Legislative strategy

In the 2009 legislative session, we sought legislation that would:

• Increase and expand the Metropolitan Council’s Livable Communities Demonstration Program. This program should be amended to seek development projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions due to their location, design and mix of uses. Substantially increased funding should be sought for this program.
• Create a competitive grant program for greater Minnesota that invents land use planning that would achieve greenhouse gas reduction goals. This would be similar to the Demonstration Program but be focused on greater Minnesota.
• Amend the Metropolitan Council’s comprehensive planning process to incorporate greenhouse gas reduction targets.
• Move up the next update of the Development Framework to 2013 (from 2018) to synchronize with the release of upcoming census data.
• Require local units of government to include carbon production data in their next plan update.
• Amend the statutory goals of the Minnesota Department of Transportation to include a reduction in per capita vehicle miles traveled. This would help meet the Minnesota’s greenhouse gas reduction goals and make more effective use of the state’s infrastructure.

Background

The Climate Change/Land Use Connection

To turn Minnesota’s climate change prevention vision into reality, changes in land use will be critical. Patterns of development – where and how we grow – have serious consequences for energy use and climate change. A growing body of evidence makes it clear that:
The amount we drive, or vehicle miles traveled (VMT), is driving up carbon emissions; and
Absent changes in land use, VMT will continue to rise because of development patterns that force people to drive for the majority of trips.
We cannot meet the state’s greenhouse gas reduction goals without changes in land use and development patterns which will reduce the need to drive.

Transportation Sector’s Carbon Contribution

The transportation sector is responsible for approximately 25 percent of Minnesota’s greenhouse gas emissions. CO2 emissions from the transportation sector are a function of the following three factors:

• Vehicle fuel efficiency,
• Carbon content of the fuel itself,
• Driving or vehicle miles traveled (VMT)

It is this third factor – the rise of VMT – that is growing the fastest. This growth in VMT is due to spread-out and single-use development patterns combined with a lack of transportation alternatives, such as transit, bicycling and walking. Much of the conversation about climate change solutions has focused on technological advances such as new vehicle technologies and alternative fuels. Both of these strategies have great merit and should be vigorously pursued. However, recent evidence from both the U.S. Department of Energy and the Center for Transportation Studies at the University of Minnesota suggest that even with the implementation of new auto efficiency standards and aggressive clean fuel standards, we cannot meet GHG reduction goals without changes in land use and development patterns which will reduce the need to drive.

Minnesota’s Climate Change Leadership: Time for Implementation

Passage of the Global Warming Solutions Act and the report from the Minnesota Climate Change Advisory Group (MCCAG) provides critical goals and a detailed list of strategies to achieve those goals. Given the urgency for action to prevent climate change, it is imperative that numerous complimentary strategies are implemented in Minnesota immediately (i.e. requiring action by the 2009 legislature). Additionally, passage of the bulk of the Transportation Choices 2020 collaborative agenda issue last year was a critical breakthrough for designing a transportation and land-use interface that reduces travel (and GHG gases) while encouraging sustainable economic growth. Now that many new transitways are moving forward, it is increasingly important that supportive land-use practices are enacted in tandem.