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OTHER VIEWS Other Views: Oregon needs a transportation package Comment By The (Albany) Democrat-Herald MailTribune.com By The (Albany) Democrat-Herald Posted Jul. 23, 2016 at 12:01 AM By The (Albany) Democrat-Herald Posted Jul. 23, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Social News Even as a committee of Oregon lawmakers is working to come up with a transportation package for the 2017 Legislature, Gov. Kate Brown is making it clear she has no intention of repealing the state's low-carbon fuel law. A recent story in The Oregonian reported on a May invitation-only meeting in Portland between the governor, lawmakers, lobbyists and business executives. At the meeting, Brown said that any repeal of the state's Clean Fuels Program was off the table. You may recall the fuss over the program during the 2015 legislative session. The program itself is a well-meaning attempt to reduce the carbon intensity of Oregon's transportation fuels by 10 percent over the next decade. It's not clear whether the program will do much to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, but it is relatively clear that it will increase the price of fuel: Estimates say it could cost consumers anywhere from 4 to 19 cents a gallon. (It's worth noting here that the Oregon Environmental Commission has voted to delay enforcement of the mandates until 2018 to allow time to develop cost-containment strategies and to work on other tweaks to the program.) Democrats renewed the program in 2015, despite warnings from Republicans that they would be unable to support any later transportation package that relied on an increase in the gas tax. Republicans said they didn't want to saddle their constituents with what amounted to two separate price increases at the pump. To the astonishment of Democrats (and some Republicans), GOP legislators held steady on that promise, and since the increase in the gas tax required at least some Republican support, the transportation package died. Now, a group of legislators is working to come up with the outlines of a transportation package to present to the 2017 Legislature. The key question, of course, is how to pay for the package of badly needed work on the state's transportation infrastructure, and at least some Republicans were thinking that any proposed increase in the gas tax might be more palatable if it went along with a rollback of the Clean Fuels Program. As governor, Brown likes to keep her cards close to her chest (we still don't know her positions on the proposed corporate tax increase or capital punishment, for that matter), so it seems a little out of character for her to take one possible negotiating chip off the table so soon. The governor's communications director, Kristen Grainger, didn't shed much light on the matter, telling The Oregonian in an email that "Brown doesn't think Oregonians should have to choose" between clean air and better roads. "We need both." Well, it's hard to read between the lines of that kind of "false choice" blather. But here goes: Maybe Brown is betting that at least some Republicans will come around by the time the 2017 session begins, and there are some indications that might be a good bet. Maybe she's betting that the cost-containment work going on now will pay dividends in the next couple of years. Or maybe she's walking a finer line: Could be signaling that while she's against outright appeal, she might be willing to considering rolling back the program? In any event, the governor needs to keep as many options open as possible: The failure of the 2015 transportation package was the session's major disappointment. In fact, Brown pronounced during the session that she wouldn't let legislators leave Salem until the transportation deal was done. Then they left Salem without the deal. Neither the governor nor Oregon can afford a similar ending in 2017. By The (Albany) Democrat-Herald MailTribune.com By The (Albany) Democrat-Herald Posted Jul. 23, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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