PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Portland Commissioner Chloe Eudaly says she plans to name a new bike and pedestrian-only bridge spanning Interstate 84 after U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports Eudaly, the city’s transportation commissioner, made the announcement Thursday night at the nonprofit Classroom Law Project’s annual dinner where she referred to him as “our bike champion in Congress.”

Blumenauer said later the possibility of the name would be a great honor.

The $13 million bike and pedestrian bridge expected to break ground in August has been known through the design and planning stages as Sullivan’s Crossing. Officials said it’s possible Sullivan’s Crossing remains part of the name.

The bridge will connect the Central Eastside Industrial and Lloyd districts at Seventh Avenue, offering a new connection for pedestrians and cyclists between the close-in Northeast and Southeast neighborhoods.

It’s expected to open by December 2020.

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Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a six-year transportation bill, with funding for three years. It passed without an amendment proposed by Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Oregon, that would have raised the nation’s gas tax by 15 cents per gallon. Currently, the federal tax is 18.4 cents per gallon – a rate that hasn’t changed since 1993. He still says it’s the only way to pay for much-needed infrastructure fixes.

Blumenauer recently answered some questions from the 91��Ƶ about what is next.

91��Ƶ: What did your constituents think of the plan?

Earl Blumenauer: I had countless meetings with folks at home, and I have a very substantial base of support from people who understand that we can’t keep paying for 2015 infrastructure with 1993 dollars. Around the country there have been seven red, Republican states this year that have raised the gas tax. People are stunned to find out that there has been no gas tax increase since 1993. And we have probably the broadest base of support – people who are involved with construction, transit, with business, labor, people who represent automobiles, AAA, the American and Oregon trucking associations – all are on record supporting raising the user fee. Just like Ronald Reagan did in 1982.

91��Ƶ: What are you hearing from your Republican colleagues in Washington, D.C.? Does the issue of infrastructure funding put them in a weird spot?

Blumenauer: It does. I had conversations with three Republican colleagues in the last few hours who told me they thought we should raise the gas tax, so it’s not something where all Republicans are opposed – they’re not. As I said, seven very Republican states have already raised it.

91��Ƶ: Is this maybe not the right time to pass a gas tax?

Blumenauer: What do you mean? It’s been 22 years. Gas prices are low. The need is critical. We’re going to be in big trouble in our region if the federal partnership falls apart. This is the first time in over 50 years that there is no major federal transportation project in the pipeline – the first time in over 50 years. When we cut the ribbon on the Tilikum Crossing on September 12th, that was it. We’re done. And it’s been over 50 years.

91��Ƶ: Who have you been working with?

Blumenauer: Contractors, unions, developers, people who care about transit, who care about bicyclists, truckers. I mean this is everybody who uses, builds, maintains or depends on infrastructure is on board. They want this badly.

91��Ƶ: In Oregon, what projects do you see that need immediate attention?

Blumenauer: We don’t have any major projects in the pipeline. There are concerns people have about extending transit, and being able to maintain the infrastructure that we’ve got. There are needs in multimodalism and freight movement. And someday we’re going to have to address the Columbia River and the I-5 bridge. That’s a big project.

91��Ƶ: Portland City Commissioner Steve Novick wants to let voters look at a 10-cent city gas tax for street repairs and others projects. Might this be a way forward for communities?

Blumenauer: We’re watching that. But people need to be able to have partnerships to make this happen, and you have to have local funding. Even if we got the federal gas tax increased and got money in the pipeline, there would still be a requirement to put up local money. In Portland, this was something I was fighting to correct. When I was on the Portland City Council more than 20 years ago, we were working to adequately address just our maintenance needs – not even the need for new capacity. We’ve fallen behind. So you’re seeing people in communities large and small across the country, in other states, doing this. I think it’s wise to do it locally.

91��Ƶ: What about a state gas tax?

Blumenauer: At some point the state of Oregon’s got to figure out what its approach is going to be, because we don’t have enough money right now in the current state highway fund to be able to do any new projects. We can barely deal with maintenance. There was a pretty aggressive program in the past years to bond and build projects faster. But these bonds have to be paid off, and bond repayment interest takes up a very substantial portion of our existing money.

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A key tax credit for renewable energy production is set to expire at the end of 2012, but congressmen are already proposing an extension during an unfavorable political climate.

The federal Production Tax Credit makes wind and other renewable energy comparable in price to electricity derived from coal and natural gas by giving generators 2.2 cents per kilowatt-hour. Reps. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., and Dave Reichert, R-Wash., earlier this month introduced a bill to extend the PTC for four more years.

Booming and busting

The renewable energy Production Tax Credit is a per-kilowatt-hour tax credit for electricity generated by qualifying energy resources such as wind, geothermal and biomass. The PTC originated in 1992 and has been renewed several times; however, it also has expired on three occasions, resulting in a “boom-and-bust” cycle.

