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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, 2016
State lawmaker wants $120 million
in bonds for transportation projects
Quarter and improve highway in the state gas tax, a crucial
ramps. He is waiting for the funding source for transpor-
department to produce a list tation, while the fuel standard
SALEM — A state law- of eligible projects. Davis ex- remained in place.
maker from Wilsonville wants pects to unveil the bill by ear-
Oregon to issue as much as ly to mid-January so that peo-
Modify low-carbon
$120 million in bonds to pay ple can critique it and offer
fuel standard
for transportation projects suggestions for improvement.
Davis’ proposal would
Any transportation fund- modify the low-carbon fuel
starting this year.
standard, so that
State Rep. John Davis, ing bill faces long
R-Wilsonville, said he plans odds in the short
fuel producers and
ses-
this month to introduce an in- legislation
importers
would
terim bill to start tackling the sion, which starts
only be required to
state’s backlog of highway, in February. Gov.
reduce greenhouse
gases by blending
bridge and other transporta- Kate Brown, Sen-
biofuels with lower
tion projects ahead of a larger ate President Peter
carbon content into
transportation funding pack- Courtney, D-Salem,
gasoline and die-
age that lawmakers could pass and House Speaker
Tina Kotek, D-Port-
sel. Fuel companies
in 2017.
would no longer
Oregon needs the money land, have all said it
Rep. John
have to purchase
in order to compete for a share is unlikely they will
Davis
carbon credits gen-
of the $800 million in feder- pass a transporta-
erated by electric
al grants for freight projects, tion bill this year.
vehicle charging
which will be available this Davis could also
stations and other
year as a result of the trans- run into opposition
businesses in order
portation funding bill Con- because his propos-
to meet the fuel
gress passed in December, al would eliminate
standard. The cost
Davis said. He hopes to moti- part of the state’s
fuel
of the carbon cred-
vate other lawmakers and the low-carbon
its fueled much of
governor to start working now program, although
the opposition to
on a larger state transportation he is discussing the
the standard, Davis
funding bill they could pass plan with environ-
mental groups.
said.
next year.
The Oregon En-
“The (federal) funding
Sen. Peter
vironmental Com-
starts immediately in 2016 for ‘Gang of Eight’
Courtney
mission voted in
this,” Davis said of the freight
Davis was a
project grant program. “We’re member of the bipartisan December to delay enforce-
in a tenuous spot because group of state lawmakers that ment of the fuel standard until
Washington passed a transpor- Brown dubbed the “Gang 2018, and commissioners said
tation package, Idaho passed of Eight,” who met secretly they wanted frequent updates
a transportation package, and toward the end of the 2015 on the supply and cost of al-
California always has money legislative session to negoti- ternative fuels and carbon
7KDW¶V D VLJQL¿FDQW WKLQJ ate a transportation funding credits.
Oregon’s low-carbon fuel
that’s shifted since the (2015 package. The legislation lost
support after the Department standard is supposed to re-
legislative) session.”
of Transportation revealed duce emissions from trans-
the plan would not achieve portation fuels by 10 percent
Waiting on list of
the promised reductions in over a decade. So far, carbon
projects
Davis said an example of greenhouse gas emissions, credits sales under a similar
a project that might qualify which was a sticking point program in California have in-
for a federal freight grant is for environmentalists because creased the cost of gas by ap-
the Oregon Department of the deal would have repealed proximately 1 cent per gallon,
Transportation plan to widen the state’s low-carbon fuel Oregon Department of Envi-
Interstate Highway 5 to three standard. Republicans had re- ronmental Quality Air Quality
lanes through Portland’s Rose fused to support any increase Planner Cory-Ann Wind told
By HILLARY BORRUD
Capital Bureau
the commission in Decem-
ber. At this point, California
has reduced carbon emissions
from fuels by 1 percent.
SALEM — Gov. Kate
Brown fired the director of
the Oregon Employment De-
partment on Tuesday.
It was unclear Tuesday af-
ternoon why Brown decided
to remove director Lisa Nis-
enfeld, who had worked at
the agency since then-Gov.
John Kitzhaber appointed
her in September 2013. The
governor’s
spokespeople
did not immediately respond
to requests for comment.
Nisenfeld also could not be
reached for comment.
Last week, the Secretary
of State’s Office released
an audit that found outdat-
ed computer systems at the
Employment
Department
remained vulnerable more
than a year after a major data
breach at the agency.
Kay Erickson, the state
budget manager who works
for the Department of Ad-
ministrative Services, will
take over as acting director
of the Employment Depart-
ment until the state hires
Nisenfeld’s
replacement,
according to a press release
from the governor’s office.
Matt Shelby, a spokesman
for the Department of Ad-
ministrative Services, said it
was his understanding Nis-
enfeld did not resign from
the job but rather the gov-
ernor wanted a “change in
leadership.”
