SALEM — Oregon Gov. Kate Brown signed a sweeping executive order Tuesday aiming to significantly cut statewide greenhouse gas emissions.

Opponents say they’ll try to block Brown’s order in court, but not before trying to get an alternative carbon emissions measure on the ballot.

While her supporters say the order will slow climate change, opponents say it will hurt jobs and industries by raising costs while overextending the reach of government.

The governor issued the order after the Legislature adjourned the second year in a row without passing a cap-and-trade bill to similarly reduce emissions. Republicans walked out when Democrats blocked the bill from going to a statewide vote.

Now, Brown is taking matters into her own hands.

“Significant change doesn’t have to take the form of a single step,” Brown said at the signing ceremony. “It can happen when several actions add up, and that’s what I’m doing today.”

Angelita Sanchez, Timber Unity spokesperson, said the rural advocacy group has spoken to attorneys.

“We’re doing everything we can to push back,” she said, “and if need be, we’ll go to court.”

Sanchez said if the governor violates Oregon’s constitution, Timber Unity’s attorneys will be ready to file a case. Sanchez said Timber Unity intends to pay litigation costs with PAC donations.

“I’m not sure if our pockets are deep enough,” she said, “but hopefully we have friends who have deep pockets.”

Before going to court, Timber Unity hopes to take the fight to the ballot.

During the legislative session, it proposed an alternative plan it claimed would reduce carbon emissions without hurting businesses. That proposal — advocating for vegetation along highways, localized markets, reformed recycling infrastructure and support for environmentally-friendly business upgrades — was largely swept aside by the Legislature. But group members say they plan to turn their idea into a ballot measure.

Julie Parrish, Timber Unity board member and former legislator, said she believes the proposal will create jobs. Brown’s strategy for protecting jobs, said Parrish, “is all fluff and smoke and mirrors.”

Tuesday, Timber Unity prepared to file with the state to put the statutory initiative on the ballot. The next step is collecting signatures.

According to the Oregon Secretary of State’s website, a first round of 1,000 qualifying signatures is needed to initiate ballot titling. The titling process could take three to six months. Then, Timber Unity would have until July of 2022, the next state election cycle, to gather 112,020 final signatures.

“If the Legislature is not going to give voters a choice, then we’re going to give voters a choice,” she said.

But supporters of Brown’s order have been working on greenhouse gas reduction initiatives of their own for the 2020 ballot since cap-and-trade failed to pass last summer. Those measures are generally considered more severe than SB 1530, the failed cap-and-trade bill.

Brad Reed, spokesman for Renew Oregon, said that his group is considering whether to move forward with its ballot initiatives or withdraw them. He said that it will consider if the ballot initiatives overlap with the governor’s order and if they accomplish the same goals.

What the order will do

Under Brown’s order, carbon polluters in the industrial, transportation and natural gas sectors would have their emissions capped and reduced over time.

Stricter standards would also be placed on construction equipment and consumer appliances. Unlike SB 1530, the order would not create a market for trading carbon allowances. Instead, the state would issue permits polluters must purchase for their emissions. Permitting details are not yet outlined.

The order directs 16 state agencies and commissions to implement rules aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions 45% below 1990 levels by 2035 and 80% below 1990 levels by 2050.

Specifically, the order seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks 20% by 2030 and 25% by 2035.

It expands the rule-making authority of government agencies, such as the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. For example, DEQ could expand the state’s existing low-carbon fuel program.

“I expect it will take DEQ a couple years to come up with rules,” said Mazen Malik, senior economist at Oregon’s non-partisan Legislative Revenue Office. “They’ll put all the meat on this skeleton.”

The impact on fuel and other prices isn’t clear yet, said Malik, but higher prices would disproportionately impact the transportation and agricultural industries.

Oregon Farm Bureau predicts fuel and energy price increases will cause agricultural businesses and food processors to close or move out of state.

Hands tied

“This order hands over unprecedented levels of authority to unelected state bureaucrats,” Oregon Farm Bureau lobbyist Jenny Dresler said.

Malik, who has worked in government 25 years, said he can’t recall another executive order so vast in scale. Even so, he said, the governor’s power is more limited than it appears. In some respects, he said, Brown’s hands are tied.

First, the order doesn’t mean Brown gets to make a new law.

Instead, she has to find statutes she can modify with administrative rules. If the governor or her appointees create rules beyond the reasonable interpretation for existing legislation, they could get into legal trouble.

The order runs into other constitutional blockades.

For example, it pushes the Oregon Department of Transportation to use transportation funds for electric vehicle infrastructure. In theory, this might mean ODOT could build electric car charging stations on roads and at rest stops.

But in practice, Malik said, this would be unconstitutional. Highway fund revenues are constitutionally dedicated exclusively to the construction and maintenance of highways, and building charging stations would be “an illegitimate use of the highway fund,” he said.

“The order’s language is still vague, so I’m not sure how the governor plans to get around these obstacles,” said Malik.

Without funding, the order would have no teeth.

According to Malik, Oregon’s constitution prohibits executive orders from raising government revenue. Brown’s order, therefore, had “no funding mechanism,” said Malik, and needed external funding.

That’s where the Legislative Emergency Board stepped in. Monday, the 20-member board, on which seven Republicans serve, voted to allocate $5 million to DEQ to implement emissions rules.

The Oregon Capital Bureau contributed to this report.