Portland Mayor Sam Adams said Friday that Portland needs to continue to focus on attracting alternative energy companies – both for its economy and for the environment. He said the city's strength is that it is a "laboratory of urban innovation."
In his annual State of the City speech, Adams said Portland has a national leadership role in the area of sustainable businesses and must work hard to maintain that.
“With great firms here like Iberdrola Renewables, Vestas, Glumac, Benson and Solarworld, we are emerging world leader in sustainable industries and clean technology practices in all industries,” Adams told a packed crowd at the Governor Hotel. “There isn’t any reason why Portland can’t become the nation’s new hub for clean technology – a means to create electricity and fuels with a smaller environmental footprint. And we should be exporting all these goods and services all around the globe.”
He said Portland continues to have competition from Houston, Chicago, San Jose and others cities that vie for that clean tech hub title. “That’s why this recession compels us to work from an economic strategy and give it everything we’ve got,” he said.
Adams vowed to create more jobs in the clean tech sector. But he said the city is still too reliant on “yesterday’s energy production models.”
Portlanders still rely too much on unsustainable fossil fuels power. In Portland, he said, 43 percent of all the energy we consume comes from Wyoming.
“Folks, we do such a good job at home – from bicycling to recycling and more,” he said. “But we need to kick our coal habit. Portland General Electric, Portland’s principal energy provider and owner of the Boardman plant, is headed in that direction. I applaud their plans to phase out the Boardman coal plant. So, here’s the best part about our approach: Because we have growing wind and solar industries right here; kicking our coal habit means growing jobs right here at home. There’s no way I’m going to let us miss this opportunity.”
He said Clean Energy Works, the ReVOLT headquarters and streetcars are three examples of the city’s new economic development strategy in action.
Last year city council and the Portland Development Commission agreed on a five-year action plan to create 10,000 new jobs. “Economic prosperity and environmental progress have never been more in synch,” said Adams.
He announced two new initiatives:
“Today, through smart use of federal stimulus resources, we’re announcing the formation of the Sustainable Development Fund. The Sustainable Development Fund is a best-in-the-nation green financing fund with up to $33 million in resources, which will help bring Clean Energy Works to our commercial and industrial sectors. And in conjunction with the Sustainable Development Fund, we’re also launching the creation of the Portland Small Business Seed Fund. In today’s frozen fiscal environment, the seeds of inspiration can’t germinate because enough private capital hasn’t thawed.”
Adams called the recent recession a "100-year economic storm" and said the city should emerge more "creative, beautiful in its design, less wasteful, more equitable -- at once a stronger and more nimble city."
Answering a question from a City Club member about the mayor's failure to disclose during his campaign that he had an affair and lied about it, Adams said "my apologies were sincere."
"I've let nothing distract me from my focus on increasing the graduation rate, increasing the number of family wage jobs and making the city more sustainable," he said.