I was out yesterday, so here’s a double header of candidate questions. First up is the race for Erik Sten’s seat, with our reader’s question:

Last year the city adopted recommendations made by the Portland Peak Oil Task Force but little action has been taken. If one of the major solutions to global warming and peak oil is to reduce energy consumption and with it, reduce growth, how would you as a city commissioner approach this goal knowing that the business community prefers an unsustainable status quo?

-Jonathan Brandt
SE Portland

Here’s Nick Fish, followed by Ed Garren, Jim Middaugh, and Harold Williams Two.

Nick Fish
Position sought: Commissioner #2
Website: nickfish2008.com
Public financing status: Not participating in program

Preparing our city for the implications of Peak Oil is especially daunting in light of the estimate that the Portland Metropolitan area will add approximately 1 million new residents by 2025. The major challenge we face is to add these new citizens while we sustain the livability that Portlanders love and expect. Unlike the past, this new wave of Oregonians cannot rely on a carbon intensive lifestyle. The city’s response to the projected effects of Peak Oil goes hand in hand with its action plan to address Global Warming.

Carbon Dioxide does not respect city boundaries. Every citizen is connected to the air we breathe and the water we drink. This is why I support the recommendations of the Metro 2040 Growth Concept plan. Portland needs to be more than a leader in developing regional solutions. We need to provide concrete examples of carbon reduction that other cities can follow.

Some estimates indicate that approximately 40% of greenhouse gasses are generated by carbon dependent transportation. Several of the recommendations of the Peak Oil Task Force focus directly on our transportation infrastructure. I will be a strong advocate for the greening of our transportation infrastructure by supporting:

• Mixed-use development with pedestrian-friendly “urban centers” throughout the region, especially along existing and proposed MAX and Streetcar lines and at other 2040 regional and town centers. If people live close to convenient and pervasive transit, they will use it.
• Increased integration of green energy generation by providing public education and incentives to encourage choosing alternative energy over carbon based power generation.
• Financial incentives to non-drivers and car sharing. I will propose the Portland expand the use of shared cars by allowing any shared car to park free at all times in metered parking areas.
• The Safe, Sound and Green streets initiative. Beyond badly needed street and transportation infrastructure maintenance, the initiative funds a number of critical initiatives for human powered transportation, especially a network of bike boulevards and increase integration of the bicycle with existing mass transit.

I am also keenly aware of the potential impact of Peak Oil on our citizens. I will advocate for smart density planning. Well designed communities can form the strong fabric of a social safety net when life becomes difficult. This is why I strongly support work of the Coalition for a Livable Future. The coalition is doing groundbreaking work to help policy makers rethink what makes for good neighborhoods by emphasizing Environment, Education and Equity as the core principles drive public policy and neighborhood planning. I will support a land use planning process that requires a sustainability and equity study as part of the existing planning process.

Finally, I will work to demonstrate that green public policy is also good for the bottom line. More businesses are beginning to understand that sustainable practices make good economic sense. Citizens are becoming better informed about sustainability and are demanding that their workplaces become greener. Portland is promoting, incenting and sometimes requiring green building standards. Builders are also discovering that green buildings make good economic sense. I will work to make Portland an international center for green building and industries. This will diversify the city’s job base and make Portland, and our region, the logical first place to apply new practices and technology.

As a Portland City Commissioner, I will support many of the thoughtful recommendations of the Peak Oil Task Force. Portland has made a commitment to reduce our carbon footprint. We must continue to approach policy decisions by asking a simple question: Will our choices result in a reduction of carbon consumption and greenhouse gases?

Ed Garren
Position sought: Commissioner #2
Website: edforportland.com
Public financing status: Participated, did not qualify

This is an important question, and the future of our planet depends on the answers we can commit to in the next 20 years. We are entering into a period of transition from a petroleum based economy to the next technology. I am pleased to mention that the treasurer of my campaign, Jeff Gerritsen, is a long term member of Portland Peak Oil and has offered comments and innovation with regard to Peak Oil issues in my campaign.

Imagine 1895 for a moment. It was a horse based infrastructure, along with the emergence of electric trolley's and coal fired steam locomotives. If someone had predicted that in 20 or 25 years, you would drive your wagon up to a metal box and pump a liquid into a tank, which would run a motor that would push your wagon without a horse, you would have that person committed for insanity. No one could imagine it. Today, we are staring at that same change point. We only know and see our current technology and cannot really imagine a world without it. The technology is available to make the change, but it is not yet familiar.

It will be necessary to reduce our usage of all carbon based fuels. World petroleum output is diminishing and at the same time more people want petroleum. But neither of these scenarios necessarily mean that growth must be reduced. What it means is that we must find ways to use different sources of energy that are sustainable, including wind and solar, in addition to our existing hydroelectric power.

Portland is very well situated in terms of available hydroelectric power. In addition, there are significant opportunities for wind generation of electricity. I recently attended a Portland Business Alliance breakfast forum and the president of Vestas Wind Energy (http://www.vestas.com/en) spoke about the tremendous wind resources that exist in the Pacific Northwest. He told us that Denmark is now generating 30% of it's electricity from wind power.

