Annnnnd, here’s the race for Sam Adams’ seat. You know the drill.

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

Chris Smith
Position sought: Commissioner #1
Website: citizensmith.us
Public financing status: Awaiting certification

The question includes an incorrect premise – the report does not call for a reduction in growth. What it does call for is reducing consumption of certain fossil fuels by 50%. From the executive summary:

1. Reduce total oil and natural gas consumption by 50 percent over the next 25 years.

Interestingly it does not include coal (which has not peaked, but contributes significantly to global warming). As Commissioner I would work to reduce all non-renewable energy sources. In fact, I would set an ambitious goal to convert Portland and the rest of our region to 100% renewable, carbon-neutral energy in 15-20 years.

To achieve this we need to frame this not as a question of sacrifices or limits, but of investment. Just as we invested after WWII in a system of national highways that propelled our economy (and unfortunately some very unsustainable land use patterns) and as we invested in the ‘60s to put a man on the moon, propelling innovative technologies, we need a major program of investment in renewable energy (solar, wind and local biofuels) and investment in a pattern of development that supports reduction in energy use.

While some of this depends on national policy, there is a lot that we can drive right here. More than a third of our carbon footprint is from transportation and another third is from buildings. Cities have significant control over both. Portland is already a leader in smart growth, alternative transportation and sustainable construction. We need to take all of these to the next level. In doing so, we can build a green industry cluster in our region that will fuel our local economy as we sell that knowledge, technology and service to the rest of nation and world.

Growth will actually be part of the solution. As we gain 300,000 new neighbors in Portland over the next 20-25 years, we’ll keep redeveloping the City to accommodate them by adding more housing and jobs along transit corridors, building additional transit capacity and making all of our City more friendly to walking and biking. The result is that things will be a lot closer together! Even if you live in a single-family neighborhood adjacent to a transit corridor, there will be lots of goods and service available to you – in walking or biking distance – on that more populated transit corridor. We won’t need to drive as far or as often as we do now, and even for longer trips we’ll have more alternatives to driving alone. We’ve already seen it – in this region each of us drives fewer miles than we did ten years ago.

And the business community will find more than ample opportunities in this investment program. There may be grumbling, but smart business people recognize when the status quo no longer provides opportunity for them and look for new opportunities. And they’ll produce green jobs in the process.

As a transportation and neighborhood activist, I’ve been working on these issues for more than 10 years, not just because they head off big future problems, but also because they contribute to livability now. As Commissioner I’ll keep moving this agenda – farther and faster.

Amanda Fritz
Position sought: Commissioner #1
Website: amandafritzforcitycouncil.com
Public financing status: Certified as a publicly financed candidate

To combat global warming, energy consumption, and every other challenge Portland faces, the first step is for each one of us to take ownership of the problem and responsibility for our own part of the solution. City Commissioners, business owners and workers, and individuals all must play significant roles. No one sector - government, business, or residents - is solely at fault, nor alone capable of correcting centuries of pollution, degradation, and waste. I will work with my colleagues on the City Council, staff, businesses, and every Portlander to implement immediate practical solutions to this urgent problem. The excellent Peak Oil Task Force Report adopted last year lays out the goals and strategies needed. I posted specific Action Agenda proposals to meet those goals, on my campaign blog several weeks ago. Actions for addressing oil dependency I will start by prioritizing funding for services that are basic to the City's core mission of providing amenities for citizens in every neighborhood, including:

* Sidewalks to schools so parents don't have to drive
* Safe bicycle routes and facilities
* Excellent bus service within walking distance of every home, working with Tri-Met to expand transit service and hours and decrease fares to increase ridership
* Affordable housing close to jobs so people are commuting shorter distances

Providing these services will help everyone reduce energy consumption. As each Portlander does his/her part, political pressure will mount to address major pollution sites where emissions far surpass domestic output. We should consider Cap and Trade systems, which are agreements between government entities that give polluters credit for reducing emissions then allow them to trade the credits to polluters failing to meet the Cap. A successful Cap and Trade scheme adopted on the East coast in 1990 reduced sulfur dioxide emissions by 80%. The Western Climate Initiative in which Oregon participates is setting up a similar system to control carbon.

I will work with business owners and citizens to raise standards reducing pollution and energy use. Better regulations, more incentives, and improved enforcement are needed. Good jobs with living wages are important, and they don't have to be at the expense of the environment and the health of our planet.

