Oregon Senate approves bill to cut greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks
By Scott Learn, The Oregonian, February 23, 2010, [here]
Despite unanimous opposition from Republicans, Oregon’s Senate passed a bill this afternoon aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions from cars, SUVs and pickup trucks in metropolitan areas even as the state’s population grows.
Senate Bill 1059 would require Oregon’s departments of transportation and land conservation to develop a statewide transportation strategy on greenhouse gases and educate the public about “the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles” and the costs and benefits of doing so.
The agencies would also establish a “tool kit,” planning guidelines and vehicle greenhouse gas reduction targets for five metropolitan areas: Bend, Corvallis, Eugene/Springfield, Medford and Salem/Keizer. The Portland area is already proceeding with legislatively mandated planning around vehicle emissions.
The tool kit would likely focus on mass transit, more compact development and measures to reduce traffic congestion, such as better timing of traffic signals, all aimed at meeting Oregon’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 75 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.
Seventeen Democrats supported the bill. The Senate’s 12 Republicans all voted against it, joined by Sen. Rick Metsger, D-Mount Hood, who said the bill doesn’t “mention anything about economic vitality.”
“We can certainly reduce greenhouse gases if nobody is working,” Metsger said. … [more]
Note: true environmental justice. The liberal urban centers elected the Dems in the Orygun Senate. Now they’ll reap the reward of their dystopian fancy: cars will be banned from their streets. Urbanites will be hoofing it to the welfare offices and soup kitchens.