Some regional leaders are asking for more information as Metro inches closer toward a suggested path for curbing greenhouse gas emissions.
Metro planners are wrapping up the first phase of their study of the region's greenhouse gas emissions, focusing primarily on exhaust from cars and light trucks. The work was prompted by legislation at the state, which required the Portland region to reduce its per capita vehicle emissions by 20 percent by 2035.
Even though the planners are finishing the preliminary phases of their work, mayors at two committee meetings last week expressed concerns that local elected officials, and community members, could feel blindsided by Metro's climate work.
"We don't want to be in a position of, in December 2012 or February 2013, of 'Why didn't you tell us?'" said Lake Oswego Mayor Jack Hoffman at the Jan. 11 meeting of the Metro Policy Advisory Committee. "We need to have some sort of milestone, (such as) by April 1, every city council will have gone through this with staff."
The climate study has been a years-long process, with preliminary work on a regional climate strategy beginning even before House Bill 2001 was passed by the 2009 Legislature. After brainstorming any number of ways to curb the Portland region's carbon emissions, the first phase of work, essentially a feasibility study of realistic options, is almost complete.
At the Jan. 12 meeting of the Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation, Metro Councilor Carlotta Collette said the first phase was like getting the menu of options for the region to choose from.
"What's the menu of choices? And what are the likely implications of some of those choices?" Collette said. "This was the initial analysis piece, so it's a little bit more academic, but when we hit the streets we have to hit the streets with people understanding."
That understanding, or a perceived lack of it, prompted Cornelius Mayor Jef Dalin to cast the lone vote against accepting the findings from the first phase at JPACT. Dalin represents the cities of Washington County at JPACT.
"They (elected city officials) own part of the responsibility of trying to digest this information, but we've struggled to get them to understand the explanation," Dalin said. "Most of the mayors of the cities of Washington County are unclear of what the repercussions and the impacts of the study are at this point."
Kim Ellis, Metro's coordinator for the Climate Smart Communities project, said agency staff planned on using the Phase I report as a baseline for discussions with local elected officials.
"The first phase we focused primarily on MPAC and JPACT members," Ellis said at Wednesday's MPAC meeting. "As we move through the process, we'll continue to expand that circle."