The idea to make a presentation before city council originally came as a suggestion from Victor Doerksen (the MLA from Red Deer South). He did caution though, that if I was to do it, I would likely have to drop out of the mayoral race. Given that the best of all possible scenarios would be for our existing city representatives to start incorporating peak oil and natural gas scenarios into their policy-making (versus the scenario of me--a political neophyte--getting or not getting elected), I think that a council presentation would be a good idea. Besides, my philosophy has always been to work with people rather than against them. Of course, I am taking a chance that our city representatives will choose not to wake up and smell the coffee, but I have faith that they'll behave in a reasonably rational manner if presented with compelling evidence...and if there's an audience of potential voters watching them.
 
Accordingly, I assembled a binder filled with resolutions and reports that other North American cities have passed (ie, the former) and commissioned (ie, the latter). The full list of material is provided at the bottom of this page with the associated links.
 
On July 16th, I went to City Hall, officially withdrew from the electoral race and left the binder and the presentation script with the Legislative and Administrative Services personnel.
 
The full text of the council presentation is given below:
 

Your Worship [that's what you're supposed to call the mayor in council chambers; I'm not making this up], I would like to encourage council to investigate the unfolding issue of peak oil and peak natural gas. I would like those present to recall what their natural gas bills were like five years ago, and what they are now. I would like those present to recall what gasoline at the pumps cost five years ago and what it costs now. Those price changes were a result of increasing demand and a fixed supply. In the next ten years we will start to see the effects of increasing demand and a decreasing supply.
 
To put the issue in blunt terms, I will relate what one of the reports in this binder states about the future costs of gasoline and natural gas. It is from a report commissioned by the city of Hamilton, Ontario. It states that it is "likely" that within approximately 10 years, we will be faced with prices of $4 per litre for gasoline and a similar quadrupling of price for natural gas. And these prices will ripple through the economy, since the food we eat, the clothes we wear and just about everything else we use or consume is dependant upon cheap fossil fuels.
 
I would like to present this binder to council. It contains council resolutions and reports on this issue from various municipalities across North America.
 
It also includes a report from the U.S. Department of Energy, which states that mitigation efforts should be initiated 10 to 20 years in advance of the initial drop in production. The initial drop in the production of natural gas in North America occurred in 2001. The global production of conventional crude oil started to drop in 2005. Thus, we should have been planning for this in the 1990's. However, "better late than never" is the key here.
 
I would also like to remind council that alternative sources such as the tar sands and coal bed methane are both known to be expensive and have serious production limitations associated with them. The tar sands will be VERY expensive once we run low on the natural gas used to process it, and even the most optimistic scenarios only see the tar sands as filling about 3% of global demand. Coal bed methane is also very expensive, and even the most optimistic scenario only sees it as filling 1/10 of Canada's future shortfall in conventional natural gas. And since the prices of both of these commodities are determined in the global marketplace, Albertans will have no special status when it comes to purchasing these resources.
 
In summary, we need to start taking these factors into account for city planning. Studies such as Red Deer at 300,000 are seriously flawed in that they don't take into account the energy trends that we are most likely to see in the future.
 
In addition to the recommendations and examples contained within this binder, I would strongly urge council to facilitate a process of grassroots deliberation with the citizenry on the kinds of trade-offs that we will be faced with in the coming years. This will serve to strengthen community cohesion, something that the Portland, Oregon Task Force Report (included here) emphasizes very forcefully.
 
I have also included some other miscellaneous material in the binder. There is an interview on the subject with the former Governor General of Canada, Ed Schreyer. There is a commentary on the subject from the June 25th issue of Business Week. I've also included an audio CD containing a 40 minute radio interview on the subject.
 
In the interest of brevity and efficiency, I would encourage any members of council who don't wish to read the entire contents of the binder, to at least read the Portland, Oregon Task Force Report. It is the most comprehensive, in that it fully explores the economic AND social impacts of peak oil and natural gas.
 
Your Worship, for the sake of ourselves and our children and grandchildren, I hope that this council will endeavor to treat this issue with the seriousness it deserves. Thank-you, Your Worship.

 

Binder Contents

Click on an item to view, read, or listen to.
 
City of Portland, Oregon Peak Oil Task Force Report
 
City of Hamilton, Ontario Consultant's Report on Peak Energy
 
City of Burnaby, British Columbia Transportation Committee Report on Peak Energy
 
City of Sebastopol, California Citizen's Advisory Report
 
Resolution on Peak Energy from the city council of Austin, Texas
 
Resolution on Peak Energy from the city council of San Francisco, California
 
Resolution on Peak Energy from the city council of Oakland, California
 
Resolution on Peak Energy from the city council of Bloomington, Indiana
 
Report on peak oil from the U.S. Department of Energy
 
Chevron Corporation TV ads
 
Interview with Ed Schreyer (former Governor General and former Premier of Manitoba) on the subject of peak energy
 
Article on peak energy from Macleans magazine
 
Interview with peak oil expert, Matt Savinar
 

 

Results

 
On July 20th, I received a written reply from the Deputy City Clerk, stating that the presentation material was "circulated to members of Council for their consideration". It was also noted that I would be contacted "should Council wish to discuss this issue with you further".
 
In the July 26th issue of the Advocate, it was noted that [according to Paula Ferreira, the Administrative Assistant with the Legislative and Administrative Services Department] "...Bedford will get a spot on the agenda at a future meeting, but when that will happen has not yet been decided."
 
In late August, I received a positive letter from the mayor, thanking me for the binder and indicating that copies of it will be made available to all members of Council and senior administration. Although I am cautiously optimistic regarding the mayor's response, it remains to be seen whether his enthusiasm will translate into policy.
 
Click here to read the letter
 
I was able to ask the mayor and a few of the councillors about the issue at one of the election forums in early October. Mayor Flewwelling and Councillor Mulder especially were very positive about the notion of setting up a task force to study the issue as it relates to Red Deer. I was unable to ask Councillors Veer, Pimm, Watkinson-Zimmer, Hughes and Jefferies about the matter.
 
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