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had also prevented local efforts to prohibit or restrict the buying and selling of metal in certain communities. Ms. <br />Wilson indicated that California and Washington’s state laws regarding metal theft had proved to be much stronger <br />than Oregon’s. <br />Mr. Heuser, responding to a question from Ms. Taylor, indicated that legitimate metal collectors and resellers <br />included private property owners and local businesses such as EWEB. <br />Mr. Pryor indicated that his previous employers had been victims of significant metal theft and hoped that state and <br />local strategies could be improved to address the problem as lucrative and pervasive as metal theft. <br />Ms. Piercy maintained that metal theft had a significant negative impact on non-profit entities in the community such <br />as Kidsports and Food for Lane County. <br />Mr. Simpson noted that the ratio of the street value of stolen metal to the amount necessary to repair or replace metal <br />theft incidents was enormous and that an amount of stolen metal that would net about fifteen dollars might cost as <br />much as $20,000 for the City or EWEB to repair. <br />Mr. Zelenka hoped that the City and EWEB could work with their intergovernmental partners to come up with an <br />alternate plan in the event that the State legislative efforts ultimately proved insufficient. <br />Ms. Piercy noted that the metal theft issue had recently been discussed at the City of Eugene’s City Hall Day. <br />Ms. Wilson commented that it would not be easy to balance the state and local legislative issues and hoped that the <br />discussion would continue in a productive manner. <br />Western Climate Initiative <br />Mr. Heuser provided an “Overview of the Western Climate Initiative (WCI),” with the assistance of a slide <br />presentation and demonstrated how the WCI had been formed to examine strategies for reducing carbon emissions <br />and addressing other global warming concerns. <br />Mr. Heuser noted that the WCI had been formed as a collective of the western United States and Canadian climate <br />control initiatives in response to the general lack of federal action to address global warming and its chief causes. <br />Mr. Heuser noted that due to significant differences in the legislative and decision-making processes between the <br />western United States and Canadian provinces that were participating in the WCI, it would be necessary to create a <br />model carbon cap and trade proposal on which to proceed. <br />Mr. Heuser briefly listed the WCI partners for the benefit of the board and council. <br />Mr. Heuser briefly described the primary adopted goal of the WCI as a 15% reduction in the amount of six <br />recognized green house gases from 2005 levels by no later than 2020. <br />Mr. Heuser provided an overview of the definition and various market-based implementation strategies of the carbon <br />cap and trade model that would need to be created in order for the WCI to meet its goal. Mr. Heuser proceeded to <br />describe in greater detail how carbon credits, and allowances and offsets would be utilized under the cap and trade <br />model in order to encourage public and private entities to reduce harmful emissions. <br />Mr. Heuser presented a slide detailing the specific architecture of the carbon cap and trade model for the benefit of <br />the board and council. <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council November 19, 2008 Page 4 <br /> Work Session <br />