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HomeMy WebLinkAbout220720 WSMINUTES Eugene City Council Work Session Eugene, Oregon 97401 July 20, 2022 12:00p.m. Councilors Present: Claire Syrett, Matt Keating, Jennifer Yeh, Mike Clark, Randy Groves, Emily Semple, Alan Zelenka Councilors Absent: Greg Evans Councilor Syrett opened the July 20, 2022, work session of the Eugene City Council in a hybrid format at 101 W. 10th Avenue, Suite 114, Eugene, OR 97401. 1. WORK SESSION: Decarbonization Roadmap City Manager Sarah Medary introduced Public Works Director Matt Rodrigues, and Good Company's J ash Proudfoot, who presented the results of the report 11 City of Eugene Community Decarbonization by 2045 for Existing Residential, Commercial, and Industrial Buildings Energy Use -Part 1 Residential -Draft". Council Discussion: • Councilor Clark -asked to confirm whether the dam removals on the Snake River will decrease supply to Bonneville by 33 percent and, if so, what the cost and reliability impact will be; asked how power supply can be increased in the short-term; encouraged Council to read the article that was emailed to them about Bonneville. • Councilor Keating-asked why Eugene solar power use is at 0.1 percent and why Eugene is not leaning further into solar power usage; asked if Council could legally create a consumption fee that targets gas-powered tools, new and used cars, kitchen equipment, etc. to fund a clean energy fund. • Councilor Groves -asked to clarify the costs per unit that was presented; noted that he has been tracking the Snake River hydro projects; asked if Oregon would get roughly the same solar power production as Germany based on the comparative climates. • Councilor Syrett -asked what assumptions regarding age and size were made about the houses being retrofit in the report provided; noted appreciation for a central project management hub that will ensure resources are being used in the best way; stated that, to her knowledge, brownouts in California are scheduled to help prevent forest fires, not due to reliability issues; noted that Texas relies almost exclusively on carbon emitting power and that is what failed in their extreme cold weather; stated that dams on the Snake River would not be removed for at least a decade; asked if NW Natural is suing the State of Oregon to get out of the climate protection plan. • Councilor Zelenka -noted that the lower Snake River dam plan would replace and then remove dams and would not impact reliability; noted that the power MINUTES -Eugene City Council Work Session July 20, 2022 Page 1 grid is not in danger and reliability is not at risk; note that coal replacement is the most pressing issue; stated his preference would be to focus on lowering the emissions created by transportation, which is the cause of 53 percent of emissions; noted that the existing housing stock is a priority; asked what the percentage of natural gas emissions from existing versus new hook ups is; stated that mobile homes and single family homes should be the focus; noted that 60 percent of NW Natural customers are low-to moderate-income and so it is important to consider the impact on them when making decisions for action plans. • Councilor Yeh -stated that the report provided shows that people are taking climate protection seriously; asked to clarify the cost of the most expensive option in the presentation; asked to clarify that the costs in the presentation include changes and upgrades that would be done in any situation. • Mayor Vinis -expressed appreciation for the recommendation for a central management team for the decarbonization project; noted that EWEB does all of the suggested home retrofit or upgrades except home repairs and coordinating the project management with EWEB will be important; stated it will be important to make sure that homeowners know what resources are available to them for decarbonization upgrades and repairs; noted that the map provided for low-income residential areas aligns with the public health overlay presentation that will be coming soon; noted that it is important to consider low-to moderate-income neighborhoods as this process moves forward; reminded Council that the federal government has grants that can be of assistance as the first steps are taken. MOTION AND VOTE: Councilor Keating, seconded by Councilor Yeh, moved to extend the meeting by 15 minutes. VOTE: PASSEDS:2, opposed by councilors Groves and Semple. • Councilor Keating-asked to confirm that NW Natural is suing the State of Oregon in order to be excluded from the state's critical Climate Recovery Ordinance goals; noted concerns and read passages from an activity book that was published by NW Natural and sent to 4J School District students. • Councilor Clark -stated that he would like to see more focus on reducing transportation emissions; stated he would like to see more hybrid options for reducing carbon emissions; noted that his previous comments regarding reliability came from an article published on newsdata.com on July 15, and urged his colleagues to read the article; asked how a new, large corporation could impact energy reliability. • Councilor Groves -stated that the brownouts and blackouts in California were due to fires and a supply and demand inequity; asked if there is any work by the federal government to increase and improve the utilities; noted that there is a backlog or backorder of transformers for power supply; stated that he would encourage work toward increasing a more robust power supply grid both locally and nationally; stated that he hopes staff and Council look at the resiliency aspect of options moving forward. MINUTES -Eugene City Council Work Session July 20, 2022 Page 2 • Councilor Syrett -shared a quote about climate change action; noted that she feels an urgency to act due to a large number of deaths caused by a heat wave in Spain and Portugal, melting airport runways, and fires destroying homes in the Pacific Northwest; stated that there is an need to move on all things and for Eugene to lead in the nation; noted that she will postpone intended motions until the next work session. • Councilor Zelenka -noted that climate change is the crisis of the time and the world is way behind stopping the impacts of climate change; stated that it will take immense effort and funding to complete the necessary changes; stated that implementing a project manager is important for this project; noted that the presentation shows that 90 percent of emissions come from space and water heating and that is where efforts should be focused. Councilor Syrett adjourned the meeting at 1:36 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Katie LaSala City Recorder {Recorded by Sara McKinney) Webcast of meeting available here . MINUTES -Eugene City Council Work Session July 20, 2022 Page 3