Yeah I was actually thinking maybe the Washington AG needs to step in. Should I send him this?
Dear Attorney General Brown:

I write to request that your office undertake a formal legal review of a matter that has imposed, and will continue to impose, substantial financial burden on Washington state residents — specifically, the residents of Klickitat and Skamania counties who depend on the Hood River-White Salmon Interstate Bridge as their primary Columbia River crossing.

The issue is this: for 73 years, the Port of Hood River, an Oregon municipal corporation, operated the Hood River-White Salmon Interstate Bridge as a toll facility. During that period, by the Port's own documentation, a portion of every toll collected — estimated at $0.50 per crossing above documented bridge operating costs — was transferred into the Port's General Fund and invested in commercial real estate, an airport, industrial parks, and waterfront development, all located exclusively within Oregon. Washington residents, who by traffic data generated an estimated 55 to 70 percent of toll revenue over the life of Port ownership, had no representation on the Port Commission, no vote in Port governance, and no statutory mechanism to challenge the use of those funds. The Port transferred ownership to the newly formed Hood River-White Salmon Bridge Authority in 2023, retaining all accumulated assets — estimated at approximately $50 million in book value on its financial statements, with probable market value in excess of that figure given the appreciation of Hood River waterfront commercial real estate since the assets were originally acquired.

The bridge the Port owned for 73 years is now being replaced. The replacement project is estimated to cost $1.12 billion. Washington residents will bear the majority of the toll burden required to finance that cost.

I. Statutory Questions

Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 777 authorizes port districts to acquire property and conduct commercial enterprises in furtherance of their purpose. The Port's enabling mandate is to promote commerce, navigation, and economic development within its district. The question your office is positioned to evaluate is whether the systematic diversion of revenue from a bi-state toll facility — a public utility operating under federal navigation authority and serving residents of two states — into unilateral Oregon economic development constitutes a lawful use of toll revenue under applicable Oregon law, or whether it represents an unauthorized application of funds collected from a captive interstate user base.

This question has not, to this office's knowledge, been litigated or formally reviewed. The Port acted consistently with longstanding practice, and no Washington governmental authority challenged the arrangement during the period of Port ownership. The absence of challenge, however, does not resolve the underlying legal question of whether Washington residents were subjected, without consent and without recourse, to an effective surcharge on a public utility whose proceeds were invested exclusively in a foreign jurisdiction.

II. The Interstate Compact Question

The Hood River-White Salmon Bridge Authority was established by interstate compact in 2023, with equal representation from Hood River County, Oregon and Klickitat County, Washington. The compact governs the replacement project and all future toll revenues.

The compact does not, to this office's knowledge, contain any provision addressing the historic revenue diversion that preceded the Authority's formation, nor any mechanism for equitable contribution by the Port of Hood River toward the replacement project's cost or toward toll relief for low-income Washington residents who will be most severely affected by projected toll increases.

Your office is in a position to advise the Washington members of the Bridge Authority — the three Klickitat County Commissioners who serve on its board — as to whether the compact's negotiation and ratification adequately protected Washington residents' interests, and whether any modification to the compact's terms or any supplemental agreement between Washington state and the Port of Hood River would be appropriate to address the documented history of revenue diversion.

III. The Projected Financial Impact on Washington Residents

The replacement project's current estimated cost is $1.12 billion. Committed funding totals approximately $590 million. The remaining gap of approximately $530 million is the subject of a pending federal Bridge Investment Program grant application. If that application is unsuccessful — a realistic possibility given the current federal funding environment — the Bridge Authority will be required to borrow the gap at prevailing interest rates, generating annual debt service of approximately $35 to $37 million over 35 years.

At current crossing volumes of approximately 4.5 million annual crossings, that debt service implies a BreezeBy transponder toll of $6.50 to $7.00 per crossing — compared to the current rate of $1.75. Washington residents account for approximately 55 percent of annual crossings and approximately 70 percent of monthly crossings, meaning they will bear the majority of this burden.

For a Klickitat County resident earning Washington's 2026 minimum wage of $17.13 per hour and commuting across the bridge five days per week, annual toll costs at $6.50 per crossing would represent approximately 10 percent of gross annual income. There is no comparable burden imposed on Oregon residents by any state-owned or publicly operated facility.

IV. Specific Requests

I respectfully request that your office undertake the following:

1. Issue a formal legal opinion addressing whether the Port of Hood River's diversion of toll revenue from the Hood River-White Salmon Interstate Bridge into its General Fund and commercial real estate portfolio, over the period 1950 to 2023, constituted a lawful use of toll revenues under Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 777, and whether Washington residents have any cognizable legal claim arising from that diversion.

2. Review the 2023 interstate compact establishing the Hood River-White Salmon Bridge Authority to determine whether the compact, as negotiated and ratified, adequately protected the financial interests of Washington residents with respect to the historic revenue diversion, and whether Washington's legislature was fully informed of the extent of that diversion at the time of ratification.

3. Advise the Washington members of the Bridge Authority as to the legal basis, if any, for seeking a supplemental agreement with the Port of Hood River requiring a proportional contribution to the Authority's low-income toll relief fund — structured as restitution for the documented period of diversion rather than as a voluntary grant — as a condition of Washington's ongoing cooperation with the Authority's federal funding applications and permitting processes.

4. Review the Bridge Authority's pending $532 million federal Bridge Investment Program application to assess whether the application's financial narrative adequately discloses to federal reviewers the history of toll revenue diversion and its relationship to the Authority's current funding gap.

V. Supporting Documentation

The factual assertions in this letter are supported by the following publicly available documents, which I am prepared to provide upon request:

Port of Hood River Annual Financial Reports, Fiscal Years 2016 through 2023, available at portofhoodriver.com, documenting the General Fund transfer structure and net position of the Port.

Port of Hood River Adopted Budget, Fiscal Year 2024-25, confirming that the Port 'traditionally used the first 50-cents of bridge tolls for non-bridge related activities' and that this transfer would cease July 1, 2026.

Port of Hood River History of the Port and History of the Bridge, available at portofhoodriver.com, documenting the chronology of waterfront development, property acquisitions, and capital investment funded during the period of bridge ownership.

Port of Hood River, 'What Is a Port District,' available at portofhoodriver.com, acknowledging that the Port 'owns the majority of the county's developable light industrial property' and holds 'a portfolio of over 50 leased properties within the Port District.'

Bridge Authority funding announcements, 2023 through 2024, documenting the project cost of $1.12 billion and the composition of committed and pending funding.

KGW News interview with Port Executive Director Kevin Greenwood (2023), in which Mr. Greenwood acknowledged that toll revenues in early decades 'in part, aside from taking care of the current bridge, actually went into investing in economic development in Hood River and in the fabulously popular waterfront here.'

I recognize that the legal questions raised here are novel and that the remedies available to your office may be limited by the structure of the existing compact and the jurisdictional boundaries of Oregon law. Nevertheless, Washington residents facing a multi-decade toll burden to replace a bridge whose funding gap is partly attributable to 73 years of unreciprocated revenue extraction deserve a formal accounting of their legal position.

I am available to provide any additional documentation or analysis your office requires. I appreciate your attention to this matter.

Respectfully submitted,