Regional carbon fee, rebate could ease climate crisis
We can upgrade our cities and towns to be more walkable, bike able, and accessible by transit if we use the proceeds of a carbon fee to help build more walkable places like this section of Alberta Street in NE Portland, OR to create complete communities made up of 15-minute neighborhoods, where most daily needs are available within a walk of that distance from home.
Note: Originally published as a Citizen’s View piece by the Sherwood Gazette, this article was written in response to the approval of Metro of an RTIP amendment authorizing funding to flow to freeway expansion projects across the Portland region.
Metro Councilor Juan Carlos González must be applauded for his bold stance opposing the approval of MTIP amendments related to increasing funding for freeway-widening projects on Hwy 217 and I-205.
The lack of interest of the rest of the council in taking meaningful climate action begs the question, why do we even bother having an elected Metro council, if they’re just going to serve as the same rubber stamp to staff recommendations that non-elected MPO councils are perfectly capable of in the rest of the country?
It’s past time to stop throwing good money after bad. Our already built-out freeway system ignores the very real need to complete our region’s pedestrian, bicycle, transit, and trail networks, and reconstruct our region’s arterials to become the anchors of a pedestrian-oriented system of centers and corridors.
We must pivot from our current automobile-focused transportation system, to create an urban multi-modal network built around communities for people, rather than infrastructure for automobiles.
Shockingly, a majority of our elected leaders still support freeway expansion, despite a climate crisis that demands re-focusing on bicycles, pedestrians, transit, and arterial retrofits, in order to make real progress towards our GHG reduction goals with the sense of urgency that is required.
Whether our elected bodies are intentionally or unintentionally ducking meaningful climate action, the outcome from the climate crisis is the same, including a heat event in June of this year that took the lives of 76 people in the Metro region during a single long weekend.
Are our elected officials out of sync with the people of the Portland region? Recent ballot box results would suggest that the citizenry are in favor of bolder climate action; the vote for measure #26-201 passed with 65% in November 2018, creating the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund (PCEF).
Perhaps it’s time for the people to take direct action and place a measure directly on the ballot to enact a regional carbon fee.
This fee could raise funds to increase the climate resiliency of our region’s built environment, with a $500 monthly payment to every family in the region, providing the funds for things like new electric cars and bicycles, electric hybrid hot water heaters, electric furnaces and air conditioners, and solar panels to eliminate fossil fuel dependence.
Not only would such a measure take an important step towards effective regional climate action, it would also create local jobs focused on building post-carbon, climate-resilient communities.
The pandemic has taught us a number of lessons, one of which is what’s actually possible in a short time frame when there is a sense of urgency and the will to act.
We must respond to the climate emergency with the sense of urgency that we have exhibited in our pandemic response, and quickly begin to retrofit communities to plant trees and take other steps to reduce the urban heat island effect, reducing deaths and discomfort during heat events; make it safe to walk, ride bicycles, and use other forms of low-speed transportation in every community in our region; and build out a zero-emission transit system with gusto.
In my opinion, the next step for effective climate action requires passing a regional carbon fee with a climate rebate payment.
—-
Garlynn Woodsong is the co-founder of the national group, Place Initiative, focused on the intersection of climate change, equity, and urbanism: www.placeinitiative.org/
