Portland Oregon begins Preparing for Peak OIl
PORTLAND (AP) — Learning to live with less oil is one of the keys to the energy future of the Pacific Northwest, business and government leaders say.
World oil production will eventually peak and sharply decline, according to a 2005 report to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Metro — the regional government agency that plans for the Portland metro area — has responded by completing a report, titled "Future Oil Supply Uncertainty and Metro."
The city of Portland also is bracing with the future. It established a peak oil task force in May to study measures the city can take to reduce dependence on foreign oil.
"It’s especially difficult for government to respond to problems that are unprecedented," said Rex Burkholder, a Metro council member and chairman of the Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation in the region.
More than 200 local and state officials joined business leaders last week for the "Oil, Water, and Oregon conference" at the Oregon Convention Center to discuss how changing natural resource supplies will likely affect the Pacific Northwest.
Burkholder emphasized the importance of planning for energy and resource shortages.
Officials from other cities and agencies — including the Oregon Department of Transportation — say they have already begun to incorporate the peak oil concept into their long-term planning strategies.
"We anticipate economic disruption," said Gail Curtis, manager of the Oregon transportation plan for ODOT, during a panel discussion at the conference.
The importance of land-use planning and the development of more transportation options in the form of mass transit and improved bicycle and pedestrian access were also discussed.
Oregon can meet the challenge better than other states because it has a 35-year history of "systematic and long-term investment in transportation infrastructure," said Mia Birk, a principal with Alta Planning and Design. But governments can and should do more to prepare communities for lifestyle changes, she said.
In May, the City of Portland passed a resolution to create a Peak Oil task force following the release of report on the implications of peak oil for the Portland Metropolitan area. And last week, 200 local and state officials joined business leaders last week for the "Oil, Water, and Oregon conference" to discuss how changing natural resource supplies will likely affect the Pacific Northwest.
Albany Democrat-Herald, 12 June 2006
PORTLAND (AP) — Learning to live with less oil is one of the keys to the energy future of the Pacific Northwest, business and government leaders say.
World oil production will eventually peak and sharply decline, according to a 2005 report to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Metro — the regional government agency that plans for the Portland metro area — has responded by completing a report, titled "Future Oil Supply Uncertainty and Metro."
The city of Portland also is bracing with the future. It established a peak oil task force in May to study measures the city can take to reduce dependence on foreign oil.
"It’s especially difficult for government to respond to problems that are unprecedented," said Rex Burkholder, a Metro council member and chairman of the Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation in the region.
More than 200 local and state officials joined business leaders last week for the "Oil, Water, and Oregon conference" at the Oregon Convention Center to discuss how changing natural resource supplies will likely affect the Pacific Northwest.
Burkholder emphasized the importance of planning for energy and resource shortages.
Officials from other cities and agencies — including the Oregon Department of Transportation — say they have already begun to incorporate the peak oil concept into their long-term planning strategies.
"We anticipate economic disruption," said Gail Curtis, manager of the Oregon transportation plan for ODOT, during a panel discussion at the conference.
The importance of land-use planning and the development of more transportation options in the form of mass transit and improved bicycle and pedestrian access were also discussed.
Oregon can meet the challenge better than other states because it has a 35-year history of "systematic and long-term investment in transportation infrastructure," said Mia Birk, a principal with Alta Planning and Design. But governments can and should do more to prepare communities for lifestyle changes, she said.