Nisenfeld
previously
held jobs as president of the
Columbia River Econom-
ic Development Council
in Vancouver, Washington,
and as executive director of
the Southwest Washington
Workforce
Development
Council.
Brown’s decision to re-
move Nisenfeld means there
are now at least three state
agencies without perma-
nent directors at the helm.
Brown’s jobs and economic
policy adviser, Vince Porter,
has filled in as interim direc-
tor of Business Oregon since
Sean Robbins resigned his
job as director of the agency
in September to move back
to Wisconsin to be closer
to his family. Brown also
appointed state chief oper-
ating officer, Clyde Saiki,
as interim director of the
Department of Human Ser-
vices, while the state con-
ducts a national search for a
permanent director. Former
director Erinn Kelley-Siel
resigned last summer, short-
ly before the Willamette
Week newspaper reported on
the Department of Human
Service’s failure to act on
child neglect and financial
mismanagement complaints
against the Portland foster
care program Give Us This
Day.
Oregon Senate Minority
Leader Ted Ferrioli, R-John
Day, has called for the res-
ignation of the director of a
fourth state agency, the De-
partment of Transportation,
over doubts about key carbon
emissions information during
talks last year on a transpor-
tation funding package.
The Capital Bureau is a
collaboration between EO
Media Group and Pamplin
Media Group.
3DFL¿FZDUPZDWHUµEORE¶ZHDNHQV12$$UHSRUWV
between the unusual warm-water ex-
panse and climate change or the Cali-
fornia drought.
Temperatures in the Pacific are now
The mysterious warm-water “blob”
LQWKH3DFL¿F2FHDQKDVZHDNHQHGDELW lower than for most of the past two
years, according to Mantua.
scientists reported in mid-December.
“The one main exception to the
Strong winds dominating the West
Coast during much of November blob’s decline is a narrow band of still-
brought “cold air and some new up- warm water along the coast from South-
welling of deep, cold water that weak- ern California to San Francisco that
ened the warm patches that made up remains about 3 degrees Celsius above
the blob,” said Nathan Mantua of the normal for this time of year,” he said.
“But the band may also be an early
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration’s Southwest Fisheries signal of the arrival of El Niño-related
ocean currents, which are expected to
Science Center.
The blob’s above-normal ocean cause more warming along the Pacific
water temperatures dropped to within Coast in the next few months.”
On another NOAA site, Climate.
0.5-1.5 degrees Celsius above average.
Scientists have hypothesized a link gov, blogger Emily Becker said in De-
By LAURA BERG
NW Fishletter/Energy NewsData
PROFESSIONAL
Bonding capacity
Oregon has $167 million
in available bonding capacity
from the general fund during
the current two-year budget
cycle, Davis said. That bond-
ing capacity remained unallo-
cated at the end of the 2015
legislative session, when law-
makers decided against using
it to overhaul the Capitol.
The Capitol project,
which would upgrade the
1938 building to withstand
earthquakes, is a top prior-
ity for Courtney. However,
Courtney’s plan ran into op-
position from both parties
after the Willamette Week
newspaper reported that
Courtney had not informed
other lawmakers that the
price tag increased to $337
million and the project in-
cluded extras such as an ex-
panded cafe and gathering
place for lobbyists, along
with a 3,000-square-foot
“legislative lounge.”
Courtney was unavailable
to comment Monday on Da-
vis’ proposed use of the bond-
ing capacity.
“We’ve got the capacity
right now, at very, very low
interest rates that will only go
up,” Davis said.
Finally, Davis said he
wants to increase oversight of
the Department of Transpor-
tation’s spending. His legis-
lation would create a special
legislative committee to re-
view the agency’s spending
and call for “some pretty ro-
bust audits.”
The Capital Bureau is a
collaboration between EO
Media Group and Pamplin
Media Group.
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By HILLARY BORRUD
Capital Bureau
Consult a
cember that the 2015-2016 El Niño is
likely to be among the three strongest
since 1950.
“While the warmer-than-average
ocean waters are likely reaching their
peak about now, they will remain a
huge source of warmth for the next
several months to drive the main im-
pacts on temperature and rain/snow
over North America,” she wrote.
“The main impact season is Decem-
ber-March, so we’re just at the very
beginning of finding out what this El
Niño event will bring to the U.S.,” ac-
cording to Becker. “There’s no doubt
that El Niño 2015-2016, which has
already shown its power around the
world, will have a significant effect on
the U.S. winter.”
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A mature 82-pound female
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Another rescued sea turtle,
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Despite Lightning’s and
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They will, at a minimum, re-
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Trio of turtles treated at Oregon Coast Aquarium
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Q: I’m
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