Council member wants city's goal to be "greener"

Seattle City Councilmember Peter Steinbrueck and several colleagues want to "outgreen" Mayor Greg Nickels.

Steinbrueck proposed Monday that the council set more aggressive environmental goals than Nickels has recommended.

While vague on specific goals and how he would attain them, Steinbrueck said he favored a ban on plastic bags, waste-to-energy incinerators, fees for driving cars downtown and a requirement that developers construct energy-efficient buildings.

"This is about walking the talk. It's about a serious commitment rather than rhetoric," Steinbrueck said.

Nickels has won national recognition for starting a campaign that's led 464 U.S. mayors to pledge to cut greenhouse-gas emissions 7 percent below 1990 levels.

He also has proposed the city add 650,000 trees, expand its bicycle paths and levy fines against residents who throw recyclable items in the trash.

Steinbrueck says Seattle still hasn't done enough, particularly when compared with New York City, where Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a Republican, on Sunday called for a 30 percent cut in that city's greenhouse-gas emissions, 1 million new trees and a "congestion pricing" plan that would charge trucks and cars a daily fee for driving on Manhattan's busiest streets.

Steinbrueck lauded Nickels' priorities but said they haven't yet been translated into strong citywide commitments.

Steinbrueck is stepping down from the council at the end of the year and is rumored to be a potential challenger to Nickels' plans to seek a third term in 2009. He maintains he has "no plans to run for mayor."

Instead, he said, his environmental push is aimed at making the most of his remaining time on the council. "I'm trying to take care of unfinished business," he said.

Steinbrueck wants to set measurable goals for stronger city environmental policies, he said, then figure out which tools and policies can be used to achieve them. "What gets measured is what matters," he said.

He acknowledged that politicians all over the country are vying to look green in light of grim warnings about global climate change.

"It's a healthy competition," he said.

Councilmembers Richard Conlin and Nick Licata said they supported Steinbrueck's plan of creating quantifiable environmental goals in the city's Comprehensive Plan, which is updated annually and geared to manage Seattle's growth.

The next step for Steinbrueck is to draw up Comprehensive Plan amendments that set goals for cutting greenhouse-gas emissions, reducing driving, increasing recycling and more.

The council's urban-development committee likely will vote on these amendments May 9. The full council probably will consider them in the fall.

Nickels welcomes the council's interest in climate change, said mayoral spokesman Marty McOmber.

Nickels has said the city needs to reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions more dramatically and cut them 80 percent by 2050, McOmber said. The mayor also supports putting tolls on the Interstate 90 and Highway 520 bridges, McOmber said.

Bob Young: 206-464-2174 or byoung@seattletimes.com