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The city of Eugene has banned natural gas infrastructure in new low-rise residential construction.

A special meeting was held Monday to decide if the issue should be sent to citizens for a vote. The council discussed whether to put the issue on the May 16 ballot, but that motion did not pass. A motion was then made to move forward with the proposed ordinance, which was approved by the council.

The city council held public hearings in November and December 2022 on the proposal to prohibit fossil fuel infrastructure in new low-rise residential buildings. Those include single-family dwellings, duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, cottage clusters, multifamily buildings, and any other residential structures three stories or shorter. However, a mixed-occupancy building featuring commercial use is not included.

According to the ordinance, the city will deny an application for a permit or suspend an issued permit that does not comply with the mandate. The ordinance will apply to building permit applications submitted on or after June 30.

As for the Portland-metro area, Multnomah County in 2021 passed a resolution that prohibits the use of fossil fuels in new and remodeled county buildings. The city of Milwaukie this past December passed one resolution to electrify city-owned buildings and another to electrify new buildings.

Last year, Portland City Council approved the Climate Emergency Workplan, which outlines 43 priority actions the city must take in the next three years to meet 2030 and 2050 carbon emission reduction goals. With these priority actions, the Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability is not currently pursuing legislation to ban natural-gas hookups in new construction, Public Information Manager Magan Reed stated in an email. The bureau’s near-term capacity is focused on decarbonizing existing buildings.

鈥淲e recognize that the list of actions any organization could take to meet carbon emission reduction goals is nearly unending,聽but the capacity to address every single聽aspect of climate action at one time聽simply doesn’t exist,鈥� Reed stated. 鈥淲ith extensive community engagement and scientific research, the 43 priorities listed in the Climate Emergency Workplan is where聽the vast majority of聽resources and efforts will be focused at least for the next three years. As we look to the next iteration of a formal Climate Action Plan for the city, continued community feedback聽will be essential in the decision-making process.鈥