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MEDIA ADVISORY
for immediate release
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
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MEDIA CONTACTS:
Roy Kaufmann (Mayor Adams)
503-823-4799
Courtney Warner Crowell
(Governor Kulongoski)
503-378-3554
Julia Thompson (City of Portland) 503-823-0229
Diana Enright
(Oregon Department of Energy)
503-378-8278
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Governor Kulongoski and Mayor Adams announce grant application for retrofit program
Recovery Act grant application includes $75 million for programs throughout the state
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Portland, Ore. -- Governor Ted Kulongoski and Portland Mayor Sam Adams today announced the grant application for $75 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) funds for residential and commercial energy retrofits across the state. If Oregon is successful in the national competitive grant process, the state will be poised to help retrofit thousands of homes and buildings putting people across the state to work.
The grant opportunity comes from the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) program with funding from the Recovery Act. The competitive grant program allows entities across the nation the opportunity to compete for major federal dollars to produce large scale neighborhood energy efficiency.
"This grant application is exactly the kind of public-private partnership that was envisioned when the Recovery Act was first enacted," said Governor Kulongoski "By bringing partners across the state together and building off of our established strengths we have the opportunity to showcase to the nation how an energy efficient community can look. I want to thank the City of Portland and Mayor Adams for their leadership in making this grant opportunity a reality."
The centerpiece of the proposal is a Clean Energy Works Oregon program that would result in energy retrofitting a significant number of homes and commercial buildings across the state. Building owners and tenants will have the opportunity to pay back energy efficiency loans on their utility bills or property tax bills.
"The City of Portland and our partners are proud of the innovative, sustainability-driven work we've done so far with Clean Energy Works," said Mayor Adams. "We're very pleased to collaborate with Governor Kulongoski to bring the energy efficiency industry up to scale statewide."
The City of Portland collaborated with the Oregon Department of Energy, Energy Trust of Oregon, NW Natural, Pacific Power, Portland General Electric and others to build off the successful Clean Energy Works Portland model and integrate with the Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Technology Act (HB 2626), passed by the Oregon Legislature in 2009.
Clean Energy Works Oregon is supported by a financial strategy that leverages federal funding by attracting significant private capital to Oregon. The proposal highlights training, workforce development, business support and contracting standards to ensure economic opportunity for low-income residents and historically underserved populations.
If fully funded, the proposal is expected to result in the following benefits over the next six years:
· Create and retain approximately 11,000 career-pathway jobs;
· Retrofit 76,000 homes and small businesses and over 1,100 commercial buildings, representing nearly 42 million square feet of commercial space;
· Catalyze over $1 billion of economic activity in the state of Oregon;
· Save 3.6 million MBTUs annually for measure-life savings of 67 million MBTUs; and
· Reduce carbon dioxide emissions by an average of 32,000 metric tons annually for measure-life reductions of 7.1 million metric tons.
Multiple jurisdictions across the state joined in the proposal, including Hood River, Astoria, Eugene, the Southern Central Oregon Economic Development Department, Gresham, Hillsboro, Lake Oswego, Clackamas County, Multnomah County, Washington County, Beaverton and Metro.
Others supporting the proposal include the entire Congressional delegation, 19 legislators, labor unions, foundations and community-based organizations.
Announcements of grant awards will take place in early spring 2010.
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