In Our View: Inslee May Be Key on Bridge

Any discussion about the future of Southwest Washington inevitably comes around to transportation.

Such was the case last week as The Columbian Editorial Board sat down with Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground. While an interview with the congresswoman included tax reform, Donald Trump, and gun rights, it also touched upon prospects for replacing the Interstate 5 Bridge. As Herrera Beutler points out, those prospects have been dimmed by a misguided plan from Oregon.

“If this tolling scheme that Oregon has proposed goes through, our ability to fix the I-5 Bridge changes dramatically,” she said. “That was their portion (of funding). If they’re using that and it becomes a piece in their budget somewhere, or they use it to fix other roads, that’s money they’re not going to put into their side of the fix. It’s huge.”

Oregon officials are considering placing tolls along Interstate 5 and Interstate 205 beginning at the state line. Tolls at the southern end of the bridges would inequitably target Washington residents while providing minimal benefits for those residents. If the money from those tolls would go toward replacing, improving or adding interstate crossings, the plan likely would generate some support on this side of the Columbia River. Instead, Washington drivers will pay more while enjoying fewer of the benefits — essentially asking us to subsidize improvements for Oregon residents.

Euphemistically named the Portland Metro Area Value Pricing Advisory Committee, a 25-person panel considering the tolls includes three representatives from Washington: Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle, Clark County Councilor Eileen Quiring and Kris Strickler of the state Department of Transportation. The Oregon Department of Transportation will host an open house from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Vancouver Community Library.

Herrera Beutler has been a critic of the proposal since it was announced. And while federal approval is required because I-5 and I-205 are federally owned, her power to halt the plan is limited. “I have been very clear to the governor about this; I put the message out to our senators. I need their help,” she said.

In that, Herrera Beutler touched upon an oft-overlooked aspect of the discussion: The power that could be wielded by Gov. Jay Inslee. Washington’s governor has joined Oregon’s Kate Brown and California’s Jerry Brown in an effort to collectively reduce carbon emissions while forming a West Coast “blue wall” to offset President Trump’s inattention to climate change. It is that relationship with Oregon’s Brown that provides Inslee some leverage in the discussion about tolls.

“He needs to be honest with her and tell her we come first in his mind,” Herrera Beutler said. “Southwest Washington is his constituency, and we are the bigger fish in this pond. It’s in his power to do it; if he wants to protect us he can push. This is all going to be a political pressure game at this point. Are we going to have enough backbone, in a constructive way? You don’t have to be a jerk, but you can say, ‘Hey, we’re friends, you don’t have the right to pick peoples’ pockets.'”

Herrera Beutler is correct about the need for the governor to get involved. Oregon’s tolling plan would financially impact local residents and, by hampering prospects for a bridge replacement, cause long-term harm for the region’s economy. As she said: “This dumb tolling scheme they put together really screws that up.”