Members of the Portland City Council:
Several friends of mine who are environmental activists have recently started to ask me about the project to convert the 30% excess methane at the Columbia Boulevard Wastewater Treatment Plant into a usable energy source for Columbia Villa. These folks may have some interest in public housing issues but their primary focus is on environmental and conservation issues. They, as I, have been bewildered by the unexplained apparent dismissal of this plan to turn a wasted natural resource into a valuable and usable source of energy.

The idea to convert the 30% excess methane at the Columbia Boulevard Wastewater Treatment Plant into a usable energy source for Columbia Villa has been on the public table for more than two years, since May 2001 when:
1. HAP's director, HAP's Villa remodel manager, HAP's lead architect, the Principal of Carleton Hart Architecture who also represented Mahlum Architects and the manager of the Columbia Boulevard Wastewater Treatment Plant all agreed to support the idea.
2. HAP's Villa remodel manager got a commitment from Commissioner Saltzman for two million dollars for methane conversion hardware.
3. An email, (later published here: http://www.goodgrowthnw.org ) stating the above was sent to a very large constituency of interested citizens and activists including the press and every member of the Portland City Council.
4. Information on this plan was included in a briefing packet to every member of the Portland Planning Commission.
5. Senior staff from every Commissioner's office was directly briefed on this subject.
6. This issue has been mentioned in direct testimony before the Portland City Council at least two or three times.

In addition to methane conversion a conservation plan to redirect water from the CBWTP to Columbia Villa suitable for watering trees, grass etc. also seems to have disappeared. Since June of 2001 I have neither seen nor heard evidence that indicates that HAP officials or the Portland City Council (which recently voted 5.6 million dollars in BES funds for the Villa remodel) have either included methane conversion and water diversion into the Columbia Villa remodel engineering and architectural plans or an explanation why those plans have been omitted from the design.

So, with the bulldozers on the horizon, the question arises, what do each of you have to say about these matters?