New Staff Q&A: Kristopher Fortin Grijalva
OEC is excited to introduce our new Transportation Program Director, Kristopher Fortin Grijalva!
Hailing from Southern California, Kristopher grew up connected to his community by transportation, walking, biking, and bussing his way around town from elementary school through college. This experience – coupled with a deep love for writing – led him to a 13-year career in journalism and transportation advocacy in the Greater Los Angeles area. His background spent fighting for clean, equitable transportation options made him the perfect person for the role.
To ...
Join Us This Summer at the Transportation Roadshow!
State legislators are hosting a 12-stop statewide listening tour this summer on major transportation issues. We need your voice! Our transportation system should be safer, greener, better maintained, and more affordable for all Oregonians. Your testimony during these public hearings will impact how legislators shape the future of our transportation infrastructure! Your participation will also help OEC deliver stronger climate-smart legislation for our state in 2025.
Background
As things currently stand, Oregon is struggling to raise enough money to fund our transportat...
2024 Legislative Session
OEC’s legislative advocacy in the 2024 short session will take key bills over the finish line, secure essential funding for environmental programs, and deliver on our promise to stay vigilant for the health of Oregon’s environment and communities.
Our advocacy helps ensure healthy air, thriving communities, clean and plentiful water, and climate resiliency. Our policies harness innovation and create new economic opportunities. They are grounded in preventing harm and advancing fairness.
YOU CAN GET INVOLVED: Sign up for our Grassroots Action Information Network ...
A Clean Cars Win!
Today, Oregon took a momentous step to reduce air pollution and help us meet our state’s transportation emission reduction goals by passing the Advanced Clean Cars II Rule (ACCII). These rules will help us in our transition to 100% zero-emission passenger vehicles by 2035!
The Advanced Clean Cars II Rule will reduce tailpipe emissions, one of the biggest sources of climate pollution in Oregon, from new passenger vehicles like cars, personal trucks, and SUVs, starting with the 2026 model year through 2035. This rule strengthens Oregon’s vehicle emission standards ...
Tolling in Oregon: What’s The Deal?
What is tolling?
It seems like a simple question, but a “toll” can be understood in many different ways. Most simply, a toll is a charge for driving a vehicle on a specific piece of roadway.
Looking beyond that, though, there are a lot of really interesting questions worth considering. For example, how much should a toll cost? What is the toll really paying for? Should every vehicle be charged the same amount, regardless of factors like the time of day or the number of passengers? The answers to these questions are more important than you might think. The price ...
Your Voice. Your Vote. Your Planet
It’s that time of year again. Election season always seems to creep up quickly and navigating important deadlines, candidate debates, and ballot measure information can be tricky. But voting in Oregon is one of THE most important actions one can take, not only for our environment but for the stability of democracy and our collective future. This page has key information needed to make a difference this November 8th!
Why Vote?
We need elected officials at every level of government to protect our environment and fight for a stable climate, clean air and water, and ...
Clean Cars Are the Future – It’s Time to Update Oregon’s Standards
It is (past) time we break up with oil! Not only do the big changes in the price of gas affect our wallets, but burning fossil fuels is bad for the climate and our health. Oregon has the opportunity to be a leader in the transition to electric vehicles and get on the path to meeting our climate pollution reduction goals by adopting the Advanced Clean Car II Rules.
CLIMATE
Transportation is the largest climate-polluting sector in Oregon, making up about 40 percent of our greenhouse gas emissions. Over 60 percent of this pollution comes from passenger cars and trucks. As ...
Getting an electric vehicle just got easier!
Electric vehicles are only becoming more popular and affordable. Though we still need to find ways to drive less, EVs are a great alternative for cleaner mobility. Thanks to some new policies and state investments, many of them supported by OEC, there are more accessible options today for low carbon transportation.
Transportation is still responsible for nearly 40% of Oregon's greenhouse gas pollution. That means, in order to reach our climate goals, we’re all going to have to both drive less and use less fossil fuels when we do drive. The good news is, this is ...
Oregon’s Clean Fuels Program: Building on past successes to maximize climate, health and economic benefits in Oregon
From the Climate Protection Program to the Clean Truck Rules, Oregon has made significant progress in recent months to tackle climate emissions from our top polluting sector: transportation.
Yet, even with these important policy achievements, Oregon is still not on track to meet the level of progress needed or envisioned to achieve our climate goals. While our state has reemerged as a national climate leader, we will need to go bigger and bolder every year to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
If we want to reach our climate goals, we need to be really bold, ...
EVs Are Not Just for Urban Commuters
The transition from gas to electric vehicles is now well underway. From electric cars, trucks, and busses, to e-bikes, e-scooters, and personal wheeled devices of all kinds, there are more and more electric options for getting around town. This transition is exciting to see because it’s essential to reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and battling climate change.
But what if “town” isn’t where you’re trying to get around? There are more electric vehicle (EV) models introduced all the time, but many people still have questions about whether an EV makes ...
