09 Apr Election 2012 Green Forum

In order to help clarify the environmental positions of the candidates running for Austin City Council in the Saturday May 12th, 2012 election, environmental community leaders have collaborated to produce a multi-environmental issue candidate questionnaire and live, televised candidate forum called Election 2012 Green Forum.

The live screening of Green Forum 2012 took place 6:00pm – 8:00pm Monday April 23rd on channelAustin cable channel 10, and streaming online.

Co-moderators Brandi Clark Burton of Austin EcoNetwork & Reed Sternberg of Texas Green Network and Shades of Green Radio on KOOP 91.7FM asked questions in regards to protecting Austin's air, water, land and other natural resources, many of which are follow-ups to the candidates answers to the Multi-Environmental Issue Candidate Questionnaire (see bottomo of this blog to see just the questions).

The forum was co-hosted by:

• Austin EcoNetwork
• Austin Zero Waste Alliance
• Clean Water Action
• Environment Texas
• PODER
• Public Citizen
• Save Barton Creek Association
• SEED Coalition
• Sierra Club Austin Regional Group
• Solar Austin
• Texas Campaign for the Environment
• Texas Green Network
• Texas League of Conservation Voters

Click on the highlighted names of the candidates in the four contested Austin City Council races to see their responses to our multi-environmental issue questionnaire:

Mayor: Lee Leffingwell, Brigid Shea, Richard "Clay" Dafoe
Place 2: Mike Martinez, Laura Pressley
Place 5: Bill Spelman, John Duffy, John A. Rubine, R.A. "Bo" Prudente, Audrey Tina Cannon, Dominic "Dom" Chavez, David Y. Conley
Place 6: Sheryl Cole, Shaun (Dylan) Ireland

[Note: If there is no highlighting/link we did not received a completed questionnaire. TIna Cannon's was received too late to include her in the candidate Forum]

• Wednesday, April 25, 8:00 to 10:00 PM
• Sunday, April 29, 7:00 to 9:00 PM
• Monday, April 30, 8:00 to 10:00 PM
• Wednesday, May 2, 8:00 to 10:00 PM
• Sunday, May 6, 7:00 to 9:00 PM
• Monday, May 7, 8:00 to 9:00 PM
• Wednesday, May 9, 8:00 to 9:00 PM

Each candidate was sent this Multi-Environmental Issue Questionnaire with 28 questions broken into seven subject areas. As the candidates submit their responses we will create a separate blog for each one and link them back to their names above.

Dear Candidate,

The Election 2012 Green Forum will be a televised, moderated discussion about environmental issues featuring candidates for Austin City Council and Austin Mayor to be held at channelAustin studios on the evening of April 23.  In order to determine which candidates are serious about this discussion, and to identify areas of contention and interest, we are asking each campaign to submit detailed, substantive responses to the questions below.  Responding to the questionnaire is the first requirement for inclusion in the Forum, though time limitations may require further selection.  Your positions on these issues will neither qualify nor disqualify you from the Forum, and all candidate responses will be published online for public review.  Please submit your responses by no later than 12 Noon on April 11.  Thank you!

General

• What do you believe that Austinites think are significant environmental issues? How do you plan to address those?
• What positive contributions have you made to environmental efforts in the past?
• What is the role of the sustainability officer and what changes–if any–would you like to see to increase sustainability practices in Austin?
• What is your strategy for engaging YOUTH and SCHOOLS in sustainability initiatives?

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?

Development and Transportation

• How will you take use of resources and resource availability into account when making decisions about local economic development and incentives?
• Do you support construction of SH 45 SW? Why or why not?
• Going forward, what are your plans for improving Austin’s pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure?
• 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?
• 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?
• 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?
• 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?
• 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?
• 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?

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?
• 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?

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?
• 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?
• 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?
• 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?
• 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?

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?

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