Tuesday night liveblogging: Gubernatorial debate on the environment

Carla Axtman

Tuesday night at 6:00PM  three Oregon Democratic Gubernatorial candidates will debate their solutions for Oregon's environment and natural resource issues.

Republican Allen Alley and Democrats Bill Bradbury and John Kitzhaber are scheduled to appear together at Portland State University's Smith Ballroom for the event. It's hosted by Environment Oregon, Oregon Environmental Council, Oregon League of Conservation Voters, and the Oregon Chapter of the Sierra Club and is expected to cover a wide range of environmental/natural resource topics.

I'll be in attendance at the debate and provided I can get the wi-fi to work properly, will live-blog the proceedings. I don't know if our commenting issue will be fixed by then. Fingers are crossed (until it's time to live-blog, natch).

To provide some pre-debate context, I've done a little looking around for the three candidates views on enviro-related stuff:

Bill Bradbury:

On global climate change: Bradbury has been a strong advocate for solutions for global climate change. A short video on his website provides some info on that issue.

On Green Energy Mortages: Bradbury's Bank of Oregon proposal includes green energy mortgages. Through state chartered banks, Bank of Oregon would offer a program for homeowners who upgrade their properties with energy efficiency retrofits a lower interest rate on their mortgage. This would allow homeowners to invest in energy efficiency without seeing an increase in their monthly mortgage payment and reduce their carbon footprint. Bradbury's campaign says this proposal would employ thousands in the energy efficiency field while saving energy.

On Columbia River Crossing: According to Jeff Mapes, Bradbury and Democratic rival John Kitzhaber differ on this issue. Citing a piece in the Portland Mercury, Mapes says Bradbury is  "..calling for a radically different plan that calls for seismic upgrades to the current spans across the river and a much smaller new bridge that would handle just transit, bicyclists and pedestrians."  Mapes also notes that Bradbury's plan closely mirrors the proposal offered by Metro Councilor Robert Liberty.

On LNG: Bradbury is an unequivocal no.

Coal: Bradbury was an early town-crier on the issue of closing the Boardman plant. The campaign notes that Bradbury was calling for closure of the Boardman coal facility well before PGE announced their decision to close it.

On a personal note: At the Rebooting Democracy Conference in Bend this weekend, I had a very good and substantive discussion with Bradbury on the issue of urban and rural reserves. Bradbury seemed especially interested in the county-wide complaints on Washington County's processes and on the amount of foundation farmland set aside for likely development.  I'd hoped to have a discussion on that particular topic with Kitzhaber, who was also in attendance. Unfortunately Kitzhaber wasn't feeling well on the evening I tried to catch him and we were unable to have that chat. Hope springs eternal that we'll get one sometime before the primary.

John Kitzhaber: As with other issues he's addressed, Kitzhaber has released a white paper outlining his environmental proposals. 

Streamlining government agencies that deal with enviro issues:

During the course of my campaign, I will lay the groundwork for a strategic plan that integrates the state emission reduction goal, the Renewable Energy Standard, aggressive conservation and energy efficiency strategies, the Low Carbon Fuel Standard and the Renewable Fuel Standard into a comprehensive state Energy and Climate Strategic Plan. Implementation of this plan will begin within the first 100 days of my taking office. This plan will be developed and implemented in a manner that dissolves the many agency and stakeholder silos that are currently hindering progress. I will introduce new goals for other economic sectors that link new jobs and business opportunities with reduction of greenhouse gasses.

Investment in energy efficiency and renewable production:

I believe that the single most important thing we can do to jumpstart investment in energy efficiency and renewable production is to leverage our state and federal dollars by creating a clean energy financing platform and strengthening existing financing mechanisms. Beyond mere tax incentives, this clean energy development fund would pool fragmented state and federal energy-related dollars. It would offer clean energy projects a range of much needed financing options from loan guarantees to grants (and, yes, tax incentives where they work), coordinate with banks and private foundations, and create more jobs by unlocking and leveraging frozen private and pension credit markets. We should even explore providing financing against the carbon and renewable credit benefit provided by clean energy projects and, in the case of efficiency projects, the future savings drawn from the efficiency. In short, this mechanism would provide a way for Oregon to provide the technical and financial support needed for banks to begin lending more money for clean energy projects.

Integrating education, workforce and research:

1) continue cutting edge research and development on renewable energy and efficiency technologies; and 2) create a workforce for the new renewable and energy efficiency economy.

Our status as a leader is further evidenced through Oregon’s successful application for the Department of Labor’s State Energy Sector Partnership grant. Through this grant, Oregon will receive funds for over 1000 participants to earn a degree or certificate related to targeted clean technology industries.