Actions needed to address Peak Oil and global warming range from personal lifestyle tweaks and funding of basic public services to wonky policy and Big Picture changes. Using the words of Randy White, Peak Oil advisor (see endorsement on my blog), I will provide the voice of leadership that empowers and encourages all our citizens to take part in making Portland sustainable, based on cooperation and smarter policies.

Jeff Bissonnette
Position sought: Commissioner #1
Website: portlandersforjeff.com
Public financing status: Awaiting certification

Reduction of energy usage and increasing efficiency of usage has been a long-time goal of the City of Portland, even before the Peak Oil Task Force. The task force's work simply underscored the importance of reducing energy use and increasing energy efficiency. First, let me outline what my top priorities as commissioner in this area would be:

1) Sponsor a resolution to refer a measure to the ballot removing the prohibition in the city charter of mandatory weatherization programs for buildings built before 1979 without a public vote.

Very few people know that the city charter currently disallows the city from establishing a mandatory weatherization program for buildings built before 1979 without first passing such a program on the ballot. While a proprosed program would likely be approved, the more important question is why such a prohibition exists in the first place. Portlanders need to be asked to remove this obstacle to making our existing building stock more energy efficient, thereby saving millions in energy costs and reducing energy usage.

2) To demonstrate city leadership, establish a requirement that all city owned or controlled buildings must reduce energy usage by at least 30 percent by 2015.

This parallels work I have been doing at the state level to require state agencies to reduce energy usage. Public agencies need to walk the talk and show the way as they work with residents and businesses to help reduce their energy usage. Currently, the discussions at the state level call for a 20 percent reduction in energy usage by 2015. Portland should be able to muster the political will, technical know-how and public support to do more.

3) Create incentives for the design and construction of "net-zero" buildings and put Portland on a path to issue building permits only for net-zero buildings by 2020.

"Net-zero" buildings are those that generate as much energy as they consume and operate on a carbon neutral basis. Design, building and operation of net-zero buildings is an exciting development in the clean energy world. Since buildings account for 40 percent of energy consumption nationally, by having buildings not only reduce their energy usage but also act as their own power plants, we can address both peak oil and global warming much more effectively. Similar efforts are already well underway in cities like Boulder, CO and Austin, TX and Portland needs to establish a leadership role in this sector.

4) Establish a "Green Jobs Corps."

This initiative would mirror one being undertaken in Oakland, CA to create a job-training pipeline connecting workforce development initiatives with emerging clean energy job opportunities. It would require a a collaboration among community-based organizations, unions, the City of Portland and private companies to provide Portlanders with job training, support, and work experience so that they can independently pursue careers in the new energy economy. The workforce is not in place to meet the rising demand in the clean energy and green economy sectors. By investing in its workforce, Portland can establish itself as the hub of these sectors and provide an economic foundation that can anchor our local economy for the next decade or two.

Second, I would like to challenge the blanket statement that "the business community prefers an unsustainable status quo." Although my recent experience in the state legislature with big polluters resisting a legislative proposal to simply collect information on carbon emissions would suggest such a statement to be true, my discussions with many businesses on the local level demonstrate that it is not. Businesses recognize that we are operating in a rapidly changing environment and that their customers and clients are increasingly aware of the need to operate in a more sustainable manner. Indeed, simple bottom-line financial analysis by many small business owners is highlighting the need to explore new ways of doing business. In just the past month, I have heard proposals from business owners that parallel many issues raised by the Peak Oil Task Force:

• increasing delivery service to customers to reduce the amount of the fee that will be required by the new Safe, Sound and Green Streets proposal for customer trips to a business;
• exploring zoning changes so that housing, shopping and workplaces are closer to one another;
• establishing a "village" approach to development to highlight specific amenities in various parts of the city but ensuring that those amenities can be accessed by multiple modes of transportation, not necessarily depending on cars alone;
• finding more efficient delivery methods of freight and goods to stores;
identifying improved local markets for goods and services;
• and the list goes on.

Many in the business community want to be part of the discussion on how we can respond to peak oil and global warming so that they can continue to make a living while making a difference and be responsive to their customers' wishes. Advocates for addressing peak oil and global warming who ignore that willingness by the business community do so at their own peril.

John Branam
Position sought: Commissioner #1
Website: john4pdx.org
Public financing status: Awaiting certification

There is absolutely no doubt that the dangers related to climate change, as outlined in the Peak Oil Task Force Report, are real. Portland's, and America's, reliance on fossil fuels (particularly foreign oil) not only adversely affects our natural environment, it has the legitimate possibility of destabilizing our regional economy as well as our national security. Dependence on that which we cannot produce locally is growing increasingly problematic.

