Tuesday night’s debate, held in the Smith Memorial Student Union Ballroom, drew over 1,000 registered attendees, while adjacent rooms with live screenings of the debate accommodated the overflow.
The candidates, former Governor of Oregon John Kitzhaber, former Chief of Staff for Governor Kulongoski, Allen Alley, and former President of Oregon State Senate Bill Bradbury, fielded questions ranging from cap-and-trade policies and land use issues to lifestyle traits and basketball trivia.
In his opening statement, Kitzhaber said, “I hope that the governor will use his platform in office to continually improve the state of the environment.”
Bradbury began by noting his history of environmental stewardship “long before sustainability and conservation were buzz words.”
“I have a goal of making Oregon the sustainability capital of the world,” he said.
Alley spent his opening statement recapping his campaign walk from Baker City to Portland and reflecting on a conversation he had with his 17-year-old daughter who insisted cougars were more important than people in the case of cougars killing Eastern Oregon dairy cows.
“Can cougars help polar bears?” he asked his daughter, who said “No.” Alley concluded, “Well, then people are more important than cougars.”
“We need private sector based solutions [to environmental problems], not government based solutions,” he said.
One questioner asked, “How do you envision people to be moving around in the future?”
Kitzhaber listed mass transit, bike paths and a new generation of electric cars.
“I believe that future is possible and I think Oregon can achieve it,” he said.
Bradbury said, “How about improving the use of…walking?”
Alley concurred with Bradbury’s suggestion and said, “I like walking! But we can do so much better! I am an engineer…we can build a thousand-pound vehicle that can transport four people.”
“There are possibilities for personal transportation,” he said. “But when you force innovation…that’s when costs go up.”
The candidates were divided on the question of a Liquefied Natural Gas pipeline.
Bradbury said, “It doesn’t make sense to extend our fossil fuel dependency…instead of developing our renewable resources here.”
Kitzhaber said, “Natural gas is abundant here…I oppose the LNG plan.”
The proposed pipeline, according to the Oregon Pipeline Web site, will be routed through Clatsop, Tillamook, Washington, Yamhill, Marion and Clackamas counties. It will run 120 miles from the Oregon LNG facility in Warrenton to the Molalla Gate Station near Molalla.
“We need a transition plan to natural gas. I support the LNG plan,” Alley said.
Catherine Thomasson, an organizer for climate change solutions, questioned the candidates’ positions on regulating the use of toxins in consumer products.
“[Toxins] are not my priority. Getting people back to work is my priority,” Alley said.
Giving the question some consideration, Bradbury said, “We [governors] have a basic responsibility to work to keep chemicals out of the environment.”
Moving the debate along, Kitzhaber said, “We need to frame this [toxins] as a health issue rather than an environmental issue.”
The debate led into closing statements and a round of questions fired off by the candidates, in which Bradbury asked Kitzhaber why he accepted a campaign donation from Cascade General, a shipping company that has been fined by the Environmental Protection Agency.
“I am incensed by your accusation,” Kitzhaber said, “that I am somehow in their pocket because of their donation to my campaign.”
The event was sponsored by The Sierra Club, Oregon Environmental Council, Environment Oregon, Oregon Wild and Oregon League of Conservation Voters.
A video of the debate will be available on the Oregon Environmental Council Web site.