Oregon

Teenage climate organizers in Oregon are standing up against a freeway expansion that will threaten their generation's very future — and sending a message to adult policymakers that the connection between car dependency and the climate crisis can no longer be ignored. 

Congrats to Oregon on its preposterous bike tax that accomplishes no discernible transportation goal except dampening demand for new bikes.

The Oregon Department of Transportation has been under fire for its embarrassing management failures. Most damaging was the revelation last year that the agency lied about the carbon reduction impact of a big $343 million transportation package it was pushing. The package failed to pass.

The Oregon Department of Transportation is in a tough spot after it tried to justify highway expansion projects by saying they would cut greenhouse gas emissions. ODOT's bogus claims helped sink a $350 million transportation funding package in the state legislature, and even some of the state's Republican lawmakers are calling for agency director Matt Garrett's head. What's a beleaguered state DOT to do?

Clackamas County, outside of Portland, has some opinions about the region's plan to address climate change. According to Michael Andersen at Bike Portland, county commissioners have drafted a letter to regional planners saying the right way to control carbon emissions is to build more highways.