Carrboro Peak Oil Resolution

At 7:30 P.M., Tuesday, March 17th, at Carrboro Town Hall, the Carrboro Board of Aldermen heard a Peak Oil resolution drafted by interest group NC Powerdown (Carrboro Powerdown) and revised by Town Staff. The resolution acknowledges the peaking and consequent decline of global petroleum production, an event which will likely result in near-term oil price increases and significant changes to the single-occupancy-car transportation model widespread in the United States.

According to Kirk Ross, staff writer for the Carrboro Citizen, The Board of Aldermen set up a special sustainability advisory board and referred the matter to the town staff for additional review and comment. (http://www.carrborocitizen.com/main/2009/03/19/board-oks-claremont/)

All Carrboro residents and organizations were encouraged to come in support of passage of this resolution. People who wanted to speak at this meeting, were asked to sign up the day of (Tuesday); Powerpoints were due by noon on Monday, the day before the meeting. Documents for inclusion with aldermen packets were due noon Friday.

See Also:


 * Orange County GHG Inventory and Forecast
 * Transition Carrboro

Home Owners associations

 * What restrictions are
 * rules are for amending
 * Provide resource
 * Petitioning amongst neighborhoods
 * Town petition state for overruling rules
 * Orange county holds amended versions
 * Town can provide list.

Facilitate staff in current tasks

 * Dan's requested compilation of board recomendations over the years

Identify current town priorities and guiding docs

 * 20/20 doc
 * GHG Inventory
 * Sept 2008 planning 10 priorities (Oct 21)
 * Small area plan for Northern study area

Look at Grants

 * to fund Task force
 * What does staff position cost
 * How much will town match


 * Grant for Duke Power

Neighborhood Energy Conservation Action Teams

 * 5 to 25 households per team.
 * Meet monthly to assist one another:
 * Prepare household emergency supply kits and phone trees for hurricane response
 * Plan and plant gardens, crop mob for weeding
 * Install rain barrels, solar panels, "barn-raise" greenhouses, etc.
 * Paint roofs white
 * Hold fund-raisings to buy CFL bulbs for people on fixed incomes in their neighborhood
 * Teach one another basic skills: knitting, carpentry, plumbing, food canning, etc.
 * Begin a labor swap bank or garden tool lending library
 * Collect half-used alkaline batteries and take them to a business that recharges, recycles or disposes of them safely. In the US, one company shreds and separates the battery case metals, manganese and zinc. Find out who uses batteries as feedstock in steel making furnaces, to make low-grade steel such as rebar.

Text of the Resolution
A RESOLUTION SPECIFYING THE INTEREST OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN IN CREATING A SUSTAINABLE LEGACY FOR THE TOWN OF CARRBORO, Rev Jan. 24. 2009

Whereas new discoveries of fossil fuels are not keeping pace with increasing global demand, resulting in reduced availability and quality of critical resources needed for transportation, food production and energy for manufacturing & household uses;

Whereas finite supplies and increasing demand for fossil fuels result in burdensome price increases for daily living necessities, jeopardize our capacity to have a resilient economy, and lead to production of oil and gas by energy-intensive and environmentally harmful means;

Whereas continued dependence on the burning of fossil fuels for transportation and energy increases the atmospheric level of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gasses at a time when the current concentration is considered by scientists to be at a “tipping point” that will bring about accelerated global warming and associated cascading, catastrophic effects endangering future generations of humans and most other species;

Whereas the aggregate impacts of human activity, including our expanding technological capacities and sprawling “development footprint,” are endangering the quality of the air we breathe and the soil we depend on for food, and both the quality and quantity of our water supplies;

Whereas the United States, still the single greatest per-capita consumer of fossil fuels and producer of global CO2 emissions, has yet to enact national policies to deal with our considerable contribution to a global crisis;

Whereas we are becoming keenly aware of our local contribution to these global threats, of the costs they already impose, and of the threat to future generations;

Whereas the Town of Carrboro has historically demonstrated leadership in addressing the full spectrum of sustainability issues, and our community desires to align Carrboro more effectively with these emerging global challenges at the local level in order to maintain our quality of life while ensuring a viable environmental, social and economic legacy for those who will follow us;

Therefore Be It Resolved:
 * 1) That the Carrboro Board of Aldermen supports the community’s desire to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, achieve secure and renewable production, transmission and storage of energy, ensure healthy & affordable supplies of food, water and shelter, protect soil quality and conserve open space, reduce, reuse and recycle solid waste, in order to ensure a sustainable legacy for our descendents;
 * 2) That the Board of Aldermen in its continued dedication to sustainable practice commits to further inform the Carrboro community of the potential risks associated with rapid depletion of energy resources, climate change and sprawling development footprint, and to address these challenges locally;
 * 3) In order to expand our pursuit of a sustainable legacy in Carrboro the Board of Aldermen will establish a Community Sustainability Task Force comprised of Advisory Board members and other community members to propose sustainability policy objectives and a spectrum of strategies for community sustainability including (and not limited to):
 * 4) Propose new Town ordinances and zoning to bring about changes, where needed, in our land use, urban & architectural design, transportation, environmental quality, economic development and water & resource conservation and reuse;
 * 5) Compile educational materials and create teaching opportunities to assist community members and businesses in achieving greater resource efficiency and reducing their “carbon footprints;”
 * 6) Work with Town Staff to actively and directly address the likelihood of sustained fuel inflation in all future planning in which fuel cost is a relevant issue, including the Budget, Capital Improvements Program, economic development planning, transportation planning and energy audits leading to implementation of conservation & efficiency measures;
 * 7) The Board of Aldermen will work for accelerated completion of the joint carbon emissions inventory and development of greenhouse gas reduction strategies associated with the Cities and County’s Climate Protection Agreement.