The PTC expired in July 1999, and later was extended through 2001. The PTC expired again, but was extended in March 2002. The PTC expired for a third time at the end of 2003 and was not renewed until October 2004, when it was extended through 2005. The credit has since been extended several times, but is set to expire at the end of 2012.

U.S. Reps. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., and Dave Reichert, R-Wash., on Nov. 2 introduced the American Renewable Energy Production Tax Credit Extension Act, or H.R. 3307, which would extend the PTC through 2016.

Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber last week joined a coalition of approximately two dozen governors asking Congress to extend the PTC, but the salience of renewable energy subsidies is being questioned, cash is short and even some wind advocates are becoming tired of the tax credit’s boom-and-bust nature.

The PTC was introduced in 1992, but has been extended mostly in one-, two-, or three-year increments. It has expired on three occasions, each time leading to a drop in installations – ranging from 73 percent to 93 percent – the following year, according to Derek Schlickeisen, a spokesman for Blumenauer.

“Business and labor leaders approach us all of the time to say we must have a consistent policy to create market certainty for wind manufacturing in the U.S.,” Schlickeisen said. “We’re coming out of the worst economic recession of our lifetimes, and another expiration (of the PTC) or even a delay now would cripple job growth.”

But John Chase, vice president of government relations at , says that the climate in Washington, D.C., where he is lobbying for the extension of the PTC, is hostile toward all tax credits because of the country’s larger financial woes.

“There are more concerns over increased spending overall, and all tax credits in general,” Chase said.

Most politicians this week are focused on the gridlocked “super committee” – a special 12-member group tasked with reaching agreement by Wednesday on a plan to reduce the deficit by at least $1.2 trillion.

“I worry about the overall budget climate,” Chase said.

Vestas’ North American headquarters is in Portland, and the company recently invested nearly $1 billion to open new manufacturing facilities in Colorado.

Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., earlier this month introduced a bill – the Energy Freedom and Economic Prosperity Act – that would eliminate subsidies for renewable-energy projects altogether. Pompeo says the legislation could save up to $90 billion over the next 10 years.

Some outspoken proponents of wind energy say that because of instability caused by the Production Tax Credit, it should be abolished in favor of alternative incentives.

“The Production Tax Credit is not the only way and it is by far not the best way, but it is the way that we as Americans have done it,” said Paul Gipe, a California-based author and a wind energy advocate. “Feed-in tariffs are far more equitable and fair than the Production Tax Credit and all tax subsidy programs we have in the U.S.”

The effort to lobby for an extension of the tax credit will focus heavily on manufacturing jobs. The wind industry supports 3,000 jobs in Oregon and is worth $12 million in state property taxes, according to Schlickeisen.

A nonpartisan coalition of manufacturing, farm and business interests last week endorsed the four-year extension, saying that the looming expiration is already leading to job losses.

“The impact on jobs will be significant – there’s a lot more at stake than there has been in the past,” Chase said, adding that domestic turbine manufacture has increased from 20 percent in 2005 to 60 percent now. “The manufacturing presence is growing – not just by Vestas, but all throughout the industry.”

But Vestas executives have announced that if the PTC expires, the company will cut global capital costs and make “further adjustments” to its U.S. operations, probably at its Colorado manufacturing facilities. Vestas spokesman Andrew Longeteig said it’s too soon to tell how expiration of the tax credit would impact the company’s operations in Portland.

“We’re just focused on continuing to sell our products here in North America, and hiring carefully in accordance with our business needs as well as in relation to market demand,” he said. “That’s what we can control in our region right now.”

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President Barack Obama on Thursday night asked Congress to quickly approve his $477 billion American Jobs Act proposal, which includes $105 billion for infrastructure and construction spending.

Initial reaction from built industry professionals – both locally and nationally – is that any increase in federal spending on infrastructure and other construction projects is sorely needed and much appreciated. But as with Obama’s $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009, industry professionals say they think any positive effects will most likely be short lived.

“Any effort is appreciated as we can all agree that we need more jobs,” said John Killin, president of the Oregon chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors. “But as an organization we bought into the stimulus package, which this looks an awful lot like. As soon as the stimulus money dried up, our unemployment rate in Oregon rose again.”

A large portion of Obama’s plan focuses on the extension of unemployment benefits and tax breaks for small businesses. The rest focuses on short-term spending to modernize schools, fund federal infrastructure projects, and rehabilitate and repurpose vacant space in neighborhoods across the country.

While Killin likes the intent of the effort – getting people back to work – he doesn’t agree that the package offers a real solution to that problem.

