Feds give Oregon, Nez Perce $200 million to cut greenhouse gases

The Nez Perce Tribe will get millions to grow their solar energy company Nimiipuu Energy, which they hope could one day help replace the power currently generated by four lower Snake River dams. (Sirisak Boakaew/Getty Images)

The federal government is awarding more than $200 million to Oregon and the Nez Perce Tribe to cut greenhouse gases by developing renewable energy and other climate-friendly initiatives. 

On Monday, leaders at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said they had selected the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and the Nez Perce – with ancestral lands in northeast Oregon, north central Idaho and southeastern Washington – as two of 25 recipients of competitive Climate Pollution Reduction grants. 

In Oregon, state leaders hope to use the money to meet targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions 45% by 2030 and 80% by 2050. DEQ and the Nez Perce are expected to collectively cut more than 1.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide by 2030 with the projects they’ve proposed and more than 6.6 million metric tons by 2050, the emissions’ equivalent of taking 50,000 cars off the road each year by 2030 and 63,000 cars off the road each year by 2050.

At a news conference Monday, Gov. Tina Kotek said the money would “change the game” in Oregon in meeting the state’s climate goals.

“All these tools, resources and strategies will help fund resilient communities and accelerate the clean energy transition, modernize the energy grid, help lower energy bills for low income Oregonians,” she said.

She was joined by EPA’s Northwest region administrator, Casey Sixkiller, and DEQ Director Leah Feldon to celebrate the grants at The Lawrence Apartments, a 96-unit affordable housing development in east Portland that has invested in weatherizing and energy efficiency. 

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality will receive nearly $200 million to target cuts to greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, buildings, food waste and landfills. The Nez Perce will receive more than $37 million to invest in building energy efficiency, replacing outdated wood stoves in members’ homes and growing the tribe’s new energy company and solar energy workforce, which is meant to hasten the replacement of power currently generated by the four lower Snake River dams. 

The grants drew more than 300 applicants nationwide and totaled $4.3 billion. The state of Oregon received the largest grant in the Northwest, and the Nez Perce is the only tribe selected, though the EPA is expected to announce more than $300 million in Climate Pollution Reduction grants for tribes by the end of the summer. 

Nez Perce Chairman Shannon Wheeler called it a crucial step towards securing a sustainable future and safeguarding tribal sovereignty.

“These initiatives will enhance our community resilience, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create high-quality jobs in our homelands,” he said in a statement.

The Biden administration has targeted a 50% reduction in emissions from the U.S. by 2030. The EPA expects the 25 projects to reduce climate warming carbon dioxide emissions by about 148 million metric tons by 2030 – equivalent to taking about 6.4 million cars off the road each year for the next five years and to cut 25 years’ worth of emissions from 5 million American homes by 2050, according to the EPA.

Nez Perce grant

The Nez Perce grant will go toward projects on its 770,000 acre reservation and tribal lands along the Oregon-Idaho-Washington border. They include energy efficiency and weatherization audits and upgrades – including to protect residents from wildfire smoke and other extreme weather damage – in 650 homes and the replacement of 350 polluting wood stoves with more efficient models.

The money will also allow the tribe to install solar panels on government and commercial buildings and to invest in growing the capacity and workforce of its Nimiipuu Energy company, established in 2022. The tribe is working on training programs to increase its solar energy workforce from 30 to 150 people by 2025.

The goal of Nimiipuu, meaning “The People,” the name The Nez Perce call themselves, is to develop solar energy facilities and a consortium of tribal solar energy companies to replace the energy currently generated by the four lower Snake River dams. 

Members of the tribe and environmentalists have long pushed for their removal to save salmon and other species from extinction, and a recent deal with the Biden administration has given them hope that will happen despite Republican resistance in Congress, which would have to approve the dam removal.

Oregon DEQ grant

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s grant will replenish its rebate programs for light and heavy duty electric vehicle purchases, which were paused twice in the last year because of lack of funds, and pay to install heat pumps and improve energy efficiency in new affordable housing units. Greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, and from energy produced by residential and commercial buildings are responsible for 70% of Oregon’s overall emissions. 

The EPA grant will help fund 12,000 electric heat pumps to be installed in affordable housing and community buildings by 2029 and to improve energy efficiency in up to 10,000 new affordable rental units that are slated to be built over the next five years. 

The agency also plans to invest in initiatives to divert food waste that would have gone into polluting landfills and use it to generate energy. In 2015, the state Legislature set the goal of diverting 25% of food that would otherwise contribute to emissions, for example, by going to landfills to instead be used for use as compost to enrich soil for farming and gardening or otherwise used to create biofuels from food waste.

Oregon is far from meeting that goal: A DEQ survey found that in 2020 just about 10% of Oregon’s food waste had been diverted.

The new EPA funding will help the state offer grants to companies building infrastructure associated with composting and digesters that capture carbon dioxide and polluting methane. DEQ estimates investing in redirecting food waste from landfills alone could save up to 1.4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere by 2050, the equivalent of the annual emissions of 350,000 passenger vehicles.