OBBB and the Oregon Environment

Wheatridge Renewable Energy Facility is a combined wind/solar/battery power generation facility near Lexington, Morrow County, Oregon. It is owned by Portland General Electric and NextEra Energy.

On July 4, 2025, President Trump signed the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill into law.

JPR reports that passage of Trump's OBBB "will impact Oregon with fewer funds to fight climate change. Oregon had been promised nearly $200 million in federal funds to fight climate change through the Inflation Reduction Act, but the OBBB will eliminate much of the federal government’s involvement in climate change response.

It stops federal tax credits for people buying electric vehicles or making homes energy efficient, and it restricts programs that seek to limit carbon emissions from industry.

Tracking climate change could become more difficult; the bill claws back funding for greenhouse gas reporting programs.

Even the Inflation Reduction Act renewable projects that are already in the works could be penalized if not completed by 2027."

Oregon will see more logging, less timber money going to local communities, and less support for private forest owners. And renewable energy projects planned for federally owned lands could cost much more to develop and run.

OBBB calls for the U.S. Forest Service to boost logging by 75% over the next decade, and adds new fees for solar and wind projects on Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management land, and it introduces new taxes on the energy generated by those projects.

“It’s the most anti-environment and anti-climate bill in history,” ~ Lindsey Scholten, Oregon League of Conservation Voters

The New York Times gives a national perspective on How the G.O.P. Bill Will Reshape America’s Energy Landscape.

Meanwhile, the New York Times also reports that "In China, more wind turbines and solar panels were installed last year than in the rest of the world combined. And China’s clean energy boom is going global. Chinese companies are building electric vehicle and battery factories in Brazil, Thailand, Morocco, Hungary, and beyond."