The power grid has one job: Keep the lights on.
Oregonians need electricity that is affordable, reliable, and available when they need it. Energy policy should be judged by whether it delivers.
Electricity powers nearly every part of modern life. Homes. Hospitals. Schools. Businesses. Transportation. Communications. Data centers. The systems Oregonians depend on every day cannot function without a reliable supply of power.
And demand is growing.
Yet Oregon is moving in the opposite direction. State leaders are pushing to electrify more of the economy while simultaneously restricting and eliminating many of the reliable sources needed to produce electricity.
Power plants close. New natural gas generation is restricted. Nuclear energy remains constrained. Dependable resources are replaced with increasing reliance on weather-dependent wind and solar power that cannot always produce electricity when demand is highest.
That is not an energy transition. It is a reliability gamble.
Cascade Policy Institute believes electricity policy should begin with reality. Every energy source has costs, benefits, and tradeoffs. No technology should be protected from scrutiny because it is politically favored, and no reliable resource should be eliminated simply because it is politically unpopular.
The test should be simple: Can it help deliver the electricity Oregonians need, when they need it, at a price they can afford?
What Cascade believes
- Reliability comes first. An electrical grid fails if it cannot deliver power when people need it. Energy policy must maintain enough dependable, dispatchable generation to meet demand at all times.
- Affordability matters. Rising electricity costs fall hardest on families and small businesses. The full cost of mandates, subsidies, transmission, storage, and backup power should be counted honestly.
- Every energy source should be judged by results. Wind, solar, hydro, natural gas, nuclear, and other resources should be evaluated by what they actually deliver, including reliability, cost, environmental impact, and availability when demand is highest.
- Natural gas remains essential. Reliable natural gas generation can provide power when weather-dependent resources cannot and should not be prohibited by political mandate.
- Oregon should make room for nuclear energy. Advanced nuclear technologies can provide reliable, emissions-free power. Oregon should remove outdated barriers that prevent new nuclear generation from being considered.
- Innovation should not require government permission. Energy policy should allow new technologies and better solutions to compete rather than locking Oregon into politically selected resources and predetermined outcomes.
What better policy looks like
Better energy policy starts by acknowledging that electricity must be available every hour of every day, not just when the weather cooperates.
It means maintaining enough reliable generation to keep the grid stable as electricity demand grows. It means allowing natural gas and nuclear power to compete alongside hydro, wind, solar, and emerging technologies. It means counting the full costs of every resource honestly and refusing to hide the expense of backup power, storage, transmission, or political mandates.
It also means rejecting the idea that government can dictate an energy outcome decades into the future while ignoring changes in technology, demand, cost, and reliability.
Oregonians should not have to choose between a cleaner future, affordable electricity, and a reliable grid. Good policy should pursue environmental progress without gambling with the systems that keep homes warm, businesses running, hospitals operating, and communities functioning.
Energy policy should not be measured by the promises politicians make. It should be measured by whether Oregonians can afford the bill and the lights come on when they flip the switch.
