Gov. Ted Kulongoski spent last week traveling through Europe and Israel shaking hands with renewable energy business leaders and handing out verbal invitations for companies to build in Oregon.
At a glance
| Gov. Ted Kulongoski traveled to European Union nations and Israel to promote Oregon as a leader in sustainable energy and invite international “green” companies to come do business with Oregon. His trip focused on: ? Sustainable transportation through an electric car program in Israel. ? Renewable energy through the global leader of solar power Solel Solar Systems and the world leader in geothermal development ORMAT Technologies. ? Water conservation with Israeli planners who are dealing with water shortage issues. ?Clean technology workforces that would bring sustainable businesses to Oregon and help the existing companies become more sustainable. |
The hook for these businesses: Joining the state’s goal of becoming a worldwide leader in the clean technology workforce, and the more practical reason – the huge tax breaks the state offers to “green” businesses.
“The overall goal of the trip was to highlight and promote Oregon as a leader in sustainable energy, and to open more doors for Oregon to let folks know that we want to do business with them,” said Rem Nivens, the governor’s spokesman who accompanied him on the trip.
Kulongoski traveled to Amsterdam, the Netherlands on Northwest Airlines’ first non-stop flight from Oregon to Europe. He started off his tour by meeting with APM Terminals executives in Amsterdam to discuss a container terminal project in Coos Bay and then went to Brussels, Belgium to meet with European Union officials to discuss carbon “cap and trade.”
The cap and trade program puts a limit on a business’ greenhouse gas levels and allows other companies that cannot reach the mandated levels in time to buy credits that would give them extra time to make the necessary adjustments.
“This meeting was a good opportunity to learn first-hand the successes and challenges of the EU cap and trade program,” Kulongoski said about the Brussels meeting in a news release. “These lessons learned will help us as we shape a better program for Oregon that works for industry and the citizens of our state.”
The cap and trade program that Oregon has subscribed to is part of a larger plan that includes seven western U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. Oregon’s own greenhouse gas reduction goal is to reduce emissions to 10 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.
Kulongoski then traveled to Israel to meet with representatives from Intel, the geothermal company ORMAT Technologies and the solar power giant Solel Solar Systems.
“Oregon is home to Intel’s largest production facility in the world, which is the backbone of Oregon’s renowned ‘silicon forest’ semiconductor industry,” Kulongoski said. “I want the state to do everything it can to keep Oregon on the cutting edge of silicon technology, which is such a driving force of Oregon’s economy.”
Oregon is becoming the nation’s leader in making photovoltaic cells, which are used to make solar panels, Nivens said.
The governor was trying to recruit Solel, the world’s largest solar thermal company, to come to Oregon. He also approached ORMAT Technologies, the global leader in geothermal power equipment and development.
Kulongoski also spent time in Israel discussing the nation’s efforts to develop a nationwide electric car network that would reduce the dependency on foreign oil and reduce the emissions from vehicles – the number one contributor to global warming.
Nivens said the governor is very interested in using electric vehicles in Oregon as a workable solution to reducing the state’s greenhouse gas emissions.
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