Our city has consistently deprioritized and underfunded climate action. As progressive community activists, we know that we don’t have time to wait.
We need elected officials that understand climate science, climate policy, and are willing to act boldly in the face of industry opposition.
Simple actions we can take:
Ensure the City hires a climate specialist, supports the Climate Action Advisory Board to meet, and takes their recommendations seriously.
Since Kathryn Duvall, the previous Economic Development and Climate Program Specialist, moved on from the city of Corvallis to the Oregon legislature in March 2023 this position has gone unfilled.
Reimagine the management of the Corvallis Watershed and transition from extraction harvesting to restoration. End all for-profit logging operations in this watershed and focus on forest stewardship and preservation of this riparian environment.
This will improve the quality of our local drinking water, enhance carbon storage, support wildlife, and save money on water treatment.
Minimize organic waste in the landfills by passing the No Wasted Food ordinance, which will ensure that restaurants and grocery stores reduce waste through composting. This will dramatically reduce our community’s methane emissions!
Municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills are the third-largest source of human-caused methane emissions in the United States, contributing about 14.4% of these emissions in 2022. The methane released from MSW landfills that year was roughly equivalent to the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions produced by over 24 million gasoline-powered passenger vehicles driven for one year or the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the annual energy use of more than 13.1 million homes. (Source: EPA Landfill Gas)
Republic Services, who owns and operates the Coffin Butte landfill in Benton County, has repeatedly violated methane emission regulations and has repeatedly failed to conduct mandated environmental testing. A 2022 EPA inspection found 21 sections on the landfill where methane emissions exceeded 10,000 parts per million (ppm) — surpassing the federal limit of 500 ppm. Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality concluded in July 2023 that Republic Services committed a Class I violation — the most serious level — by failing to conduct emissions testing in the 2 years after receiving a warning in 2021 for failing to follow state methane regulations. (Source: Isobel Whitcomb published in Canary Media)
We fully support the No Wasted Food policy recommendations by the Climate Action Advisory Board. We strongly believe this should be a council priority to meet the statewide goals set by the Oregon Legislature (SB 263, 2015) for the recovery of food waste and plastic waste and reduce our municipal impact on landfill usage. This is further supported by the EPA’s recommendations regarding organic waste collection practices for residential and commercial sectors
Restrict the expansion of so-called “natural” gas infrastructure in the city, with the end goal of fully electrifying and decarbonizing our grid. Design a Just Transition that supports renters and low-income people transitioning away from fossil fuel systems.
Beyond Toxics, a statewide nonprofit dedicated to community-driven environmental justice, has published a 2024 policy guide to boost climate resilience by transitioning away from fossil fueled infrastructure. They further provide an active resource page on building a fossil free future in the Mid-Valley and greater Oregon area.
Prioritize active and public transportation in all infrastructure decisions. We must fully implement the City’s Transportation System Plan – and build the neighborhood bikeways now, not ten years from now!
As defined by the US Department of Transportation, active transportation includes walking, biking, and other zero-emission modes of movement. They further state that active transportation trips can help avoid greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change.
We support the expansion of our city’s Active Travel Corridors and will promote the Safe Streets for All (SS4A) Project to improve safety for all road users, emphasize active transportation, and reduce our reliance on car-centric urban planning.
Reintroduce and pass the Home Energy Score, a missed opportunity for impactful climate action.
Despite extensive public support and months of testimony advocating for a residential Home Energy Score program, the council decided to table the issue on September 6, 2022, and ultimately voted against the amended ordinance on November 21, 2022.
We are committed to bringing this policy back for re-evaluation, fostering public discussion, and ensuring its passage to advance our city’s climate goals.
We must also build community resilience for climate change and natural disasters by prioritizing the implementation of our City’s emergency management plan, and by supporting community efforts to build grassroots climate resilience.
- Our City has an excellent emergency management plan, but it is not currently being prioritized for implementation. We have seen climate disasters becoming more and more frequent in our communities, and we know that the time is now to begin planning for what is to come.
- Climate resilience planning must always consider and prioritize our most vulnerable residents, including tenants, housing insecure, unhoused, low-income, disabled, elderly, BIPOC, and student residents.
- We must work towards linguistic and physical accessibility in all disaster management contexts.
- Local organizations and grassroots groups are already working hard to build community resilience. As a city government, we must work with – not against – these groups.