Both propose $1 billion from bonds, but one would add studies for Rose Quarter and future highway funding; the other would require federal grants first.
Oregon’s vast farm and forest lands could be enlisted to capture carbon and reduce heat-trapping greenhouse gasses under legislation that awaits further work in a legislative committee.
At least 16 environmental groups have signed a letter to Oregon legislators in support of a call by the Oregon State Building Trades Council and affiliates to require developers benefiting from state tax subsidies to meet labor and workforce standards.
It started when members of Climate Jobs PDX, a project of Portland Jobs with Justice, read in the Labor Press that most recent renewable energy projects in Northeastern Oregon have been built by nonunion, out-of-state firms with nonunion crews from outside Oregon despite receiving generous tax breaks from the state.
As of 2019, about a dozen utility-scale wind and solar projects in Northeastern Oregon were saving over $30 million a year total thanks to the Oregon’s Strategic Investment Program (SIP) property tax break, a 15-year property tax exemption.