Call it the zombie subsidy.
A $2 million state grant to help a coal export terminal near Clatskanie was killed in a vote by state transportation officials last August. But it refused to stay dead.
The request returned to the Oregon Transportation Commission for a second vote Thursday. And for a second time, it was killed.
Then-Gov. John Kitzhaber in January fired Catherine Mater, the state transportation commissioner who’d cast the decisive vote last year. With her gone, the project faced better odds Thursday. But Mater’s position hasn’t been filled yet. And neither coal opponent changed his vote.
