12 Apr Brigid Shea – 2012 Candidate for Mayor of Austin – Answers to Multi-Environmental Issue Questionnaire

Each 2012 Austin City Council candidate was sent a Multi-Environmental Issue Questionnaire with 28 questions broken into seven subject areas. The blank questionniare as well as information about the live, televised May 23rd Election 2012 Green Forum is here.  Below are the written answers submitted for Brigid Shea.

General

• What do you believe that Austinites think are significant environmental issues? How do you plan to address those?

Though Austin has many environmental issues, perhaps the most pressing is the availability of water and the projections for this region to experience extreme drought and heat over the next 30-40 years.   Austin also has some of the highest water and wastewater costs of the top ten cities in the state. This affects the affordability and livability of our city. Austin lags behind cities like San Antonio in terms of water reuse and conservation. Ben Franklin said it best – “ We’ll know the worth of water when the well runs dry.”

We can and must do better. I’ll pursue policies to better conserve and reuse water and to fix our leaking water lines which waste millions of gallons each month. I want us to be the most water wise city in the nation. With the impact of the last year’s drought still being felt, it is time to implement a comprehensive plan to reduce water consumption by our government and our citizenry.

• What positive contributions have you made to environmental efforts in the past?

My greatest source of professional pride comes from my work to protect Austin’s great natural beauty and its remarkable environment.  I came to Texas in 1988 as state program director for Texas Clean Water Action and am currently on its national board. We achieved many environmental improvements, including passing the first law in Austin to limit the use of ozone-depleting chemicals. I also coordinated the passage of similar laws across the nation. I helped East Austin leaders shut down the tank farm. In 1991 I headed up the Save Our Springs (SOS) Coalition, which passed, by voter initiative, one of the toughest water quality ordinances in the country.

As a member of the Austin City Council (1993 to 1996), I continued to push for water quality protections. I also pushed for the first wind energy contract for Austin Energy and I took the lead in defeating efforts to sell Austin Energy. Upon leaving office, I returned to SOS and worked with several high-tech companies, convincing them to relocate off the aquifer and promote smart growth. I was a co-founder of Livable City, which promotes sustainability for Austin. I worked closely with Texas Campaign for the Environment to create the Computer Take-Back campaign, which succeeded in getting computer manufactures to recycle their e-waste and I continue to work with them on other initiatives. I am a co-founder of Carbon Shrinks, which works with large carbon-emitters to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and one of our projects won the TCEQ Environmental Excellence award. I also worked on the ACWP with the City of Austin and helped secure $3.7 million in federal grants to reduce sewer spills. The program won EPA awards and produced a documented improvement in water quality in many city creeks.

• What is the role of the sustainability officer and what changes–if any–would you like to see to increase sustainability practices in Austin?

The role of the sustainability officer is to help set goals, identify best practices and coordinate implementation across city departments and in the community to make Austin more sustainable. I would provide more support, especially by coordinating with local groups and schools to educate the population about the need for sustainability and highlight progress and successes.

• What is your strategy for engaging YOUTH and SCHOOLS in sustainability initiatives?

As a former education reporter and a mother of two, I have a deep concern for engaging youth in our community endeavors. I see firsthand that youth have a passion and commitment to their world that is empowering and powerful. As an Austin Councilmember in the mid-90s, I worked with AISD to set up city-school district partnerships. I will use this experience to develop new partnerships that engage our schools and children. Included in my active focus of working together, across governmental and community groups, I would work with the sustainability officer to devise more outreach and programs to engage youth and schools.

Food

• What steps do you believe the city can take to ensure long-term sustainability of our local food system, including production, marketing and distribution, and preparation and consumption? How can the City make good food easily available and affordable for
• all of us living in Austin?