For these reasons and for their efforts I applaud the recommendations made by the Peak Oil Task Force and I strongly urge their implementation. Cities must be the focal point for fighting global warming, and we cannot afford to wait while senior governments delay action. The good news for Portland is that we have led the way among American cities, and our experience thus far helps us see the opportunities we have by taking responsibility for action.

Our response to peak oil and to global warming should be the same: use less energy and use better sources. For buildings, our challenge is making investments in advanced energy efficiency, clean energy technologies, and clean, district-scale infrastructure. Each of these efforts alone is an investment, which would produce a financial return. Progress has been slow, in part because building owners have not shown a willingness to make these investments.

The City can play a leadership role in order to make these investments attractive to the right investors through policy direction and by creating a more attractive scale for investment. If we know we need to make these investments across the city over the next 20 years, we can create the framework today and chart our own future. This role is something only cities have the ability to do, and the good news is that doing so will bring substantial investments in exactly the kinds of activities that we want. Further, this proactive approach will be much more effective for us than waiting for mandates to be handed down from federal and state government.

Portland has been a leading city in the U.S. when it comes to addressing the challenges surrounding our transportation systems. We have been working with other levels of government to reduce dependence on the car, and we have only begun this effort. In addition, we can accelerate the pace by which vehicles convert to clean energy technologies by fostering better integration of vehicles into our energy infrastructure. For example, hybrid vehicles already are shifting to electricity (see pluginpartners.org). If we know that vehicles, especially those that could serve our neighborhoods, are going to plug into our buildings and power grid, what if we created a program to make this happen faster? Again, these investments are going to have to be made, so we could benefit by understanding this and making our city the most attractive place in the country for these investments.

The direction I see Portland taking is to turn this challenge into an economic development strategy for the next 20 years. We import virtually all of our energy, which means we get almost no economic benefit beyond what consuming energy allows us to do. If we capture the economic benefits of advanced efficiency and energy producing technologies, our economy will grow and we will create new jobs. The influx of solar and wind companies into Portland and Oregon is evidence of what the future could hold for us.

Already, many of our Portland businesses are rapidly growing as a result of programs and policies that have focused around sustainability. In fact, many of these emerging companies have begun to organize around the issue, such as those that participate in PDXLounge. Businesses around the world know that Portland is a place for leadership. I would encourage these efforts by providing the leadership and needed capacity.

Instead of fearing the changes that we know are coming, we should embrace these directions and recognize that using less energy and better forms of energy can be good for us. But we have to be strategic and leadership must come from Portland's elected leaders.

Portland has the opportunity to define its own future. Currently, the City's Office of Sustainable Development is preparing two new sets of policies. Commissioner Saltzman has already proposed a new Green Building Policy that will focus on the reduction of carbon pollution created by the construction and operation of buildings. Later this year we will see proposals for an updated, more aggressive Global Warming Action Plan. Combined, these two initiatives could become a blueprint for how cities can transform their built environment.

It is pivotal for Portland to continue to lead the nation in our response to global warming for the natural environment we all cherish and our economic vitality. Future leadership at City Hall must make this a priority, regardless of portfolio assignments. I am committed to doing just that.

Charles Lewis
Position sought: Commissioner #1
Website: charleslewis.com
Public financing status: Certified as a publicly financed candidate

Actions speak louder than words – especially when coming from would be politicians. In addition to founding and running Ethos Music Center, my wife and I also own a green business called Portland Duck Tours. This emerging small business uses an amphibious bus to give land and water tours of Portland and the surrounding area.

Sarah and I started this green business based on a Triple Bottom Line philosophy that gauges business success based on financial, environmental, and social impact. We could have purchased a much cheaper amphibious bus that ran on conventional gas, but decided to use a vehicle capable of running bio-diesel so that we could minimize the impact of our tours on the environment. The manufacturer’s warranty only covered a bio-diesel blend of 5%, but we wanted to run on 100% bio-diesel, so we intentionally voided our warranty. Our new vessel cost three times as much as the old gas alternative, and we took a considerable financial risk by voiding our warranty so that we could use a more environmentally friendly fuel.

It’s easy for would be politicians to say how they will impact other people’s businesses – it’s another matter to actually run a business while making socially and environmentally sound business decisions. I’m the only candidate in this race who has actually run a small business. When I’m on City Council, I will work with Portland’s business community to help our community reduce its dependence on fossil fuels in some of the same, innovative ways I have while running my own business. Working together, we can establish a more just, equitable, and sustainable community. Find out more about our efforts online at www.CharlesLewis.com