Sen. Kevin Ranker, D-Orcas Island, released the statement below following the passage of a statewide transportation plan Monday from the state senate:

“There is no doubt that every corner of our state is in dire need of transportation investments. That is not up for debate. What is up for debate is the method we employ to make those investments.

“I am very concerned that this plan comes at the expense of our kids and our environment.

“This plan is funded in part by taking almost a billion dollars away from money targeted for education and from money dedicated to cleaning up toxics in our environment.

“We already have very difficult education funding decisions to make and a Supreme Court order to fulfill. I question the wisdom of taking almost a billion dollars away from education before we have even had a chance to make additional investments.

“I also believe investing in transportation at the expense of our environment is a false choice. In addition to taking money away from the environmental cleanup account, this proposal unfortunately includes a poison pill that would reroute millions of dollars in transit investments into pavement if the Governor takes action on climate change.

“For these reasons, I joined all 23 Democratic senators in proposing a clean transportation package, one that gets Washington moving by building critical infrastructure and creating hundreds of thousands of jobs without seriously impacting our schools or the health of our communities.

“Unfortunately that clean proposal was not accepted.”