36 results for tag: transportation
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 learn all about Kristopher – from his love of local corner stores, to career ...
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 transportation system. While we have fuel taxes (like the gas tax) in place to fund transpo...
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 (GAIN) email list. We’ll send you ways to show up, communicate with legislators, ...
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 (learn more about the details here) for all new light-duty cars sold so that by ...
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 of a toll, much like the price of a loaf of bread or a gallon of gas, can ripple ...
The Inflation Reduction Act for Oregon
Only a few months ago, things were not looking good for federal climate action. The Supreme Court had just voted to strike down the Clean Power Plan. Senator Manchin of West Virginia had just announced he would not support a reconciliation package with new spending on climate change. And, after decades of denial, delay, and failed attempts, everyone’s hope was wearing thin.
Then, seemingly out of thin air, Senate Democrats announced they had struck a deal on a new package that would inject an unprecedented $370 billion in climate and clean energy programs nationwide. Weeks later, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into ...
Oregon Climate Action Plan Turns Two!
Two years ago, Governor Kate Brown made history when she signed the Oregon Climate Action Plan (OCAP), executive order 20-04. It’s the largest executive action on climate in Oregon history, and arguably the biggest single climate action ever undertaken by the state given its broad sweep. OCAP set in motion a broad array of state agency activities to respond to the climate crisis by reducing climate emissions from our state’s largest polluting sectors and prioritizing communities on the frontlines of climate impacts.
OEC and our partners in the OCAP Coalition, which includes more than 50 climate, environmental justice, youth, labor, public ...
What could we do with a billion dollars?
Now that Congress has passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, more than a billion dollars will be coming to Oregon for transportation.
That’s great news and it presents us with a big opportunity to think about how we can spend that money wisely. Some of the money is committed to specific projects already underway. But, we’ll have choices with the rest and we should demand that it be invested in things that we know we need in the future. Things that will give people more freedom, access, and choices about how they get around, and which also make our communities safer, healthier, and more resilient.
What kinds of things could this ...
ODOT Mega-projects in the Portland area
The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) has a mega-project wishlist. The top projects on this list are the Abernethy Bridge on I-205, and the Boone Bridge, the Rose Quarter, and the Columbia River Crossing on I-5. These projects have been waiting for funding for years or even decades. A total price tag for Oregon of at least four billion dollars seems likely, and for that, we’ll receive a few short segments of highways with more lanes.
ODOT says these projects will increase safety and reduce traffic congestion in the Portland region. However, they will not meaningfully achieve these goals. If we really wanted to address safety and ...