SALEM, Ore. (Sept. 22, 2022) – NFIB filed an opening brief as a petitioner-intervenor in a case against the Environmental Quality Commission (EQC) at the Oregon Court of Appeals. The case concerns the establishment of the Climate Protection Program (CPP), developed by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and adopted by the EQC. NFIB argues that it is not within the authority of the executive branch, and by extension, the EQC, to enact statewide cap-and-trade programs like the CPP, without an express delegation of authority by the Legislature.

“The CPP rules will decrease the competitiveness of small businesses relative to companies operating in localities without similar regulations and pricing,” said Anthony K. Smith, NFIB Oregon State Director. “On behalf of Oregon’s small businesses, NFIB urges the Court of Appeals to declare the CPP Rules invalid.”

“The current CPP Rules will decrease fuel availability and increase costs for small businesses and their families,” said Beth Milito, Executive Director of NFIB’s Small Business Legal Center. “These regulations are a great concern to small business owners, who already report energy costs as a large expense to their businesses.”

NFIB’s brief makes four main points: 1) the EQC adopted the CPP Rules without providing the required notice under Oregon law; 2) the CPP Rules apply to emissions sources that the Legislature specifically excluded, such as those generated by agriculture, barbecues, and residential heating equipment; 3) the CPP Rules include emissions that are outside of the EQC’s authority to regulate; and 4) the CPP Rules exceed EQC’s statutory authority by imposing compliance obligations on businesses and suppliers that are not air contamination sources, nor “sources” of their customers’ emissions.

NFIB filed this brief challenging the CPP as part of a business coalition including the Oregon Farm Bureau Federation, Oregon Business & Industry Association, Oregon Manufacturers and Commerce, Alliance of Western Energy Consumers, Associated Oregon Loggers, Inc., Northwest Pulp and Paper Association, Oregon Association of Nurseries, Oregon Forest and Industries Council, Oregon Trucking Associations, Inc., Western Wood Preservers Institute, Otley Land and Cattle, LLC, and Space Age Fuel, Inc.

The NFIB Small Business Legal Center protects the rights of small business owners in the nation’s courts. NFIB is currently active in more than 40 cases in federal and state courts across the country and in the U.S. Supreme Court.