Merkley promotes locally inspired energy-efficiency plan

Financing for some home energy improvements could be part of new federal stimulus funding

By Steve Law

Pamplin Media Group, Jan 14, 2010, Updated Jan 14, 2010 (6 Reader comments)

Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley said Monday that he hoped an Oregon-inspired way to pay for home energy improvements would be part of a new federal stimulus bill. Merkley, a Democrat, just completed his first year in the U.S. Senate.

L.E. BASKOW / Portland Tribune

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An energy efficiency plan inspired by a Portland lawmaker and the city of Portland’s new Clean Energy Works program could go national in a second-round economic stimulus bill being fashioned in the Senate.

U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, Oregon’s Democratic junior senator, in a Monday afternoon appearance before the Portland Tribune editorial board, said “it’s very likely” that the Oregon model for financing home energy-efficiency improvements will make it into the bill.

Merkley proposed the idea based on a law enacted by the 2009 Legislature and pushed by state Rep. Jules Bailey, D-Portland. The city of Portland became the first local government to experiment with the idea with its Clean Energy Works program.

The idea is to enable people to get low-cost loans to make home energy-saving projects, and pay back the money on their monthly utility bills. If payments are structured as envisioned, the savings on energy bills could equal the monthly loan repayments, so there is no additional monthly cost, or minimal cost, to the homeowner.

The program is designed to help people use less energy, finance improvements with no out-of-pocket costs and create “green jobs” in home energy retrofits.

The Obama administration prefers to use federal grants to pay for the improvements, Merkley said, but he’s pushing for low-cost revolving loans, so that federal funds could be used as a long-term source to pay for the home improvements.

Battling a ‘supermajority’ system

Merkley, who just finished his first year in the Senate, said he spoke with one of his mentors, former Republican Sen. Mark Hatfield, this week about the declining civility and increased partisanship of the Senate.

Some of it is due to a change in senators’ schedules, Merkley said. They typically are in session from Monday afternoon through Friday morning, working in Senate sessions late into the night, then spending long weekends in their districts. That leaves little time to socialize with each other and build personal ties that once were common, Merkley said.

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