by Melanie D’Arcy

Portland vastly increased its green street cred this past year with a landmark resolution on "Peak Oil," or the understanding that oil prices will inevitably rise as global consumption increases and the availability of cheap oil declines.

While not the first major US city to pass a Peak Oil Resolution (that was San Francisco), the transparency of Portland’s process and its clear impact on city policy make it ripe for emulation by other cities grappling with environmental issues and increasing fuel and energy costs.

The Portland City Council established the Peak Oil Task Force in May 2006, involving 12 citizens from a wide variety of backgrounds working with 10 city staffers. Over the course of six months, the group held more than 40 meetings and involved more than 80 additional citizens in reviewing information about the likely impacts of Peak Oil.

Bill Scott, Chairman of the Task Force, said the committee was impressed by what they found.

"We thought we might be more reassured by looking into the issue, but it was just the opposite," he explained. "It’s clearly an enormous problem. You have so much of the population of the world moving into the energy consumption mode so rapidly, any hope that it’s going to be a smooth transition is disappearing."

On March 1, 2007, the Task Force issued Peak Oil Resolution No. 36488, accompanied by an 86-page Final Report outlining its findings and recommendations. The resolution intends to "establish a goal to reduce oil and natural gas use in Portland by 50 percent in 25 years and take related actions to implement recommendations of the Peak Oil Task Force."

The recommendations contained in the Final Report call for dramatically reducing the use of fossil fuels and strengthening community cohesion for the energy challenges ahead.

The top-level recommendations include infrastructural and policy changes such as increased energy efficiency in buildings and transportation, and more City support for urban food production and sustainable businesses. Also recommended are land-use patterns that support decreased transportation needs and more walkable access to expanded City services, particularly for lower income residents. On July 1, 2007, the annual city budget committed nearly 1.4 million dollars to Peak Oil related measures. All programs funded contribute toward the ultimate goal of vastly reducing oil and natural gas dependence in Portland. The breakdown of the $1.4 million is as follows:

• $150,000 for the City’s Office of Transportation to develop strategies to implement the Task Force recommendations. "Essentially, the City is trying to figure out how they can get people out of their cars. It’s already happening but we still need to do more," says Michael Armstrong, Deputy Director of the Office of Sustainable Development and a city staffer on the Task Force.
• $91,000 for policies and programs to further develop Portland’s urban agriculture under the Sustainable Food initiative. As part of this initiative, the Diggable City Project supports pilot projects on City lands being okayed for community gardens and other agricultural uses.

The budget allocates 1.14 million dollars for "sustainable economic development", including:

• $350,000 for biofuels development, outreach, education, and grants.
• $100,000 for the SolarNow! program. "Oregon offers an easy tax credit for solar, but people don’t know how to access those incentives or install solar," explains Armstrong. The program works with businesses and homeowners to make it easy to install solar technology.
• $475,000 to provide technical assistance to businesses that want to move towards sustainability, including helping with business plans and helping facilitate cooperation between businesses.
• $150,000 to support green building efforts by businesses and homeowners alike, in ways such as removing any barriers in the permit process, and in policy development.Additionally, $15,000 was earmarked for development of a sustainable economic development plan, and $50,000 for efforts to acquire renewable energy for City operations.

According to Armstrong, the city has made good progress on all of these items since July, with more programs and policies on the drawing board for 2008.

One such program, the Safe and Sound Streets Proposal, would fund traffic safety improvements that support multiple modes of transit, such as walking, biking, and driving, and promote more family-friendly bike lanes.

Another program in the works would give incentive payments to all new construction that exceeds city code for energy efficiency. Fees levied on buildings that merely meet code would fund the pay-outs to overachievers.

Portland already leads the nation in progressive planning features, such as recycling, bike paths, green space, light rail, and efforts to control sprawl.

"The city of Portland is going in the right direction. But we should do more, and Peak Oil encourages us to do it faster," says Steve Dotterer, Principal Planner with the Portland Bureau of Planning.

Michael Armstrong agrees that, "[although] relatively few residents are aware of Peak Oil as an issue per say, they know that to save the planet we need to use fewer resources. If they were to take a look at the Plan, people would support the solutions and realize that these are things they’re trying to do anyway."

But public awareness of Peak Oil as a scenario in its own right is poised to grow. The Task Force’s work was published just in time to contribute to Portland’s 20- year Vision Plan. Published in September 2007, the Vision Plan names Peak Oil as one of the top five trends expected to shape the future of the city in the decades to come.

Another public document on which the Final Report is having a direct impact is the Portland/Multnomah County Local Action Plan on Global Warming. This document, the first of its kind in the nation, has existed since 1993 but will be updated to reflect the recommendations of the Peak Oil Task Force.

In addition, the Final Report has already started to reach a national and even global audience, as the City of Portland sponsored its presentation at the Houston World Oil Conference this past October.

With Peak Oil Resolution, Global Warming Action Plan, and 20-year Vision Plan in hand, Portland is emerging as a city prepared to meet the challenges of our time. One can only hope that Portland’s example will spark thoughtful assessments of reality – with accompanying resolutions and budgets – in other US cities.

Thanks to Melanie D’Arcy for permission to reprint this article.
Photo credit: Amy Goodman