The company wanted to build a production facility in Portland, both for domestic production, and to export to Asia. Somehow, current leadership did not put the pieces together to bring the company here, so they are building elsewhere. We missed a great opportunity because someone was not thinking about the future.

The technology is also here to generate solar power. The city could require that all roofs in all new construction have as many solar panels on them as possible. There are also solar shingles, which are put on a roof just like regular shingles. Ways to encourage these sorts of roofs, which will return power to the electrical grid during daylight for other uses, like transportation, must be encouraged, if not mandated.

Also, there is a lot of business to be made building the new sustainable infrastructure that will be needed for the future. And there is every reason why Portland should be a place where that technology is showcased and produced. There are tremendous economic opportunities for growth in sustainable technology, but it takes some vision and some willingness to take risks on innovative ideas, along with a commitment to making the changes in attitude and action that will be necessary to facilitate a transition to a sustainable economy.

We should consider that an economy based upon "growth" is really an economy based on consumption and waste. This is the only model taught in many business schools, and it is an economic system that is doomed to failure. We can re-invent an economy based upon sustainability, and we can foster the growth of sustainable business and industry, but leadership must be flexible and willing to take some innovative risks to transition to new technology.

One specific example is public transportation. With our supply of electricity, and the prospect of wind and solar generation of electricity, we can consider replacing our petroleum consuming bus system with electric busses. The myth of Bio-Diesel is that it cannot replace our petroleum needs and it uses "surplus" food that we once shipped to poor countries. Also an LNG powered bus may be "clean" but it still creates Carbon Dioxide (global warming gas) and it is using a petroleum product that is a finite resource. Even if the electricity to power an electric bus is generated by a fossil fuel generator, the overall carbon emissions are less than with the individual engines used in each bus. If we increase wind and solar production, then the busses and battery autos can be powered from a sustainable energy source.

We can encourage and provide for "Plug In" Hybrid and a return of battery electric vehicles (see the documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car") which use significantly less petroleum than regular cars.

The Fuel Cell powered car is a "bait and switch" perpetrated by the petroleum industry. We can reject that experiment and utilize existing technology which is much more advanced than most of us realize.

New manufacturing and office buildings can be built which are "green" in their design and energy use.

We can specifically provide economic de-incentives with regard to carbon consumption (an increased auto/small truck tax based on engine displacement for example).

We can also create incentives to recycle more plastic. Plastic is made from petroleum and right now, tons of plastic "disposable" items end up in landfills. There is no reason why we can't start recycling virtually ALL plastic.

Portland has always been the leader in sustainability and there is no reason why we cannot respond to Peak Oil, Global Warming and get ahead of the curve on both. But it takes dedicated leadership, which will make long term investment in sustainable opportunities, rather than short term solutions which continue to use the obsolete technology of consumption and waste.

By taking a leadership position in new sustainable technology, Portland can have economic sustainability, and continued "growth" based in living in harmony with the planet, instead of exploiting and destroying it.

Ed Garren
www.edforportland.com

Jim Middaugh
Position sought: Commissioner #2
Website: middaughforportland.com
Public financing status: Filed request for certification last week

I support the recommendations of the Peak Oil Task Force. In fact, I am working now to advance them and I will continue to advance them when I am on the City Council.

Thanks to the leadership of Erik Sten the City of Portland is one of the only major cities in the world that can legitimately claim to have reduced its carbon emissions while hosting a growing population and a growing economy. Commissioner Sten is responsible for leading the City's efforts to address global warming.

Portland’s efforts to concentrate growth, promote renewable energy and conservation and to create alternatives to auto-based transportation are important to our past success. Continuing those policies will be essential but insufficient.

One of the commitments made by the Council when it adopted the Peak Oil Task Force report was to update the City of Portland-Multnomah County Climate Action Plan. As Erik's chief of staff, I've helped the City's Office of Sustainable Development develop the next update to Portland's Climate Action Plan. We've appointed a steering committee of local leaders -- many of them business leaders -- who are working as we speak to develop new recommendations for City and County action. Both the City Council and the County Commission unanimously endorsed the work that I’m helping lead.

One of the first steps I took was to bring City and County staff together in a partnership with experts from Oregon's universities to review Portland's progress to date and to identify the best next steps. The partnership also included transportation and climate experts from Environmental Defense, a leading, national environmental group. I also worked in partnership with Metro Councilor Rex Burkholder to convene Metro’s Transportation Policy Advisory Committee to work with the experts as well.

I’m proud of the partnerships I’ve built with regional officials and the best climate experts in our state. I am committed to building on those partnerships to ensure Portland remains a world leader in addressing peak oil and climate change. Specifically, I will work to improve the City’s performance in three key sectors – energy, transportation and land use.

Energy Use
I will focus on implementing the recommendations of the Peak Oil Task Force, which call for a 50 percent reduction in fossil fuel use by 2030. I will support efforts to provide incentives for development that exceeds local and state energy efficiency standards and to charge fees for those that don’t to pay for the incentives.

