Green Options

In a sweeping proposal intended to create jobs, inject life into the state’s economy, repair infrastructure, and bring Oregon’s transportation network into the 21st century, Governor Ted Kulongoski unveiled more than $1 billion in road, rail, bridge, mass transit and port funding yesterday.

The new transportation investments would be paid for with a myriad of tax and fee hikes, including:

• a 2-cent per gallon gas tax increase
• doubling the vehicle titling fee to $110
• raising the vehicle registration fee from $27 per year to $81 per year
• creating a first-time fee of $100 for titling cars new to the state
• raising the tobacco tax by 2½ cents

The plan also calls for borrowing $600 million and using and additional $16 million in lottery money.

Just a day before being picked as the GOP vice president, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin wrote a letter to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger urging him to shoot down a groundbreaking pollution-reduction effort aimed at cargo containers: she asked the Governator not to sign a bill that would impose heavy fees on ships entering the ports of Long Beach, Los Angeles, and Oakland.

Palin’s concerns were aimed at the Alaskan economy, and [...]