The city of Portland will soon seek public comment on a possible ban on the sale of diesel fuel within city limits. 

The ban would be aimed at curbing diesel usage within the city by electrifying trucks and using more biodiesel and is part of the city’s Climate Emergency Work Plan. The code change would  “phase out petroleum diesel sold in the city of Portland over the next several years,” said Andria Jacob, climate policy and program manager for the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability. The plan lays out actions for the city to take over the next few years to “prevent the worst-case scenarios.”

Trucking and fuel station representatives say the proposal caught them off guard. 

“This is the first I’ve heard of it,” says Jana Jarvis, president of the Oregon Trucking Associations Inc. “I can’t imagine my members would be very excited about the idea.”

Jarvis, who also chairs the Portland Bureau of Transportation’s Freight Mobility Committee, says that there’s been no discussion of the idea within that committee, either. 

“The city hasn’t contacted us at all,” said Danelle Romain, a lobbyist for the Oregon Fuels Association, which represents gas station owners. Romain added that OFA members are looking to increase the amount of renewable fuel they sell, but that the transition has been tricky. 

“There’s a major shortage of renewable diesel,” Romain says.

 The diesel ban will go out to public comment at the end of August, reported Willamette Week.