[The Bloomington City Council passed a resolution in July of 2006 recognizing the problem of peak oil. The attached pdf file includes a further resolution to create a Peak Oil Task Force for that city, which was approved by the Council on Wednesday, 05 December 2007. It also includes a report on the breadth of concerns the Task Force will concern itself with and a good reading list on the subject. Below find the Table of Contents and Prospectus of the document.]

Contents of report:

• Resolution 07-16
• Memorandum from Council President Rollo
• Prospectus
• Selected Readings

Prospectus
I. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The problems associated with world oil production peaking will not be temporary, and past "energy crisis" experience will provide relatively little guidance. The challenge of oil peaking deserves immediate, serious attention, if risks are to be fully understood and mitigation begun on a timely basis.
— Report sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy¹

Identifying and mitigating community vulnerabilities is probably one of the more important – if often unwritten – expectations we have of our local governments.
--- Post Carbon Cities: Planning for Energy Uncertainty²

Over the last 150 years, our everyday lives have been radically re-shaped by the availability of inexpensive fossil fuels. Oil fuels our cars, powers our electrical systems, provides the raw material for fertilizer and pesticides used on most of our food crops and is a key component of our ubiquitous plastics industry. Cheap oil and natural gas have clearly allowed us to achieve extraordinary economic and population growth. In fact, the United State consumes twenty-five percent of the world’s oil with petroleum alone accounting for over forty percent of the U.S.’s energy consumption and over ninety percent of its liquid fuel needs for transportation.

However, both petroleum and natural gas are finite, non-renewable resources and our consumption of these resources is growing faster than the biosphere can replace them. Indeed, it took nature 100 million years to produce the energy the world uses in one year.³ Because such consumption has outpaced production, many industry experts – including the United States government – point out that era of cheap oil is about over and that oil production will inevitably reach a maximum level and decline thereafter. This point of maximum extraction is commonly known as "peak oil."

Among the forecasts for peak production, most projections locate the peak within the next 14 years, if not sooner. A recent review of 33 peak oil forecasts found that 13 studies estimate peak between 2005 and 2012, 12 place peak between 2012 and 2022 and eight positioned peak between 2025 and never.⁴ The early peak projection date is also echoed in a report prepared for the United States Army Corps of Engineers: according to the report, production is approaching its peak and low growth supply can be expected in the next 3-8 years.⁵

If production is widely agreed to peak in the near future, we must begin to think through ways to prepare for a decline in cheap oil. According to a Congressional Report issued by the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) in early 2007, the peak will present us with unprecedented challenge: "[t]he consequences of a peak and permanent decline in oil production could be even more prolonged and severe than those of past oil supply shocks."⁶ To address this challenge, a study sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy recommends that communities take steps to mitigate the problem early:

Waiting until world oil production peaks before taking crash program action would leave the world with a significant liquid fuel deficit for more than two decades. Initiating a mitigation crash program 10 years before world oil peaking helps considerably but still leaves a liquid fuels shortfall roughly a decade after the time that oil would have peaked. Initiating a mitigation crash program 20 years before peaking appears to offer the possibility of avoiding a world liquid fuels shortfall for the forecast period.

The obvious conclusion...is that with adequate, timely mitigation, the economic costs to the world can be minimized. ...

It is our sincere hope that readers will look beyond the conflicting forecasts and focus on the consequences of underestimating the enormity of the peak oil problem. Effective mitigation means taking decisive action well before the problem is obvious.⁷

In other words, as the peaking of world oil production will cause us to re-think both our individual and community habits, we should start planning soon. Indeed, as pointed out in a recent guidebook for local governments entitled, Post Carbon Cities, local governments are uniquely suited to the task of assessing its community’s dependency on fossil fuels, particularly liquid fuels, and in mapping out prudent strategies for energy independence.⁸ With our
community’s steadfast commitment to sustainable practices, such as alternative transportation, "buy local" ethic and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, we have already started to think through ways to live healthier and more sustainably. However, we can do more. Specifically, we can develop a systematic and comprehensive mitigation plan to address those areas of our everyday life most vulnerable to a decline in cheap fossil fuels: transportation, food, water, heating, and municipal services.

