Policy
Working to establish, implement, and defend policies that drive investment in clean energy.
Our Policy Priorities
RNW advances state-level policies that spur clean energy infrastructure investment and expansion.
Expanding Clean Energy Development
Identify and pursue policy opportunities that accelerate clean energy deployment growth in growing emerging Northwest markets.
Clean Energy Mandates
Implement and defend 100% clean energy laws in Washington and Oregon, including equity and community benefit provisions.
Expanding Transmission Capacity
Drive awareness for the need of expanded transmission capacity across the Northwest and shape a policy environment that encourages more transmission modeling, planning, and building.
Emerging Technologies
Evaluate new clean energy technologies that support our mission and update policies to enable their growth and deployment as they mature.
Regional Coordination
Connect stakeholders across four states, since policy in one affects the shared regional grid, to align on shared solutions.
Idaho Efforts
Idaho is seeing growing interest in renewable energy development alongside intermittent public and legislative opposition. RNW is engaging in and leading energy policy discussions in the state to help ensure decisions are grounded in sound data and practical tradeoffs, while working to keep pathways open for renewable projects that meet local needs and standards.
Outcomes
- Showing up where decisions were made: RNW helped stop more than a dozen bills in the 2025 legislative session that would have blocked new renewable energy and power line projects. RNW also helped two counties, Ada and Lincoln, adopt more welcoming rules for renewable projects.
- Building relationships: After the 2025 legislative session, RNW met with over three dozen state lawmakers to talk through energy issues. RNW also built connections with key state offices involved in land and energy decisions, laying the groundwork for future collaboration.
- Growing pro-renewable community: RNW is actively growing our regional coalition, through media coverage, stronger partnerships with conservation and environmental groups, and by recruiting Idaho businesses to join Idaho Energy Freedom, a coalition working to expand public support and education around clean energy.
- Organizing support: In Idaho’s most populous county, RNW helped overturn a ban on large-scale solar projects in 2025, an effort backed by more than 800 residents and a coalition of developers who spoke up for clean energy. RNW also helped build public support for an important power line project during a review by state utility regulators.
Montana Efforts
RNW is working to secure Montana’s clean energy future by defending renewable energy from harmful legislation, building broad coalitions of support, and advancing the transmission infrastructure needed to deliver low-cost energy to communities and businesses across the state.
Outcomes
- Defended wind energy from harmful legislation: RNW helped defeat six bills that threatened wind development in Montana, while working with lawmakers to improve fair rules for how projects are built and retired.
- Growing coalitions: RNW helped build Montana’s first business coalition dedicated to advocating for smart energy investment across the state.
- Transmission advocacy: RNW’s efforts helped spark new state action on transmission, leading to new task forces, policy proposals, and major new projects to connect Montana to more affordable power.
Oregon Efforts
Oregon has ambitious clean energy goals that require the state’s largest utilities to achieve 100% emissions reductions by 2040. RNW works with policymakers, state agencies, and partners to advance these goals, remove barriers, and accelerate clean energy and transmission development.
Outcomes
- Paving the way for clean energy projects: RNW’s advocacy led to two Governor’s orders and new state laws that make it faster and easier to build renewable energy projects in Oregon.
- Building on previous wins: RNW helped shape Oregon’s first statewide energy strategy and a key committee tackling where and how solar projects get built in Eastern Oregon.
- Defending clean energy laws: RNW works to protect Oregon’s landmark 100% clean energy law and helps ensure the state stays on track to meet its 2040 goal.
- Oregon Clean Grid Collaborative (OCGC): RNW co-leads a growing coalition of clean energy, environmental, and labor groups working together to advance a decarbonized grid.
Washington Efforts
Washington has set some of the nation’s most ambitious climate goals, aiming for a 100% clean electricity grid by 2045. RNW defends these landmark laws while solving practical roadblocks, including property tax policy and transmission capacity, that threaten to slow the state’s progress toward a clean energy future.
Outcomes
- Mitigating harm from previous legislation: RNW helped pass a law giving clean energy developers more time and clarity to meet the state’s solar panel recycling requirements.
- Addressing local property tax challenges: RNW championed a new law that gives counties stable, predictable tax revenue from clean energy projects, replacing an outdated system that shortchanged local budgets over time.
- Making transmission mainstream: RNW turned a once-overlooked issue, the power grid infrastructure needed for clean energy, into a top priority for lawmakers, unions, and environmental groups alike.
- Defending clean energy laws: RNW works to protect Washington’s landmark 100% clean energy law and helps ensure the state stays on track to meet its 2045 goal.
Member Spotlight