Local food production has a beneficial effect across the spectrum – improved environment due to lower transportation costs, a healthier population and lower health care costs for eating fresh, non-processed food, and support of local farmers who use safe production of the food. With my experience of bringing together different groups, I will lead an effort that seeks partnerships with Travis County and AISD, commerce, tourism, local agriculture, farmers markets and nonprofits to promote healthy living. Fostering and promoting urban gardening and farming is a first step and can be tied to the composting initiative in the Zero Waste program. The city can help promote farmers markets and other means of marketing/distributing locally produced food (as a tourism draw and with a buy local campaign) to make purchasing locally produced food a priority. The city can also partner with the county health district and area health programs to promote healthy eating habits that include fresh locally-grown food.

Development and Transportation

• How will you take use of resources and resource availability into account when making decisions about local economic development and incentives?

We should ensure that any incentives we grant result in development that is sustainable and delivers the greatest benefit to the largest number.

• Do you support construction of SH 45 SW? Why or why not?

I have opposed SH 45 for many years and will continue to oppose it as mayor. A scientific consensus report issued in the late 90’s recommended that infrastructure investments be steered away from the sensitive watersheds for  Barton Springs as the best approach to protecting the aquifer.  I support this sound science.

• Going forward, what are your plans for improving Austin’s pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure?

We need to recognize that walking and cycling are modes of transportation that are critical to mobility in Austin, especially as Austin continues to grow. Increasing capacity for automobile traffic is not a fix-all to our city’s traffic woes. Currently, the lack of interconnectedness with cycling and pedestrian routes needs to be addressed to allow for a safe commuter experience. Comprehensive plans are needed that take many types of current and future commuter traffic flow and patterns into account. Roadway improvement/expansion projects must include accommodations for pedestrians and bicyclists.

During my prior term on the council in the mid-1990s, I pushed hard for improvements and will continue to do so as mayor. I’ve had bicycle commuters in my family, so I have seen firsthand the shortcomings of Austin’s bike lane “system.” Unfortunately, these shortcomings lead to issues that are even worse than a lack of mobility in our city. It seems that every year there are more and more auto-pedestrians and auto-cyclists accidents. With interconnectedness, and by designing a city friendly to alternate modes of transportation, we can improve mobility, and, more importantly, save lives.

• Campaign finance reports for Council candidates are not due until the end of April, after Early Voting starts. In the past, candidates have made environmental promises which some believe were undermined by the influence of political donations. In the interest of disclosure and transparency, will you tell us who is bundling contributions for your campaign?

It isn’t hard to find an example of a campaign tainted by an appearance of an improper relationship between an incumbent and a bundler for that incumbent who is reaping millions in city contracts and deals.

In the most recent city council campaign filings one lobbyist representing Armbrust and Brown bundled over $41,000 in contributions to council incumbents, with most of the money coming from members of his law firm and their spouses. That firm represented Formula One and the Marriott Hotel, which each got substantial fee waivers and city reimbursements.
This year, I was proud to call for major ethics reforms to limit the influence of money on city policy and shine more light on City Hall politics.
My proposal would:
·         Strictly limit the ability of influential lobbyists, contractors and their firms to “bundle” large sums of donations for Council candidates; and
·         Introduce a major new “transparency” law that would require individuals and business entities seeking contracts, incentives, waivers or zoning changes to disclose all their political contributions over the past three years to Council members, plus any contributions to PACs or third party organizations aimed at influencing city elections.
The new reforms would limit lobbyists and their firms to $1,750 total in bundled contributions. This proposal is more extensive than what was recommended by the Charter Revision committee because it sets a total limit for lobbyists and all employees of their firms. I am proposing an additional recommendation that would extend the same limits to firms that have professional services contracts over $100,000.
These disclosure reforms I am proposing go beyond what the Charter Reform Committee recommended, including requiring that entities seeking contracts, incentives, waivers or zoning changes disclose their contributions to council members over the prior three years, including their contributions to PACs or third party entities aimed at influencing city elections.
In addition as a matter of good government, the council should immediately adopt the following Charter Committee's recommendations:
·         Require within one business day the reporting of contributions and expenditures made within the last nine days prior to an election, including those made by PACs.
·         Establish a publicly searchable database of all city council candidates' contribution and expenditure reports.
I believe these reforms will go a long way to opening up Austin's political process. We need to end the culture at City Hall where the doors are always open to lobbyists and the costs of new development are passed on to the citizens of Austin. To have a system that people trust, we need to strengthen our rules so voters know exactly who is spending big money in an attempt to influence these elections.
The only bundlers I’ve identified so far are women who hosted a house party, none of whom have contracts with the city.

