Portland considers policy proposals to cut fossil fuel use
Stephen Beaven, The Oregonian
Sun
Imagine, for a moment, telling the family that wants to buy your house about the leaky windows and wheezing furnace. What if you had to add insulation before putting your home on the market? And how about the possibility of shelling out more money for gasoline and parking?
These are among the proposals being kicked around at Portland City Hall to fulfill a resolution passed in March that calls for the city to dramatically cut its oil and natural gas consumption in the next 20 years.
And Mayor Tom Potter has pumped up the volume on the national stage, joining high-profile mayors including Chicago‘s Richard Daley and New York‘s Michael Bloomberg as urban environmental ambassadors.
Potter’s recent efforts are part of a marketing strategy to promote a city that considers itself a leader in sustainable development. This year, he’s pushed federal funding for light rail and the streetcar, testified before a U.S. House committee on global warming and attended a mayor’s conference to talk about energy issues. He’s lobbied legislators in Salem on biodiesel and a statewide renewable fuels standard. And in November, he’s scheduled to go to Chicago for a green building conference.
Potter, who drives a Prius, has been supportive of environmental issues. The city’s efforts are important for business, as well as the environment, Potter said through a spokeswoman last week while he was on vacation. Portland developers are working on green buildings in Los Angeles, Baltimore and Denver and local green building consultants can’t hire enough people to keep up with all the work, the mayor added.
“In practical terms, what I want to do is help Portland continue to become the place others turn to for green ideas and green business partners,” he said. “It’s an important business cluster, one that provides expertise for the rest of the country and good family jobs here.”
The resolution passed by commissioners required the city to adopt a goal of slashing oil and gas consumption in half by 2030 to head off potential oil shortages. It followed six
months of work by a city-appointed task force and is nonbinding.
Now city officials, from the bureaus to the commissioners’ offices, are working to identify ways to cut fossil fuel use throughout Portland.
If all goes as planned, the ideas will be winnowed to concrete policy proposals and presented to city commissioners by early next year, said Jim Middaugh, chief of staff for Commissioner Erik Sten.
Middaugh cautioned that not everything under discussion will become part of the city code.
“All this stuff is in the brainstorm phase,” he said.
City officials are looking at the major sectors that produce greenhouse gasses, Middaugh said, including garbage, transportation, construction and commercial and residential buildings.
They’re also studying what other cities around the world have done to limit emissions.
For instance, there was a discussion among local, state and federal officials about charging a “congestion fee” to drive in certain parts of the city, much like a program that started in London in 2003. But, for a variety of reasons, that proposal never got legs.
There’s also been talk of adopting energy-efficiency standards for houses put up for sale, similar to those in the Bay Area.
One would require sellers to add insulation, seal air leaks or upgrade furnaces before selling their homes, according to Michael Armstrong of the city’s office of sustainable development.
Another might require sellers to divulge a home’s energy performance as part of the sale.
The city also wants to create a market for products, such as insulation, that reduce greenhouse gases so it can attract the businesses that make them, Middaugh said.
But it’s not clear yet if the city will create new regulatory requirements or provide incentives to reward good environmental behaviour.
For instance, Middaugh said, if builders meet certain energy-efficiency standards, the city might then allow for the construction of a bigger building.
There are already indications of support for higher fees and taxes to curb emissions, according to a poll conducted for Commissioner Sam Adams’ office.
But Jim Chapman, president of Legend Homes, said energy efficiency is already a priority for new home builders. He questioned the need for new regulatory requirements, on top of the state building code.
“I think that’s happening on its own,” Chapman said, “with the code and the response the industry has had … to market pressures for green building and energy efficiency.”
© The Vancouver Sun 2007