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Anyone who has been to Europe will see many vehicles that we cannot purchase here. Over 50% of new cars sold in Europe have high-mileage diesel engines. Even BMW's and Volvo's are available with turbo diesels that get great mileage and have plenty of power. But we cannot buy them here.
I drive a VW Jetta with a turbo diesel and get up to 50 mpg. using bio-diesel. Volkswagen is still the only company selling small diesel powered cars in the US. Ford and GM make diesel powered cars in Europe, why don't they import them?
We also power our nursery tractors and delivery van with bio-diesel.
I believe that Americans would like the option to buy small, diesel powered cars that get great mileage. That would save us money and reduce our carbon footprint, especially if using bio-diesel.
Best of all would be a diesel, plug-in hybrid!

posted 4 years, 5 months ago
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As a recent candidate for State Representative, I would like to suggest and participate in a show concerning campaign finance reform. Arizona and Maine have public campaign financing which seems to me to be the eventual solution to getting rid of the corruption and influence of money on our political process.
I did not accept money from out-of-state corporations and special interest groups and had over 800 individual contributors. That was a lot of work but I was not in debt to any contributors. Over 95% of my opponents funding came from groups that have an interest in legislation and his votes reflect that. Thanks, Jim Gilbert, Molalla

posted 4 years, 6 months ago
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I am the Chair of the Molalla Community Planning Organization. Many farmers and small landowners in our region are impacted by the Palomar pipeline proposal. The process of notifying and informing landowners and stakeholders has been very poor. Meetings have been held with a week or less notice, impacted landowners have learned that the pipeline would cross their land in the newspaper, and proponents and FERC have not given out accurate inormation about the route.
This project should follow the same process as any other land use proposals do in Oregon. It is essential to complete a needs analysis to show that Oregon should suffer the consequences of this pipeline project. The CPO believes that we need to support renewable sources of energy, not the importation of fossil fuels from overseas.

posted 5 years, 3 months ago
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