By the EUGENE REGISTER GUARD
EUGENE — Eugene City Council voted unanimous to repeal its proposed ban on natural gas in new homes at a work session Monday night.
“I think it’s time to take a pause,” Councilor Emily Semple said. “We sparked something, and other cities are now doing this, so we can be proud of that even if this isn’t our moment to go forward.”
The council initially passed the ban Feb. 6 in a 5-3 vote.
Opponents the next month turned in a petition with 12,000 signatures, to put the ban up to a public vote. On April 19, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a similar ban passed by the city of Berkley. Both events led to the council repealing the proposal.
“I don’t remember a ballot measure that’s been certified as quickly and has gotten twice the number of [required] ballot signatures within that short a period of time,” said Councilor Mike Clark, who initially voted against the ban.
In the same work session, councilors passed two additional motions directing the city manager to explore other ways for the city to reduce emissions, one generally and one focused on new construction.
“It doesn’t have to look like a ban,” said, Councilor Lyndsie Leech, who had voted for the ban and introduced a motion to explore emission reduction strategies for new construction
“We can use more incentives. Use more collaboration with the community,” said Leech. “I really just wanted to bring this particular conversation back to the table because new construction is still going to be a big chunk of our fossil use in the future.”
Climate activists were disappointed by the repeal but blamed the court case, not the council.
“City councilors, thank you for passing the ordinance to electrify,” Nancy Ahnert, an activist with 350, said at a public hearing following the work session. “I’m sorry the 9th Circuit Court ruling halted Eugene’s ordinance. That is a setback, but not a defeat. I’m confident that you will move forward soon with decarbonization.”
Councilor Jennifer Yeh, who voted for the ban in February said passing it was the “right thing to do” and a proper use of city regulations, but that there was more consensus among councilors on electrifying through fee reductions and other incentives than through regulation.
Yeh said she remembered learning about climate change in school. “It feels like now I’m the adult and we made so little progress.” She said she supported the gas ban because to her it felt like a small sacrifice. “If we can’t do that now. I don’t know when we’re going to do that.”
When houses are made “air tight” of course a flame will cause problems. So will using candles and other sources of flames. We need fresh air in our homes. Maybe someone can create an air-flow vent … or open a window rule.