SALEM — A proposed phase-out of petroleum diesel has again stalled in the Oregon Legislature as lawmakers have instead opted to examine the idea’s feasibility.

The prohibition against petroleum diesel sales would have begun in the Portland metropolitan area in 2026, expanded to Western Oregon in 2028 and applied statewide in 2030 under Senate Bill 803.

The bill would have required motor vehicles to use renewable diesel — a cleaner-burning fuel made from oils and fats— if supplies and prices were determined to be adequate.

Uncertainties about the practicality of this approach dissuaded the Senate Energy and Environment Committee from pulling the trigger on the phase-out, though members also worried about the consequences of inaction.

“I do not want Oregon to lose out on its fair share of renewable diesel to our neighbors California and Washington,” said Sen. Kate Lieber, D-Beaverton. “I think the only way to do that is to figure out how to grab as much supply as possible.”

Similar legislation to prohibit petroleum diesel failed in 2021 and 2022, though last year’s bill gained bipartisan traction when the Joint Transportation Committee voted unanimously to create a task force to research the concept.

At the time, Sen. Lynn Findley, R-Vale, suggested the compromise warranted singing “Kumbaya” around a campfire, but financial constraints ultimately derailed the amended bill.

Findley said he still believes a task force is the right approach and lamented the $500,000 price tag was enough to sink the bill, considering the enormous implications of such a fuel change.

“These are hundred-million dollar decisions that we’re making,” he said. “This affects the economy of every corner of this state.”

Lieber said she’d also “love to have a task force,” but wants to avoid adding a pricy bill to the Joint Ways and Means Committee’s budget-setting agenda that’s unlikely to pass muster.

“My concern is in a really tough budget year that we are just putting that on there for something to die,” she said.

Instead, Lieber proposed an amendment requiring the state’s Department of Environmental Quality to study the shift to renewable diesel.

The DEQ’s report would be paired with a less expansive legislative work group at a total cost of about $90,000, she said.

Lieber’s version of the bill passed the committee 4-1 on April 4, with Sen. Cedric Hayden, R-Fall Creek, voting against it based on free-market principles.

“I do believe that industry will drive this goal quicker than any task force,” he said. “I do believe the industry believes this is a superior product.”

For the bill’s opponents, including a coalition of 14 agricultural organizations, the proposed petroleum diesel phase-out represented a dangerous leap of faith.

Though the bill only applied to motorized vehicles on roadways, rather than farm machinery, opponents said agriculture is still highly dependent on trucks for shipping crops and livestock, as well as acquiring fertilizer and other inputs.

Critics said SB 803 would force a shift to renewable diesel despite inadequate supplies, which wouldn’t be mitigated by the “off-ramp” of suspending enforcement during shortages and price spikes.

“The safety valve would likely not move quickly enough to avoid a fuel shortage crisis,” said Jana Jarvis, president and CEO of the Oregon Trucking Associations.

The distribution system depends on long-term contracts and can’t turn on a dime to supply Oregon with petroleum diesel when its preferred fuel becomes scarce or expensive, according to critics.

“To tell those refineries, ‘we may need you some days and some days not,’ just doesn’t work. They’re going to push that product into South America. They’re going to find other homes for that product,” said Jeff Rouse, a distributor who is also president of the Oregon Fuels Association. “This isn’t something you can pick and choose what you want to do each day or each month.”

Supporters of SB 803 insisted that concerns about inadequate renewable diesel supplies are overblown, particularly with major oil companies investing in the fuel and additional capacity coming online.

Next Renewable Fuels, for example, is planning to build a 750 million-gallon facility in Clatskanie, Ore., that’d be capable of generating much of Oregon’s diesel demand, said Christopher Efird, the company’s founder and CEO.

“For the near term, and I would take that out about six years, the market is well-supplied,” he said.

Though much of the debate over SB 803 centered on the logistics of switching fuel types, many of the bill’s critics nonetheless praised renewable diesel for cutting emissions while saving money on vehicle maintenance and repairs.

That admiration was not unanimous, however, with some of SB 803’s opponents claiming the fuel’s environmental benefits are largely exaggerated.

These critics claim the “renewable” label is a misnomer because the diesel is often manufactured from “virgin” oilseed crops whose production emits greenhouse gases or leads to the conversion of rain forests to cropland.

“We should all question whether this diesel you’re discussing is even renewable,” said Brandon Schilling, director of Save Port Westward, which opposes the Clatskanie fuel facility. “Renewable diesel may burn cleaner but it depends on inputs that contribute to climate destruction.”