Press Release
For Immediate Release
Date: Thursday, November 20, 2025
Governor Kotek’s Latest Executive Order on Greenhouse Gas Emissions Pushes More Unaffordability onto Working Families
SALEM, Ore. – Today, Senator David Brock Smith (R-Port Orford), vice chair of the Senate Committee on Energy & Environment, rebuked Governor Kotek’s EO that will increase costs for Oregon families while putting more of them at risk during inclement weather.
“The Oregon Energy Strategy rolled out this week from ODOE is incomplete, and Governor Kotek’s EO 25-29 is not only authoritarian, but it will also drive up costs for every Oregonian across the state while doing nothing to impact global greenhouse gas emissions,” said Senator Brock Smith.
A recent report by the nonpartisan public policy nonprofit Discovery Institute calculated the costs of Oregon and Washington’s ambitious GHG reduction goals at $1 trillion. You can view their in-depth presentation HERE.
Oregon produces less than 0.14% of greenhouse gas emissions on the global scale, according to data from the Oregon Global Warming Commission. The Director of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality was asked during the Joint Committee on Carbon Reduction: What impact would be had if Oregon were to have zero GHG emissions? His response: “Senator Brock Smith, you are correct that Oregon's portion of global carbon emissions is, I'll use the word minuscule.” When Dr. Philip Mote, Director of Oregon Climate Services and the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute, was asked, he responded the impact would be “imperceptible.”
“As Governor Kotek and her Democrat supermajority continue to make the cost of energy in Oregon more expensive, they are also putting more families at risk during severe weather events,” said Senator Brock Smith. “The Governor’s EO 25-29 and EO creating the Climate Protection Program, the recent Oregon Energy Strategy, and her Democrat supermajority’s legislative policies attack reliable and affordable clean energy like natural gas, which is critically important for generating electricity to balance load. This is especially true during severe weather events. During severe heat events, natural gas is needed to produce more electricity to cool homes, businesses, and shelter centers. During severe cold weather, natural gas is desperately needed to not only heat these same homes, businesses, and warming shelters with reliable gas furnaces, but it is also necessary to produce electricity to handle increased electrical load for those without natural gas.”
“Additionally, forcing the electrification of all energy through ever increasing costs on reliable natural gas, puts the health, life, and safety of Oregonians at risk. During the last ice storm, tens of thousands of Oregon families were without power for days, if not weeks, due to downed power lines. This may be why Governor Kotek is having natural gas upgrades installed at her residence, Mahonia Hall. The media reported today that Lane Transit District invested $30 million in electric buses 6 years ago, and is already phasing them out due to battery problems, unreliability, and costs.”
“If the Governor and her Democrat supermajority are truly interested in reducing GHG emissions, they would stop coddling their environmental for-profit nonprofit special interests and join together in sustainably managing our greatest carbon sequestration asset—and, due to lack of management, the greatest emitter—our forests. Oregonians produce a little over 60 MMT of anthropogenic emissions annually, while our natural and working lands sequester more than we emit. Oregon forests and their products alone sequester more than half of the total emissions produced by Oregonians. Adding other natural and working lands, such as wheat, nursery, and grass seed, that sequestration could be greater than what is produced. We have the knowledge and expertise to manage our forest resources sustainably, mitigating wildfire, creating needed wood products and jobs, growing our rural economies, while reducing the costs for the backbone supplies needed for housing. These actions alone would not only reduce GHG emissions more effectively than the Governor’s costly EO, but they would also bring down costs and grow Oregon’s economy across all sectors, rather than perpetuate the continued decline under her and her Democrat supermajority’s leadership,” concluded Senator Brock Smith.
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Senator David Brock Smith represents Senate District 1, which includes Curry, Coos and Douglas Counties, Southwest Oregon’s Fish, Farm & Forestry District. This press release and an archive of previous press releases issued by Senator David Brock Smith’s office are available on the web at: www.oregonlegislature.gov/smithd
Yours Truly,
 Senator David Brock Smith
Together, We Will Build a Better Oregon
 Senate District 1
Curry, Coos, and Douglas Counties
Southwest Oregon’s Fish, Farm, and Forestry District.
Capitol Phone: 503-986-1701
Capitol Address: 900 Court St. NE, S-316, Salem, Oregon 97301
Email: Sen.DavidBrockSmith@oregonlegislature.gov
Website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/smithd
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