Trying to reduce CO2 waste of money, Turlay says (again)

Vancouver City Councilor Bill Turlay on Monday accused his fellow councilors of wanting to kill eagles.

Wait. Let me back up.

Councilor Jack Burkman represents the city council on Metro’s Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation, known as JPACT. Councilor Anne McEnerny-Ogle has a seat on Metro’s Policy Advisory Committee, known as MPAC. Both groups advise the Metro Council. Today, JPACT and MPAC met at the World Forestry Center in Portland to discuss the draft Climate Smart Strategy, a regional approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

From Metro: In 2009, the Oregon Legislature directed Metro to find a strategy to reduce per capita greenhouse gas emissions from cars and light trucks by 20 percent by 2035. Ever since, Metro and partners around the region have worked together on the Climate Smart Communities Scenarios Project: testing various combinations of policies and plans to see how they would help meet the legislature’s target.

The strategy calls for billions of dollars of investments over the next two decades, and Burkman broached the subject at Monday’s council meeting so he and McEnerny-Ogle could get input from everyone else and make sure they were representing the majority of the council by expressing support.

There was no official vote, just head nods and the predictable lone voice of dissent from Turlay.

Here’s an edited clip — you could watch the full exchange here, it starts at the 14 minute, 25 second mark — that includes Turlay’s remarks and Mayor Tim Leavitt’s response, as well as Turlay’s eagle-killing comment that ended the discussion.