To help the City prepare for a shift in energy reliance, Council President Dave Rollo proposes a Bloomington Peak Oil Task Force to explore how the peaking of world oil production might shape the City’s ability to maintain City municipal services and how the City of Bloomington might prepare for and build community resilience against energy uncertainty. The City of Bloomington formally recognized that the City must begin preparing for the inevitability of oil peak with the adoption of Resolution 06-07: Recognizing the Peak of World Petroleum Production.⁹ The establishment of the Task Force is the logical and necessary next step. The Task Force will join scores of other community groups around the country and world looking for ways to mitigate the effects of dwindling inexpensive fossil fuels.¹⁰

What follows is a preliminary outline of questions the Task Force may ask in the interest of working out solutions to the energy shortage. In devising these questions, the Task Force will look to other communities who have pioneered local efforts, such as Portland, Oregon and Tompkins County, NY. Some questions might be construed as outside the purview of City government. However, because the energy shortage will permeate every aspect of our lives and because the City’s activities are interdependent with those of the broader community and with other levels of government, it is vital that the City address both its own ability to maintain appropriate levels of service and to ensure that the well-being of its residents is protected.

The concerns documented herein are both for the City’s operations and for the health, safety and welfare of all Bloomington residents and businesses. In embarking on this plan for peak oil mitigation, the City is exercising one of its principal roles as a Sustainable City: to foster and unify the three indicia of community well-being -- economic vitality, environmental health and social equity. While, at first blush, planning for the end of cheap oil may seem like a plan that prepares for a bleak future, it actually provides our community with a unique opportunity. Bloomington is a city that strongly values its sense of community and its commitment to sustainability. Preparing for the peak gives us the collective opportunity to make a great
community even stronger.

II. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
The goal of the Bloomington Peak Oil Task Force is to assess Bloomington’s vulnerability to changing energy markets and to develop researched and prudent strategies to protect our community. The ultimate goal of the Task Force is to shift our community’s infrastructure away from fossil fuel reliance.

III. PRELIMINARY ORGANIZING QUESTIONS
The most important challenges posed by rising oil prices in our community include the interrelated problems of maintaining personal transportation, heating our homes and businesses, producing food while maintaining health, generating safe drinking water and a safe wastewater system and continuing to provide for public safety. The Task Force proposes to work toward answering these challenges by exploring strategies to foster local self-sufficiency and fossil fuel independence. The following categories sketch out some of the issues the Task Force may explore. It is meant only to be illustrative – once the Task Force convenes, it will greatly refine and expand the issues tracked under the following headers.

A. TRANSPORTATION
Perhaps the most marked rupture in our way of life occasioned by peak oil will be transportation. Approximately 95 percent of energy used for transportation is from oil.¹¹ At the onset of peak
oil, gasoline and diesel fuel will continue to be freely available, but very expensive – accessible to only a few. Many community members will likely be required to rely more upon public transit and other mode of non-auto transportation. Representative topics the Task Force may address include those that assess:

• the expansion of public transit;
• improving the quality and extent of bicycle and pedestrian networks;
• the need for transportation subsidies;
• changes to the current parking standards;
• further incentives to foster compact urban form;
• use of alternatives to asphalt; and
• other challenges to petroleum-intensive road building and road maintenance.