• What will you do to create or attract high-wage, family-supporting green jobs to the Austin and Central Texas areas? What will you do to ensure that hard-to-reach populations and communities of color have access to these green jobs?

For many Austinites, it seems that tax incentives for some businesses have been a greater priority than supporting living  wages and affordability for our families. It’s significant that despite our rapid growth, our poverty rate is increasing. As mayor, I’ll pursue a vision that keeps Austin unique and beautiful and shares the fruits of prosperity with all our citizens. We can partner with local high schools and ACC to train workers for green jobs. Organizations like Capital Idea can be important partners in helping with outreach, education and training. With my experience in environmental initiatives and my track record of building partnerships with nonprofits, education, and government, I will pinpoint those who are falling through the cracks of economic prosperity to develop win-win green jobs. The city wins when our environment is protected. The community wins when the education system teaches skills that are highly valued and lift families out of poverty.  I am also a member of the Chamber’s Clean Energy Council which does strategic recruitment of clean technology companies.

• Politicians often say they are against suburban sprawl – yet they approve water and sewer lines and zoning changes that create it. How are you different? How will you ensure that development pays for itself, i.e. the extension of water and wastewater lines? Do you support or oppose giving a discount on electric and water rates to ratepayers living outside the city? Why or why not?

I believe developers should pay most of the cost of extending infrastructure. It is not fair or equitable to make existing residents pay all of the costs of extending infrastructure to new development  like F1, as the city now does.  I will move to amend Chapter 25-9 of the city code to reduce the city's reimbursement of infrastructure extensions. I will also work to have the impact fees reflect the true cost of infrastructure for new development instead of the current practices which shift the cost to existing residents.
I also oppose giving discounts on water or electric rates to those living outside of the city.  This policy encourages more growth outside the city and fuels sprawl.

• Between urban rail, expanding the current light rail system, bus rapid transit, a monorail system or HOV lanes on major roadways, toll lanes which transportation options do you believe would be best and worst for Austin and why?

In the short-term, bus rapid transit is the most economical way to serve a growing population. While I have always been a supporter of rail, I am concerned that the current leadership has failed to make a compelling case to the voters for a rail bond proposal to be successful. As population density increases along our transit corridors and nodes, we will then have the ridership and tax base to support light rail. I do not support building a toll lane on MoPac.

• As more families are forced to move further out of Austin to find housing they can afford, our traffic is becoming more congested, earning us another distinction as the third most congested city in America and our air quality deteriorates as a result. What would you do to address these interconnected issues? How would you help more residents secure affordable housing in the city?

The problem will get worse if we continue to add jobs that don't pay employees sufficiently to live in the proximity of those jobs. We should focus on developing jobs that pay living wages (with good benefits) and ensuring that there is workforce housing. This will require investment by the city and partnering with non-profit organizations and private developers. We also should require more in the area of affordable housing units in return for subsidies.

• Do you believe that the Formula 1 deal is an “historic agreement” for sustainability? Please explain why or why not. What are your concerns around Formula 1 and what should be done to mitigate the impacts?

No, it's not. The F1 Teams themselves have sustainability programs that are far more advanced than Austin’s. The sustainability requirements put forward by the city council have essentially no performance standards. It is not clear what, if any, carbon offset or mitigation efforts will be undertaken. The problem is not the impact of the racing cars themselves – 99% of an F1 team's carbon emissions are from transportation and supply chain. That does not include the impact of transportation and related activities of spectators, journalists and event officials. While they have shown no intention to do so, COTA should coordinate with the FIA Institute to develop a model sustainability program for both motorsport events and motorsport venues.

