The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has launched the process to re-establish the state’s signature Climate Protection Program that a court last year invalidated over a technicality.

The program mandated reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel companies and other known polluters such as large industrial plants. The Oregon Court of Appeals in December found that the state had failed to follow rule-making requirements but did not decide on the substance of the program.

Oregon’s three natural gas utilities, an oil industry group and a dozen other local trade organizations had challenged the program’s rules, aiming to block them.

State regulators in charge of the climate program said the new version under the new rules would be “of similar scope and ambition” as the now invalidated one.

“We aren’t wasting any time ensuring Oregon has an effective climate policy in place,” Colin McConnaha, a manager with the DEQ’s Office of Greenhouse Gas Programs, said in a statement.

The Climate Protection Program — which began in January 2022 — called for graduated cuts in emissions from the state’s natural gas utilities and fuel suppliers. It also required existing and proposed large industrial facilities to reduce carbon pollution through the best available emissions reductions approaches.

Fossil fuel suppliers were supposed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 50% by 2035 and 90% by 2050. Large industrial plants had to aim for 50% reductions by 2035.

The court ruled that Oregon regulators had failed to follow disclosure requirements that come into play when the state adopts rules for industries that must obtain a so-called Title V air permit, reserved for major sources of air pollution.

State regulators said they plan to run a transparent rule-making process for the climate program before proposing new rules for the Environmental Quality Commission to consider later this year.

The first rulemaking advisory committee meeting will be on April 2. This meeting is open to the public to attend and there will be time dedicated for public comment.

An assessment of Oregon’s progress toward meeting its greenhouse gas reduction mandate showed that the Climate Protection Program was one of two key programs that would account for the vast majority of carbon emissions reductions. The other program is the 100% clean electricity mandate enacted by the state Legislature three years ago.