Oregon Public Broadcasting

Oregon’s new Energy Planning Council met for the first time Thursday. As Kristian Foden-Vencil reports, its goal is to help the state cut CO2 emissions to levels last seen 20 years ago.

Over the next 40 years, Oregon wants to reduce greenhouse gas levels by about 60 percent.

It’s a tall order. But the new Energy Planning Council hopes to do it by conserving more, and producing new clean power with wind turbines, wave farms and other renewable sources.

Governor Ted Kulongoski was at the first meeting to outline the task.

Ted Kulongoski: “We know where we’re at today, and we know where we’d like to be by 2050. How do we get from today to that position in 2050? And what are the choices we have to make. I want this group to be about that supply issue, to be about the choices the citizens have to make.”

The new group has until the end of next year to come up with a list of recommendation for short, middle and long-range energy strategies.