This training will prepare workers for occupations in energy efficiency and renewable energy industries, including occupations that have long-term demand, offer the potential for high wage, career pathway jobs, and support local sourcing and innovation. Program partners will develop Program partners will develop
new curricula, adapt existing curricula, and complete development of the Oregon Green Tech Certificate.

I also support the step made by the 2009 Legislature in passing HB 3300, which requires the Oregon Workforce Investment Board to develop a statewide Green Jobs strategic plan. This plan will be submitted to the Legislature in 2011 and I am committed to ensuring its effective implementation.

Finally, I will pursue, along with our congressional delegation, the establishment of a National Laboratory in Oregon. This will allow us to better leverage our ingenuity and talent and will further position us to benefit environmentally and economically by playing a key role in the development of other exciting technologies.

Protecting environment/healthy communities:

Continue "watershed councils". The concept was to provide funding, incentives, and technical resources to these community groups, and let them work with neighbors to improve the health of their own watersheds. Over the last dozen years, the number of watershed councils has grown from two to more than eighty. These groups have worked side by side with Soil and Water Conservation Districts and the cooperative extension services to engage landowners in voluntarily improving agricultural, timber, and other land use practices.

Land use/management:

In particular, I would advocate for the following:

• Simplify the existing complex and duplicative permit process for habitat restoration in a watershed by engaging all relevant parties in local decision-making.
• Integrate water conservation and energy efficiency into this local decision-making process with the goal of developing energy-efficient neighborhoods that minimize transportation needs and energy use and maximize water and habitat protection.
• Include carbon accounting as a part of the urban and suburban planning process, thus driving the transformation to higher densities and a focus on transit systems.Create a collaborative process for siting clean energy projects.
• As Oregon’s renewable energy portfolio moves to the mainstream, we need to integrate our overall climate goals with our need to protect precious lands and wildlife. Inevitable conflicts need to be resolved through a structured process that includes clear guidelines, transparency, and timeliness.
• Create incentives and investment avenues for development of distributed energy production facilities, and the necessary infrastructure to support the transmission and distribution network for smart grid and electric car conversion applications.

Water issues: 

• Develop a consistent and holistic water policy including further development and implementation of the strategic water policy recommended by HB 3369.
• In particular, anticipate where climate change is likely to increasingly influence water availability and quality – whether by reason of winter flooding or late summer drought – and introduce these considerations into water management policies and practices.
•  Institute an aggressive water measurement program and water user education program geared toward “water rights and responsibilities.”
• Invest in watershed improvements that will produce natural storage and improve the hydrograph of streams impacted by past and current land use practices.
• Enforce existing water laws rather than create a whole new system that won’t be enforced. Effective enforcement could stretch the available water in many places.
• Where surface and ground waters are closely interconnected, revisit water management tools to ensure that such connections are recognized in the issuing and regulation of water rights.
• Actively explore how to fund and develop environmentally sound supplies to supplement late summer flows for wildlife and for humans, and address the issue of water quantity.

More on Fish and Wildlife, working with private land ownership and enviro health/toxics reduction here.

Allen Alley:

From his website:

On the Columbia River Crossing:

Expedite the process of construction of a new Columbia River Crossing. We cannot have economic vitality while our largest city is isolated by an antiquated highway connection. Investments like the I-5 bridge are vital to the long-term economic health of the region. International trade is responsible for tens of thousands of Oregon jobs, but we are not the only port city available to exporters and importers. If it costs too much – in both time and money – to send goods through Oregon, companies will go elsewhere.

On LNG:

I support the construction of a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal in Oregon and new pipelines that can serve our market. We need a Governor willing to put Oregonians to work building the next generation of energy infrastructure. This is also important because early adopters of green technology will have a market advantage. New technologies: Build capacity to support electric vehicles, smart grids, and consumer-level renewable energy. Supporting these technologies will spur Oregon innovation – both local and imported – and ensure that we are at the front edge of new energy and transportation technologies. Why does Oregon lead the world in the footwear and apparel sector? Because we developed the intellectual infrastructure that led others to locate here.

Expanding the grid:

Expand the region's electric transmission system to meet the needs of our future growth. The investment should ensure adequate capacity for traditional energy sources as well as integrate increasing amounts of wind power and other renewable energy (solar, geothermal and biomass) and maintain system reliability.

Hydro power: Maintain and enhance Oregon's existing hydro power resources so that they can be used to meet electric demand and assist with integrating intermittent wind resources into the power grid.

Alley also has an entire section on Forest Management.

By Carla Axtman March 29, 2010