“These tweaks and holidays don’t work,” he said. “We need to roll back these barriers to doing business and remove the regulations that are hurting the people that create jobs.”

U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., a senior member of the House Budget and Ways and Means committees, voiced similar concerns in a statement he released following the president’s speech. But Blumenauer said he wants to keep an open mind until he is able to examine the plan in greater detail.

“I don’t believe that tax cuts will create as many jobs as investing in infrastructure, but I look forward to reading the president’s plan and to (learning) more details,” Blumenauer said in his statement. “We must guard against people just taking the easy political step of cutting taxes and not the heavy lifting of tax reform and funding our failing infrastructure.”

Others had fewer reservations, if any.

John Mohlis, executive secretary-treasurer with the Columbia Pacific Building Trades Council, said he considers any proposal that pays for infrastructure and puts people back to work to be a good thing in the current economy.

Tom Chamberlain, president of Oregon AFL-CIO, agreed. He believes the plan could really benefit Oregon.

“I saw a lot of good stuff, especially the transportation stuff,” Chamberlain said. “Hopefully there’s some money in there for the (Columbia River Crossing) project. That would have a direct positive impact not only on Oregon construction workers but our entire unemployment rate and the economy in general.”

The American Institute of Architects also voiced strong support for the president’s plan, especially the money dedicated to construction spending. The organization estimates that every $1 billion invested in nonresidential design and construction results in 28,500 full-time jobs. By that calculation, Obama’s plan could result in nearly 3 million jobs.

But while the AIA supports the spending in the plan, the organization is also calling for at least one more addition – the continuation of the Build America Bonds program.

“In the two short years that the program was authorized, state and local governments used Build America Bonds to finance roughly $180 billion (of) new construction projects, preserving tens of thousands of jobs,” AIA President Clark Manus said. “We estimate that at least $45 billion of that amount was used in the construction sector to finance schools, offices, hospitals and other building projects that improve communities.”

The U.S. Green Building Council took a similar stance. Rick Fedrizzi, president and CEO of the U.S. Green Building Council, offered the organization’s full support of the proposal and its passage. But he also mentioned several energy-efficient tax incentives that could be included to create more jobs.

“Specifically in commercial building, we know fixing the tax incentive for energy-efficient commercial buildings, Section 179D, could create 77,000 additional jobs in energy efficiency,” he said in a statement about the plan. “I hope Congress will strongly consider this commonsense tax fix.”

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Bringing back the federal Superfund tax and shifting gears on how agencies work on hazardous waste sites around the country could help not just the environment, but the economy, said Rep. Earl Blumenauer.

Blumenauer commented on the importance of restoring the tax, which oil and chemical companies once paid to clean up the sites, at the Superfund Research Program annual meeting at The Nines Hotel in Portland on Thursday.

There are currently listed on the Environmental Protection Agency’s website, including several in Portland.

For 15 years starting in 1980, the Superfund tax gathered $3.8 billion in a trust fund for the EPA to work on sites all over the country. The tax expired in 1995.

Companies oppose a new tax because they say they’ve already paid into the trust fund.

But right now, the EPA Superfund program is so underfunded that work on the sites has become more about “study, stall and sue” than about actually cleaning up contamination, Blumenauer said.

“This is much less a tax than a fee,” he told the group, which was mostly comprised of university environmental researchers from around the country.

With more funding, cleanup of Superfund sites like could move work from the realm of lawyers and politicos to the realm of engineers, contractors and people with “other skill sets,” he said.

“We need to get real about the EPA,” Blumenauer told the group. “We need to resource it. We need to work with them to clean up ambiguity.”

Another problem has been a micromanaging of individual steps for each Superfund site cleanup effort, he said.

“We need to move to something more performance driven,” he said. “We need to manage results.”

Blumenauer has been trying to reinstate the tax for about three years, but he admitted that he’s not sure how well it will go over in the new Congress.

Still, it makes more sense that the program be funded by companies that had a hand in creating contamination at the sites than it does to make the public pay for cleanups, he said.

“It’s time to end the free ride,” Blumenauer said.

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Portland’s Bike Plan could benefit from legislation introduced Tuesday in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.).

The resolution, the Active Community Transportation Act of 2010 (), would provide money to communities for transportation projects related to pedestrian and cyclist access by creating a $2 billion competitive grant program with the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Qualified communities could receive grants between $5 million and $15 million over three years for projects such as bike boulevards and sidewalk construction.  Funding for the grants would be set aside within the Surface Transportation Program and money would be awarded in two grant cycles.

Currently, bike and pedestrian trips make up 12 percent of all transportation trips but receive less than 2 percent of federal funding, according to Blumenauer’s office.

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Anyone who gets around Portland by car probably knows the frustration of waiting at a poorly-timed red light while traffic piles up. But what local commuters don’t know, transportation experts say, is that it could be worse.

