Weighting Climate and Emissions in the New MTP: At the MPO

The Policy Committee for our Metropolitan Planning Organization meets on Tuesday the 22nd, and they'll be considering how strongly to consider greenhouse gas reduction in scoring projects for inclusion in the next long-rang plan.

Notwithstanding our rain today, the larger difficulties of climate-intensified drought remain threatening.

In today's paper

You may recall from the technical committee's agenda earlier this month that new guidance from the Feds might be a little helpful, but it seemed also likely to be swallowed up by other scoring criteria and therefore more symbolic than substantive. (See item 12 in table below from the TAC agenda.)

New GHG criteria and Goal 7 (yellow in original)

Staff underscored that any weighting of this new criterion had not been decided and it remained an open question for debate and deliberation.

Nevertheless, the weighting that is proposed in the Staff Report is not very strong, 8.33% of the whole if all 12 are assigned one point.

1 point possible among 12 criteria

So we'll see. 

Committee members might consider strengthening the weighting and also reducing the greenwashy move of "reducing idling" as any kind of gesture for emissions reductions. The goal should be less driving period.

From here, the new criterion looks like progress, albeit very minor.

The committee also looks to formalize a decision on some completion funding.

Three (yellow added) of the six would get funding

Since there was not enough money to fund all the requests, the technical committee recommendation was for "funding the highest priority from each of the jurisdictions that submitted applications." 

1. Hilfiker Ln SE @ Commercial St SE (Salem).
2. Traffic Signal Interconnects (Marion County).
3. Verda Ln: Dearborn Av to Salem Pkwy (Keizer).
   

Finally, they'll discuss "whether video of the PC meetings should be available on YouTube."

The public comment period for the 2024-2029 cycle continues. See more on that previously here.

Meeting information

The Policy Committee zooms at noon on Tuesday the 22nd. The agenda and meeting packet can be downloaded here.