SALEM — Oregon is one vote away from potentially becoming the second state after California to implement a cap and trade program for greenhouse gas emissions.

House lawmakers passed the controversial bill 36-to-24 June 17 after six-plus hours of debate. The proposal now goes to the Senate for final approval. Gov. Kate Brown has already declared she will sign the legislation into law.

Advocates say the policy is a significant milestone in the fight against climate change, while opponents argue it will wreck Oregon’s economy with little to no impact on global emissions.

Cap and trade works by setting a hard limit, or cap, on carbon pollution that is gradually lowered over time. Businesses that exceed the limit must either buy “allowances” for every excess metric ton of carbon they produce, or offset emissions through projects that sequester carbon.

House Bill 2020 creates a new agency, the Oregon Climate Policy Office, with the goal to reduce statewide emissions to 45% below 1990 levels by 2035 and 80% below 1990 levels by 2050.

Only companies that emit more than 25,000 metric tons of carbon a year would be regulated. Money collected by the program is then reinvested in climate-friendly initiatives such as adopting more clean energy technology — hence the moniker “Clean Energy Jobs Act.”

Rep. Karin Power, D-Milwaukie, carried the bill on the House floor. She said climate change is “the greatest crisis of our lifetime.”

“If we don’t speed up our mitigation and adaptation efforts, it will be too late,” Power said. “We cannot delay any longer.”

Tera Hurst, executive director of Renew Oregon, a coalition backing cap and trade, cheered the passage of HB 2020 in a statement shortly following the House vote.

“Our state is poised to adopt an innovative program to guarantee reductions in climate pollution year after year, while investing millions in communities across our state to make people’s lives better, the air cleaner and our economy stronger,” Hurst said.

Republicans tried multiple times to delay the bill and refer it back to various committees, though each motion failed along party-line votes. Just two Democrats representing rural districts broke ranks to vote against cap and trade, including Brad Witt of Clatskanie and Caddy McKeown of Coos Bay.

Rep. Rick Lewis, R-Silverton, said agriculture will suffer as a result of the bill. He pointed specifically to plant nurseries that rely on natural gas to heat their greenhouses.

“This bill may well spell the end for many nurseries in our district,” Lewis said.

Jeff Stone, executive director of the Oregon Association of Nurseries, said the increased cost of fuel and natural gas will make his industry less competitive in national and global markets. In previous testimony, representatives from NW Natural, the state’s largest gas utility, calculated rate increases of 13% by 2021 and 60% by 2040 for small commercial businesses.

What’s more, Stone said nurseries actually sequester carbon through the plants they grow, meaning HB 2020 will hurt the very businesses that benefit the climate.

“The fact is that our cost inputs are going to go up,” Stone said. “It does make us less competitive.”

Critics also pointed to projected increases in fuel prices by 22 cents per gallon during the first year of cap and trade, disproportionately affecting agriculture and rural Oregonians.

Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis, R-Linn County, owns a trucking company that hauls grass straw for local farms. She calculated that, for truckers, the initial fuel increases could cost an additional $4,000 per year per truck.

“I’m against legislation that penalizes an industry that doesn’t have another option at this time,” Boshart Davis said

Jenny Dresler, with the Oregon Farm Bureau, reiterated that farmers and ranchers are price takers in the global market. That means they cannot pass increased costs down to consumers.

A companion bill to HB 2020, Senate Bill 1051, did pass the Oregon Senate on June 13. It establishes a tax refund program under cap and trade for agriculture and forestry to cover off-road fuel costs, although it does not apply to highway shipping.

Dresler said the Farm Bureau appreciates the Legislature trying to soften the blow of cap and trade, but it does not go far enough. Wheat growers each use more than 24,000 gallons of diesel per year, according to a recent survey, of which 77.5% is on-road.

“A fuel increase of that magnitude is incredibly significant,” Dresler said.

Republicans argued that, even if Oregon eliminated all carbon emissions tomorrow, it would have an “imperceptible” impact on global climate change.

By 2050, Oregon’s cap and trade plan would eliminate 43.4 million metric tons of carbon annually from the atmosphere — just 0.12 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

“When you’re so desperate to do something, you’ll do just about anything,” said Rep. Mike McLane, R-Powell Butte.

Rep. Ken Helm, D-Beaverton, said he is confident the business community will respond to cap and trade by investing in new clean technologies that will grow the economy. Democrats cited an economic analysis by the Berkeley Economic Advising and Research in Berkeley, Calif., that predicts Oregon can meet its carbon reduction goals while adding 23,000 jobs.

“What they do will help us as a state reduce our overall emissions,” Helm said. “The cap and trade model is tried and true. It is the cheapest, lightest touch.”