmark year for clean energy and the environment."

The 2006 Elections saw Democrats strengthen their majority in the Senate and squeak out a one vote majority in the House while Oregonians re-elected Governor Ted Kulongoski who made clean energy a top priority of his second term. The Governor and the Legislature certainly delivered this year, passing a slough of bills this session promoting renewable energy generation, renewable transportation fuels, increased energy efficiency and even took an initial step towards addressing climate change.

Here’s an abbreviated version of Jesse's recap of the flurry of activity in Salem this session:

Perhaps the most high profile, and arguably the most important, piece of clean energy legislation to pass this session was the 25% by 2025 Renewable Energy Standard legislation, the Oregon Renewable Energy Act.

Succeeding where it failed last session, the Oregon Legislature also passed a bill promoting the use of renewable biofuels in the transportation sector. The biofuels bill, HB 2210, includes a package of tax incentives promoting the production of biofuels and feedstocks in Oregon.

The Legislature also expanded two popular and successful tax incentives supporting renewable energy and energy efficiency investments. Eventually rolled into an omnibus tax package, HB 3201 , expansions of Oregon’s Business Energy Tax Credit and Residential Energy Tax Credit passed with unanimous support in the House early in the session and finally passed the Senate in the final days of the session.

Rounding out a series of measures that ought to secure Oregon’s position as a leading pro-solar state, HB 2620 also passed this session and provides that public improvement contracts for construction or major renovations of public buildings appropriate at least 1.5 percent of the total contract price to pay for the installation of solar energy technology, including solar electric, solar water heating and solar space heating systems.

A bill establishing minimum efficiency standards for a number of additional home and commercial appliances not previously covered by efficiency standards passed the Legislature this session as well. While not including as many appliances as originally hoped, SB 375 will help Oregonians save energy, reducing our energy costs and environmental impacts.

Last but definitely not least, the 2007 Legislature passed it’s first piece of legislation specifically addressing global warming in Oregon!

The Global Warming Integration Act codifies greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals (10% below 1990 levels by 2020 and 75% below 1990 levels by 2020) and creates the Oregon Global Warming Commission which will coordinate local and state efforts to halt growth of greenhouse gas emissions. It will also fund a new Oregon Climate Change Research Institute within the Oregon University System.

Of course, my cut-and-paste doesn't do justice to Jesse's original post, which is well worth reading in its entirety. It does, however, reinforce the point of view that a thorough look back is well worth taking.

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