Metro Council President Testifies Before the US Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works

TESTIMONY OF METRO COUNCIL PRESIDENT DAVID BRAGDON
BEFORE THE US SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS

TUESDAY, JULY 14, 2009, 2:30 P.M.

“ADDRESSING CLIMATE CHANGE THROUGH LAND USE
AND TRANSPORTATION POLICY IN THE PORTLAND, OREGON REGION”

Madam Chair, Members of the Committee, I am David Bragdon, President of the Metro Council, the popularly-elected metropolitan planning organization in the Portland, Oregon region.

Our 1.4 million residents are typical Americans. We get a few more inches of rain, our consumption of beer is in the upper quartile, and we recycle more of our garbage than most Americans do, but we’re roughly average in most other statistical respects. Like most Americans, most Oregonians get around by car.

Yet, there is evidence that our greenhouse gas emissions are stable or being reduced. If in many ways we are typical Americans, how is it that in this one important way we are trending in a different direction than the rest of the country?

Visit http://bit.ly/19AXeL to download full text.