Zero Waste

• The City Council has passed a plan to reach 90% diversion of our discards from landfills by 2030 and 95% by 2040. Would you support any changes to the Zero Waste plan? Phase 1 of the Universal Recycling Ordinance (URO) requires all multifamily buildings, office buildings, and institutional properties in the City to recycle. In Phase 2, the City will add a citywide policy for diverting compostables. Phase 3 will include single-family residences in the requirement to recycle and compost. Do you support all three phases of this ordinance?

Yes, I would support changes to the Zero Waste Plan, and, yes, I would support all three phases of the URO.  Also I would work with community groups  to educate the community about the bag ban rather than  spending $2 million  of our hard-earned tax dollars on a public relations campaign.

• Do you believe Austin should ban certain problem materials, such as styrofoam, to keep them out of our waste stream? If so, which materials should we target? If not, how will you deal with problem materials?

It would be difficult to ban all such materials from our waste stream, as there are not adequate substitutes for some of them. We need to distinguish between styrofoam used for disposable consumer packaging and that used to maintain efficacy of prescription drugs, for example. I would direct city staff to look for ways to avoid problem materials. The City must set the standard and lead by example.

Water, Streams and Trees

• The health of Barton Springs and its aquifer are always a concern to us. How would you use land acquisition to protect the aquifer? How much would you allocate for this purpose in upcoming bond packages? What new ideas do you have to stop pollution of our waters?

While I can’t say a specific sum without knowing the other needs across the community, I will push for a substantial sum for open space as it is an investment that will serve future generations. We can leverage this investment by seeking Federal funds and by encouraging protections of additional lands through conservation easements.

• Austin’s residential water rates are among the highest in Texas, and unless Water Treatment Plant 4 is put on the shelf, the cost of water will continue to rise. How will you stop the increase in Austin’s residential water rates?

Unfortunately, the WTP-4 horse is out of the barn despite the best efforts of many concerned citizens – we may be stuck with paying for it. That means we have to continue to generate revenue to repay the bonds. I would look at increasing the rates on the top user tiers – those who are using excessive amounts of water should pay for the capacity that allows them to do so. I will also scrub the budget to find savings on WTP4.

• We’re in one of the worst droughts in Texas history yet we are still watering our lawns. What stronger measures do you see as necessary to conserve water beyond the city’s current goals? How do we get to 140 GCPD or less?

We can beat 140 GCPD through more aggressive conservation and reuse. Residential indoor water use of around 40 GCPD is achievable, so we have opportunity for much improvement.

• Austin has lost thousands of trees during the recent drought, posing a serious threat to our urban forests. What will you do on the Council to protect and replenish these forests? How do these concerns figure into your priorities when it comes to drought response?

If our climate is indeed changing, we should be replanting with tree species that can tolerate heat and drought. We should be replacing them with tree species that, once established, require little or no supplemental irrigation.  We also need to better educate our citizens on how to save existing trees.

• The City of Austin is currently engaged in a public input process to amend the Watershed Protection Ordinance to help preserve east side creeks. Based on this input the Watershed Protection Department will probably recommend headwater setback buffers to be set at 64 acres in east Austin and the ETJ. Would you support or oppose allowing developers to use expanded creek protection setbacks as part of their Park Land dedication requirements?

I support allowing developers to use expanded creek protection setbacks as part of their Park Land dedication requirements.

Air

• What air improvement strategy or set of strategies would you advocate to help clean our air? How can the City leverage its purchasing power to impact air quality?
• Pure Casting Foundry emits toxic metals and carcinogenic compounds/particles through the manufacturing process of steel and aluminum products. Residents have registered odor complaints from this facility and others, most of which are located East of IH 35. The TCEQ has installed an air quality monitor on top of Zavala Elementary, which is located directly south of Pure Castings. Would you support the passage of an air quality nuisance ordinance as part of the solution? Also, What steps would you take to relocate this facility in order to protect the health of the children at Zavala Elementary and area residents?

Yes. Adoption of a nuisance ordinance may give the city the leverage to have Pure Castings relocate.  I would direct staff to work with them to find a suitable site for relocation.

