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Kalin responds to colleague's letter of April 23 |
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TO THE EDITOR;
Last week, one of my colleagues wrote this paper complaining about the Transportation Bill we passed this year. I think residents of North Branch and all of Chisago County get pretty weary of partisanship and mudslinging. We know better than to let one of the state’s most partisan politicians tell us what’s best for our community.
Because of partisan politics in previous years, the only major impediment to building a new bridge in North Branch was lack of state funds. The bipartisan 2008 Transportation Bill changed all that. Design on the new North Branch bridge should begin this year, with construction likely in 2009.
In previous years, at least $1.6 billion of our property taxes were paying for road and bridge projects. The Transportation Bill will provide a good portion of the long-term property tax reform on which I campaigned.
Because of the Transportation Bill, the entire cost of the North Branch bridge project could decrease $4.2 million. By using state cash funds rather than borrowing for the project, city residents will likely not need to foot the bill for interest payments. As a fiscal conservative, I am proud to find ways to cut the costs of important projects like the North Branch bridge.
As to gasoline prices, I am drafting a letter to our Senators and Congressman Oberstar calling on Congress to take three steps that only Congress can take to relieve gas prices. First, they should rescind the $51 billion in tax subsidies to large oil companies, especially since they are claiming record profits.
Second, Congress should require the Penatgon to support Iraqi reconstruction by buying oil directly from Iraqi oil fields, rather than paying 2 or 3 times the wholesale rate on the open market. Last week, oil closed at $118 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Third, Congress should require President Bush to stop filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The reserve is 97 percent full, far more than it has ever been in our nation’s history. By diverting oil to gasoline refineries, energy analysts estimate gas prices would drop between 5 and 24 cents a gallon – far more than the 2 cents gas tax increase we are paying today from the Transportation Bill.
I am proud to be part of a legislature that finally worked bipartisanly to invest in Minnesota’s roads and bridges. North Branch had been waiting long enough for Republicans and Democrats to work together on transportation funding.
Jeremy Kalin
State Representative - District 17B
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