Draft Sixth Power Plan Comment

I support the recent draft power and conservation plan which outlines a comprehensive vision for the next 20 years and I support the council's vision for meeting our region’s rising electricity demand with efficiency standards and new clean energy - all without building new fossil-fueled power plants or increasing emissions. However, I believe that the plan needs to go further. This vision cannot become a reality without addressing our region's ties to coal powered energy, which only produces 23 percent of the region’s electricity but emits 87 percent of the region’s pollution. The draft plan does not directly address the region’s coal use and avoids the issue by neither advocating for cap-and-trade policies or CO2 reduction targets that are already on the books in Oregon, Washington and Idaho. Oregon law calls for a 75-percent cut in 1990’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, a figure the council has determined will only be reached with a virtual elimination of coal from the power system. I understand the council cannot order the closure of any coal plants, but you can more aggressively plan for a future where we are no longer dependent on coal power. A change that would have relatively minor rate impacts, according to your own own analysis.