Energy and Austin Energy

• Fayette finally has sulfur dioxide scrubbers installed after many years of delay. Fayette doesn’t have SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) technology to reduce NOx emissions that contribute to ozone. Fayette has not installed the technology to control the fine particles (PM2.5) that cause premature deaths and asthma attacks within a few hundred miles. Do you support getting Austin out of Fayette, and off of fossil fuels and nuclear power altogether? How do you propose that we do so?

If elected, I will actively seek real ways to make Austin coal-free by 2016. Some of our key challenges to making it happen include: 1.) Ongoing problems with the South Texas Project, and 2.) the city's PPA with the East Texas biomass plant. The 20 year commitment to purchase power from the biomass plant at a high cost (12 to 16 cents per KWH depending on whose estimates you believe) could prevent Austin Energy from pursuing other lower-cost renewable energy. I will seek all our legal options on this ill-advised contract.

Selling Austin's share of Fayette may not remove the problem, as ERCOT has the authority to order the plant to be operated if projected demand is high with respect to system generating capacity. Even if Austin owned it outright and wanted to mothball it, ERCOT could order it to be operated if required to meet system demand.
The best near-term solution is to aggressively pursue energy conservation and demand reduction, while investing in distributed solar. Lowering the amount of energy we use will automatically increase our percentage of energy from renewables, and further reduce the need for coal-fired and nuclear power.
I would also work with mayors and other elected officials around the state to explore ways to move us toward a more sustainable energy future through conservation and renewable energy.

• As the board of directors for Austin Energy, the City Council sets environmental policy for our electric utility. What are your environmental priorities for Austin Energy for the next 3 years? What will you do to increase energy efficiency savings so that we meet our 300 Megawatt savings goal by 2020? Proposed hikes to minimum charges are a disincentive to conservation. Will you raise minimum charges for residential users, and if so, by how much?

The quickest and least expensive way of decreasing our reliance on fossil and nuclear fuels is to reduce both use and demand. We have made great progress with our conservation programs, Green Building and advancement of energy codes. I would expand these, and put more emphasis on public education.
I would also work with AE and other city departments to pursue federal grants to create a model program for cities to respond to the effects of a changing climate. Austin can and should be a national leader in adaptation and resiliency planning for municipalities.
As for the electric rate hike, I believe it is a failure of leadership that the city has not had an increase in 17 years, and that it is trying to make up for that inaction with an enormously lopsided and unfair rate hike. City leaders should have directed staff to come back with a fair and affordable rate case. They should also have hired an independent consumer advocate from the beginning, as we did when I was on the council for the last rate case.  I would work closely with consumer advocates to design a reasonable adjustment to the minimum charge.

• Currently Austin's water rates have 5 tiers. The lowest "lifeline tier" is less than 10% of the highest tier. Do you support a similar rate structure for Austin's electric utility?

I support a similar rate structure with a few differences. Most water users can substantially reduce their water use voluntarily by not irrigating their lawns, but many low-income Austinites live in housing that is not energy efficient (i.e., rentals) and therefore have higher energy use. We need to set electric rates so that these people are not harmed economically, while at the same time pursuing ways to increase the energy efficiency of all housing, including rentals.

• The City Council adopted the Energy Conservation Audit and Disclosure ordinance in 2008 as a key component of the Climate Protection Program, with the goal of retrofitting older properties with energy efficiency measures at the point of sale. The program has not yet lived up to expectations, with only 5% of properties sold retrofitted. Would you support mandating some energy efficiency improvements when a home is sold?

I would rather work to develop a market for energy efficient mortgages so that buyers could roll the cost of energy efficiency improvements into their mortgages and have the savings on their utility bill count toward their qualifying income.

• What role does rooftop solar energy have in Austin’s renewable energy mix?

Rooftop solar energy can play an extremely important role in reducing the expense of responding to peak demands by generating electricity on site. The importance of this is very significant, as it is key to reducing our use of/reliance on fossil fuels and keeping electric costs affordable. Given this, it is unacceptable that city budgets over the past three years have reduced local solar incentives by 55%.

Other resources to learrn more about Shea:

Shea has a campaign website and facebook page

Here is a video of Shea sharing her campaign priorities.