Oregonian got it right on useless ‘clean fuels’ bill

by Sen. Jeff Kruse (R-Roseburg)

At the beginning of this Session legislative leadership set up a workgroup to put together a transportation package for the state. I was a member of that group and we met for about two months and we were making some very good progress. I had told both the Speaker and President before the workgroup started I would support a package including a six cent gas tax increase over six years, but only if the low carbon fuel standards bill (LCFS) was taken off the table. I told them I could support the increase if it was going to roads, but not if we were going to do an additional gas tax going to things other than roads.

When LCFS passed the workgroup ended, and we are now stuck in a situation we did not have to be in, except for the majority parties symbolic environmental agenda.

The Oregonian had an editorial on the subject last week that I thought really put the issue in proper perspective:

In March, Gov. Kate Brown signed the 2015 Legislature’s worst bill, SB324, a politically costly measure that resurrected an environmentally useless program. The governor has since been working to undo the inevitable consequences of that decision. She certainly deserves credit for trying. But to succeed, she’ll need support from the very lawmakers who were steamrolled this year by the environmental left’s “clean fuels” juggernaut.

Click here to read the rest of The Oregonian Editorial Board: Gov. Kate Brown’s ‘clean fuels’ albatross: Editorial Agenda 2015