All buildings that use City funds should strive to meet the highest LEED standards for energy efficiency. Even affordable housing investments should seek the equivalent of LEED performance levels and the Council should ensure that adequate funds are available to protect affordability. We should not pretend we are saving money by scrimping on efficiency in the name of affordability when the costs of higher energy bills are simply shifted to the tenants who are least able to afford them.

I support the City’s efforts to ensure that 100 percent of municipal energy is generated from renewable sources. I took a half-time leave from my regular city job to help with the City’s effort to purchase PGE and bring it under public ownership. Although the city was unsuccessful, our efforts helped ensure that PGE was not sold to Texas Pacific.

I continue to believe that locally produced energy is the best way to ensure we focus on conservation and renewables. I support continued City involvement in the regulation of local utilities to protect ratepayers and to push for aggressive investments in clean alternative sources of energy.

Transportation
The city should be leading the charge in Salem for an increase in the gas tax to reduce fuel use and to fund transportation alternatives and maintenance projects. The City should continue to partner with local and Oregon farmers to create more biodiesel options and infrastructure.

As a matter of principle, people who drive the most should pay the most, with exceptions for lower-income people who have no other options. Pay-as-you-go insurance, sliding fees based on gas mileage, weight or fuel types should be investigated. The City should implement these policies where possible and support them when the authority to do so lies elsewhere.

I believe the city should investigate the possible use of congestion pricing and congestion fees to improve the efficiency of our transportation system, thereby reducing fuel use and emissions. Revenue generated should be used to support alternative transportation options, efficiency improvements for freight movement and fee waivers for low-income people who are required to drive.

Investing in more bike- and pedestrian-friendly routes and education, safety and enforcement also will be a key part of my focus on the Council. I’ve been a bicycle commuter for years. It’s an integral part of what makes Portland such a great place to live and coincides with many of my personal and policy goals.

It’s time for Portland to take the next step to meet the growing needs of Portland’s cycling community. A thorough bicycle master plan with additional bike lanes, bike boulevards and signaling is essential. Additional safety measures need to be identified and implemented at scores of dangerous intersections throughout town. Most importantly, bikes, walking, and transit all need to be factored into the City’s comprehensive plan and implementation strategies, not only to benefit our environment but also to help solve our transportation challenges and preserve neighborhood livability in the face of a growing population.

Portland’s efforts to be pedestrian friendly also need a boost. Especially in Southwest Portland where many neighborhoods have no sidewalks and growing areas in East Portland, a lack of adequate signaling and increased traffic are resulting in pedestrian and cyclist traffic fatalities — even one is too many. Children walk and bike to school far less than they used to, with safety a primary concern. I believe that walking and biking is an environmental issue and it is a fundamental part of a good quality of life. I will continue the push to make Portland friendlier to cyclists and pedestrians alike while also reducing conflicts between bikes and cars.

Land Use
More than 1 million people are projected to move to Portland in the near future. To keep our city livable I will fight for creative, equitable, effective policies and investments in our transportation system and changes to zoning and development patterns that give people the option to rely less on cars and more on other forms of transportation.

I will fight to ensure the new Portland Plan encourages the development of compact neighborhoods that allow people to make choices that don’t involve the need to drive and that include the potential for district energy programs and substantial use of solar and other renewable energy sources. I support policies that discourage excessive parking and that support the creation of complete communities that allow people to walk to work and to essential services, entertainment and recreation.

The Portland Plan also must ensure that as we grow more dense that adequate amenities like parks, schools, post offices, community centers, grocery stores and other services are incorporated into our plans so are City remains attractive and affordable for families, seniors and young members of the creative class – the backbone of our future economy.

In Closing
Portland has earned a reputation as a sustainable city. Far from being anti-business, sustainability is becoming the centerpiece of our economic development strategy. I will support PDC’s Economic Development Department in its efforts to grow local, sustainable businesses and to recruit new sustainable businesses to our city. I will support efforts to encourage all businesses to become more efficient. If incentives are insufficient I will be open to considering new regulations.

Our efforts to address Peak Oil and global warming will make us more livable and more competitive now and in the future. Our success to date has been based on actions that were smart to do for reasons other than climate change or peak oil – cost savings, livability, etc. It’s time to move beyond the actions that made sense for other reasons but also reduced emissions to actions that are aimed solely at addressing the twin threats of peak oil and climate change.

I am committed to leading the charge for those actions.

Harold C. Williams Two
Position sought: Commissioner #2
Website: none
Public financing status: Not participating in program

I would continue to help promote bike riding, public transportation, carpooling, walking, energy saving light bulbs, and exploring alternative fuel sources.

Tamara DeRidder
Position sought: Commissioner #2
Website: home.earthlink.net/~tdr4pdx
Public financing status: Participating, no contributions reported yet

Did not respond by deadline

Nick Popenuk
Position sought: Commissioner #2
Website: popenukisportland.com
Public financing status: Participating, 15 contributions as of 1/22

Did not respond by deadline