By Bob Hendricks, Chapter's Climate Change Co-Chair
The Austin City Council passed two resolutions that are two major steps forward for climate change action in Austin.
The first, introduced by Councilmember Leslie Pool, called for a Climate Resiliency Plan to deal with the extreme weather events that will continue to come. The City Manager must “perform a literature review of climate resilience plans of peer cities” and return to the Council on Aug. 22 with “recommendations for creating a comprehensive, community-wide climate resilience plan that is fair, just, and equitable.” This may include a plan for a Chief Resiliency Officer with supporting staff.
In this resolution, the Austin City Council stated its support for “the general tenets of the Green New Deal.”
The second, introduced by Councilmember Alison Alter, called for an action plan to electrify all Austin transportation. It will provide “an analysis of scenarios for different EV adoption trends,” clarify barriers to adoption, and find partnerships (government and otherwise) to achieve our goals. The City Manager will complete this plan, including intermediate goals, by October 1, 2020.
Current economics steadily push the nation towards more use of renewable energy in electricity generation but electrification of transportation presents more challenges. The U.S. needs more EV Infrastructure in place. We must change the automobile culture, perpetuated by the auto industry, which deifies gas-guzzling trucks and cars and convince more consumers to buy electric. We must win support and coordinate with other groups to raise awareness of the need and possibilities for EVs. This plan is a large step forward in addressing those issues.
The resolution also builds on commitments made by the City of Austin and Austin Energy as part of the 2027 Austin Energy Generation Resource and Climate Action Plan which was approved by City Council in 2017 and included commitments and studies on EV technology and further integration of renewable energy. Recently, CapMetro made a commitment to building a north Austin charging hub, which will be used for more than 40 proposed electric buses. The first 10 of those buses are being ordered currently, with some of the cost potentially being paid for out of the VW Settlement as CapMetro is currently applying for a grant through the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
The Austin Sierra Club was proud to endorse these resolutions, which both passed unanimously. We hope to see other cities move in these same directions.