Portland’s various transit agencies have been installing more and more Intelligent Transportation Systems projects around the city in recent years. The technologies, such as coordinated actuated traffic signals that track how many cars are waiting at each side of an intersection and then react accordingly, can reduce congestion as well as greenhouse gas emissions by keeping traffic moving.

But Portland isn’t fully wired yet. As city and state departments of transportation work with limited funding for road projects, Peter Koonce, the city of Portland’s division manager for signals, street lighting and ITS says funding for the systems should be a priority at a state and federal level.

“Funding for ITS is important because it gives us a transportation system that talks back and gives us information about how our roads are used,” Koonce said. “It’s like having the internet for our transportation system. We have a dial-up connection right now, and we need a DSL-type solution.”

Koonce says about 15 percent of all of Portland’s traffic signals have been outfitted with ITS technology, which allows the Portland Bureau of Transportation to monitor traffic behavior and adjust traffic signal timing to ease congestion on major arterials. It also provides information that city planners can use for planning road improvements.

Portland last week received an award from the nonprofit group ITS America for the city’s use of ITS.

“In Portland, you have various transportation departments working together and stretching limited dollars in way I haven’t seen happen in other cities,” said Scott Belcher, president and CEO of ITS America. “Portland is doing this because it makes solid business sense. We’re getting to a place where you can’t build more roads to fix congestion problems.”

But 15 percent is only a small portion of what the city could achieve if it had more funding for ITS systems, Belcher said. According to Pamela O’Brien, senior transportation engineer with transportation engineering firm DKS Associates, installing coordinated actuated traffic signals can cost between $50,000 to $100,000 per intersection. She is currently working on a coordinated actuated traffic signal project along Southeast Powell Boulevard.

“Instead of the traffic signal running on a 100 second cycle, it adapts to how it is approached by traffic,” O’Brien said. “The cost depends on the age of a corridor and how much upgrading we need to do.”

Multiply $100,000 by all of Portland’s intersections, and you’re looking at a significant funding hurdle.

Still, Oregon’s state government is in agreement that ITS represents the future when it comes to managing roads and highways. Gov. Ted Kulongoski, has requested about $6 million in funding from Congressman Earl Blumenauer and Congressman Peter DeFazio for ITS projects in Eugene and along the Interstate 84 corridor in East Multnomah County, according to Rem Nivens, a spokesman for the governor’s office.

“The governor supports having a smarter transportation system,” Nivens said. “These systems are important improving traffic flow on our roads.”

DeFazio has advocated including funding for ITS projects in the 2009 Federal Surface Transportation Reauthorization Bill, which would set federal transportation funding goals for the next five years. If funding for ITS systems isn’t included, Belcher says the US will fall further behind other countries in its ability to manage congestion and traffic crashes, as well as greenhouse gas emissions. The bill has yet to be passed.

“Places such as Japan and China have invested federal money in deploying these systems to stay competitive,” Belcher says. “By improving signal timing at just 17 arterials in Portland using ITS, the city was able to retire 157,000 metric tons of CO2. We’re desperately in need of a long term bill that funds these projects as we look at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”

Still, even without federally dedicated funding, ITS projects are increasing around the state, according to Edward Anderson, senior traffic and ITS engineer with Oregon Department of Transportation. This year, ODOT will install more traffic monitoring cameras in and around Eugene, as well as more unique projects like a chain-up lane along Interstate 84 that will illuminate to tell vehicles to pull over and chain up during inclement weather.

“These systems are well developed in Portland, but other areas in the state aren’t,” said Anderson. “I’d say statewide project are increasing, but they rely on funding by individual regions.”

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Congressman Earl Blumenauer today will unveil new legislation that would extend and expand renewable energy tax incentives under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s energy grant program.

The Renewable Energy Expansion Act would allow businesses and others who are awarded energy tax credits under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to choose between receiving the credit or receiving a cash grant, depending on what their needs are.

The ARRA included $13 billion to extend tax credits for renewable energy production until 2014. Since many renewable energy investors were unable to take advantage of tax credits at the time, the federal government shifted its contribution to those projects into cash grants. That program, which expires in December, would be extended through January 1, 2013 if the act, also known as HR 4599, is approved.

“Some of our energy companies here, like Vestas, Iberdrola and PGE, can’t effectively use the energy production tax credit,” said Blumenauer. “Many companies don’t have the tax partners because of the financial collapse. This is going to be critical to have manufacturing activity that requires a longer time frame.”

According to Blumenauer’s office, the ARRA cash grant program has already generated $2 billion in renewable energy, including $150 million in Oregon projects.

Blumenauer says he is working with environmental and industry groups to gather support for the act, and hopes to get it passed before Congress recesses for the summer.

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