While creating a power supply portfolio involves consideration of many factors, providing affordable, reliable and environmentally responsible electricity is the balancing act demanded of all utilities.

Unfortunately, out-of-balance energy policies in Washington and Oregon are on the verge of sacrificing affordability and reliability on the altar of fractional carbon dioxide reductions, with little regard for the ecological sacrifices required by land and mineral-intensive wind and solar farms.

While some may believe there is no price too high to pay to “save the planet,” the fact that Washington and Oregon electricity sector CO2 emissions only represent 0.6% and 0.5% of the U.S. annual inventory is never mentioned by climate catastrophizing state politicians and bureaucrats who falsely promote a utopian low-cost energy future built on a foundation of part-time and unreliable wind and solar power.

Additionally, when you hear rapid electrification of transportation and industry is critical to our planetary rescue mission, keep the following in mind. Washington and Oregon total energy-related CO2 emissions have recently averaged 77 and 39 million metric tons (MMT), which combined represents 2% of the 5,000 MMT of U.S. emissions.

And while U.S. annual emissions have decreased more than 1,000 MMT since 2007, driven mostly by fuel switching from coal to natural gas in the electricity sector, China’s emissions have increased by more than 4,000 MMT to over 11,000 MMT.

Here’s my point. When it comes to CO2, what the rest of the country and world is doing matters and says something about the rate and extent of reductions an individual state should aim for. Particularly if forcing a CO2 emissions nosedive risks going over a power grid reliability and cost cliff.

So, based on the numbers, doesn’t it seem reasonable states with nation-leading low-emissions electricity could lighten up on the 100% carbon-free mantra and take a more rational and measured approach?

There is an alternative, but we must stop shaming utilities and citizens into silence based on panicked rhetoric coming from climate catastrophists and CO2 is “poison” dogma.

A balanced approach

Natural gas can and should be a part of a balanced approach to a rational energy transition that helps keep Northwest electricity prices low, grid reliability high, and embraces nuclear power as the ultimate common ground we can all live and prosper with in the long term.

Unfortunately, it appears no amount of math or lived experience will quiet the breathless calls from Olympia and Salem to virtually eliminate CO2 from every sector of state economies, whatever the costs to citizens and ecosystems.

Take for example the experience of five Northwest electric utilities who declared emergencies during a five-day period of deeply cold weather this past January. The only thing that prevented blackouts was imported electricity provided by natural gas, coal and nuclear power plants located in the desert Southwest and western Rockies.

To put things in perspective, the U.S. Northwest averaged more than 5,200 megawatts of imported electricity across all 120 hours of the cold snap, which is equivalent to the output of nearly five Columbia Generating Station nuclear plants.

In the aftermath of the close call, electric and natural gas utilities warned that energy innovation timelines do not match compliance dates for clean energy policies and that both the electric grid and natural gas pipeline systems in the Northwest are at immediate risk, with no margin for the unexpected.

Keep in mind, Washington and Oregon have just begun implementing carbon-free electricity policies which so far have resulted in the shutdown of over 2,000 megawatts of the Northwest’s small but important inventory of coal-fired generating capacity.

Next up is Centralia Unit #2 which will be shuttered in 2025, removing 730 megawatts of dependable generating capacity from Washington’s Interstate 5 corridor where the highest demand for electricity occurs.

With credible forecasts suggesting electricity demand in the Northwest could grow by as much as 30% over the next decade, it just doesn’t make common sense we can replace coal while also growing firm electric-service needs by 10,000 megawatts in 10 years without the help of new natural gas generation and investments in more pipeline capacity.

Additionally, Northwest citizens should be concerned with leaning more on highly variable hydropower when Washington, Oregon and federal government officials continue to coordinate with dam-breaching interests to further constrain and even eliminate significant generating capacity.

Variable and intermittent wind and solar must be backed up, and in many cases for several days. So, if it’s not hydro or natural gas, then what? How many four-hour discharge limited lithium-ion batteries do you think it will take to get through the next multiday polar vortex excursion?

Dependable technologies

It seems to me a reasonable argument can be made that a modernized, more resilient, and environmentally responsible grid should be based on dependable technologies with small physical footprints that also are scalable and can be constructed as close to the point of electricity use as possible.

Natural gas provides 43% of U.S. electricity and has replaced coal as the dominant fuel for good reasons; it’s abundant, affordable, reliable and much cleaner. And if you think wind and solar are driving a rapid “energy transition,” think again. Based on 2023 data, energy-dilute wind and solar combined to supply only 2.6% of total U.S. energy consumed, with fossil fuels at 83%.

Courtesy Benton PUD

How about instead of Washington and Oregon rolling the dice on uncertain development of weather-dependent and intrusive wind and solar farms built exclusively east of “the mountains” and in other states, we get realistic and consider building dependable and local generation plants.

We can start with natural gas technology which emits CO2 at a rate 60% lower than coal. This would bend the emissions curve while setting the stage for our kids and grandkids to replace gas plants with next generation, scalable and rapidly deployable modular nuclear power. The kind of nuclear power being developed by Energy Northwest featuring X-energy’s meltdown-proof, walkaway-safe and small-footprint technology, requiring no safety setback beyond the fence-line of the generation complex.

A natural gas-to-nuclear (N2N) energy vision is something we should be talking about. And it can’t be soon enough.

Rick Dunn is Benton PUD’s general manager.