B. FOOD
Approximately 17 percent of all energy used in this country each year goes into growing, processing and delivering food. As the prices of oil and natural gas rise, agricultural productivity will decline and the cost of transporting food will skyrocket. 12 In assessing local vulnerabilities, the Task Force will scrutinize local food production, looking at issues such as:

• the percentage of farmland currently in production and that not currently in production;
• the steady-state productive capacity of existing and potential farmland if such land is closed to outside inputs such as cheap fertilizer and fuel;
• the amount of organic fertilizer needed to keep gardens productive;
• encouraging gardening, small-scale agriculture and community-supported agriculture;
• crops needed to sustain local health;
• challenges to self-sufficiency in a mobile, student-heavy community;
• optimal distribution configurations to reduce travel time for both farmer and consumer;
• projected need for apiaries if more fruit trees are planted; and
• preservation techniques are best suited to post-peak oil conditions.

C. WATER
In light of diminishing liquid fuels, the community will need to ensure that its water supply is secure, and water is potable for household use and available for agricultural use.
The City’s need to pump much of its water makes its water purification and sewage treatment processes especially vulnerable to a petroleum shortage. Among other questions, the Task Force may look at:

• the percentage of the City’s water supply dependent on electric pumps;
• the capacity of current water storage tanks;
• alternatives to fossil fuel-dependent inputs for conventional water purification as well as alternatives to fossil fuel-dependent inputs for repair and replacement materials;
• the viability of hydroelectricity generated by the Lake Monroe dam and the feasibility of micro-hydro systems;
• projected need for more irrigation in light of climate change;
• ensuring water safety; and
• larger-scale storage facilities.

Waste Disposal

• age and life of current sewer system;
• alternatives to fossil fuel-dependent inputs for sewage treatment as well as alternatives to fossil fuel-dependent inputs for repair and replacement materials; and
• reducing the amount of energy needed to run the City’s sewage and treatment systems.

D. MUNICIPAL SERVICES
CITY HALL
The City can anticipate increased electricity, natural gas and fuel costs. It might also experience indirect costs including: decreased property tax due to declining real estate values, reduced State and federal funding, decreased reliability of payments to the City by citizens experiencing economic hardship and an increased demand for City services such as police and fire. The City has already taken a number of steps to shift away from reliance on fossil fuels and to foster conservation. In addition to implementing measures to conserve energy in municipal facilities, the City has introduced biodiesel buses, distributed energy-efficient light bulbs, established a City Hall Team Green, hosted fora on energy efficiency, encouraged natural landscaping, encourages City employees to walk, bicycle or ride the bus (for free) and will soon partner with Duke Energy in a pilot program to install solar panels on the roof of City Hall. The Task Force will look for further ways to reduce City Hall’s reliance on fossil fuels by assessing the:

• “emergency-basis-only” electrical consumption of each City department and the adequacy of current back-up capacity;
• feasibility of using alternative energy for back-up generators and the costs and benefits of such a shift;
• most economical street lighting configuration protective of public safety;
• possibility of cooperating with other entities in shifting to renewable non-fossil fuel energy sources;
• feasibility of retrofitting the City with passive energy efficiency measures; and
• use of biofuels as an emergency fuel supply in City vehicles and feasibility of replacing the extant fleet with hybrids.

PUBLIC SAFETY
Emergency service providers such as police and fire will have the highest fuel priority and will be faced with new challenges occasioned by peak oil. The Task Force will work the City’s Police and Fire Departments to explore:

Police

• whether more officers may be needed if peak oil triggers the predicted period of social and economic dislocation; and
• if the current fleet can be retrofitted for biofuels and/or replaced with hybrids.

Fire

• the projected increase in cost for operating fire trucks
• whether securing parts for trucks and other specialized firefighting equipment will become increasingly difficult; and
• whether a petroleum shortage will lead to resident stockpiling and if so, what challenges might this present to fire safety.

E. ENERGY PRODUCTION & CONSUMPTION
HEATING
Reliance on cheap oil and natural gas has allowed many of us to live in poorly-insulated homes with little consequence. As fossil fuels become more expensive, it will be vital that the community work to retrofit homes to become more efficient to prevent hardship. Toward this end, the Task Force may look at issues such as:

• incentives for using sustainable energy sources in new buildings, including more locally-produced material;
• the possibility of retrofitting homes for energy efficiency (including, but not limited to passive solar) and subsidies that might be available for those who cannot afford to heat and/or retrofit their homes;
• the feasibility of geothermal heat pumps; and
• encouraging people to live in higher-density configurations.

