The oil industry said it's backing down from an effort to overturn Oregon's clean fuels law at the ballot. Instead, the Oregon Fuels Association will try to get lawmakers to modify the law when they renew debate on a highway funding plan in 2017.
The law requires distributors to cut the amount of carbon in the fuel they sell in Oregon. State analysts say it could increase the price at the pump from four to 19 cents per gallon over the next decade.
Republicans in the state legislature pointed to that potential increase when they decided not to support a transportation spending package. And oil industry lobbyists vowed to overturn the law at the ballot.
Now those oil companies say they won't do that after all. An environmental group that pushed for the clean fuels law celebrated the decision. Renew Oregon suggested in a press release that the reason the oil industry is backing away from a ballot measure is that Oregon voters support the law as it’s currently written.