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY
As the Hirsch Report and other analyses make clear, alternative sources of electrical energy such as solar panels (photovoltaics), wind power, and hydropower cannot begin to alleviate the near-term transportation crisis, since our petroleum-based equipment will take decades to replace even if it’s assumed that we will have the means to do so. But the overall problem will be much worse if we’re also lacking affordable electricity. In the interest of fostering use of alternative energy, the Task Force may investigate:

• federal, State, and local incentives that might encourage residents install solar power;
• hydropower-generating capacity of the Lake Monroe dam; the cost of such a facility and jurisdictional issues;
• cooperating with I.U. to explore alternatives to fossil fuels; and
• cost/benefit analysis of local alternative energy sources such as: hydroelectricity; solar; geothermal and biogas.

F. HEALTH CARE
If ready access to health care is limited because of both greatly-constrained transportation and high unemployment, how can our community help assure that those who need help receive it? In large part, this topic is beyond the purview of this Task Force. However, the Marion County, Indiana Health Department is exploring the implications of peak oil for health care. The Task Force may work with, and draw upon the findings of, this group. This category should also address ambulance services. A review of the work of the Marion County Health Department can be found at: http://postcarboncities.net/node/178

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NOTES
1. Hirsch, R. L., Bezdek, R., Wendling, R. Peaking of World Oil Production: Impacts, Mitigation & Risk
Management. U.S. Department of Energy. National Energy Technology Laboratory. February 2005. p.5 (hereinafter, The Hirsch Report).
2 Lerch, Daniel. Post Carbon Cities: Planning for Energy and Climate Uncertainty. A Guidebook on Peak Oil and
Global Warming for Local Governments, p.4. Post Carbon Press. 2007.
3. Eileen T. Westervelt, et al., Energy Trends and Their Implications for U.S. Army Installations, a report prepared
for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, ERDC/CERL TN-05-1, September 2005. See also, International Energy Agency, World Energy Outlook 2005, p. 125
4. Crude Oil: Uncertainty about Future Oil Supply Make it Important to Develop a Strategy for Addressing a Peak
and Decline in Oil Production, GAO-07-283. February 2007. According to senior energy program advisor for Science Applications International Corporation, Robert Hirsch, the date of the peak is uncertain "because much of the data needed for an accurate forecast is either proprietary to companies, state secrets of major oil exporting countries, or politically/economically biased." Hirsch, R.L., "Peaking of World Oil Production: Recent Forecasts", World Oil 228:4 (2007).
5. Energy Trends, supra.
6. Crude Oil, supra.
7. The Hirsch Report, supra.
8. Post Carbon Cities, supra.
9. Resolution 06-07: Recognizing the Peak of World Oil Production can be accessed at:
http://bloomington.in.gov/egov/docs/1153747651_559687.pdf
10. See, for example: Portland, OR; San Francisco, CA; Willets, CA, Oakland, CA; San Francisco, CA; Sebastopol,
CA; Denver, CO; Boulder, CO: Tompkins County, NY; Franklin, NY; Austin, TX; Plymouth, NH; Lawrence Township, NJ; Leigh Valley, PA; Ohio Peak Oil Action Committee; Addison County Relocalization Network
(ACoRN) in Middlebury, VT; Massachusetts Climate Action Network; Harvard Local; Vermont Peak Oil Network;
Communities outside of the U.S. have also initiated working groups such as Kinsale, Ireland; Totnes, UK; Working, UK; Hamilton, Ontario and Burnaby, BC. Notably Sweden plans to be the first country in the world to be oil independent by 2020.
11. Crude Oil. GAO-07-283
12. See Lester Brown, Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble (NY: W.W. Norton & Co., 2006).