I am currently working with a grassroots organization here in Austin to bring the Peak Oil issue to our City Council in hopes of passing a resolution that might begin to address Peak Oil on a local scale.
following the examples of other progressive cities that have already passed resolutions (Portland and San Francisco) we have spent the last few weeks drafting a resolution and reworking our presentation.
we now have some rough drafts ready that we are hoping to share with as broad an audience as possible so that when the time comes we can deliver a well rounded presentation.

Here is the draft resolution:
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To establish an Energy Depletion Risks Task Force to assess Austin’s exposure to
diminishing supplies of oil and natural gas and make recommendations to address
vulnerabilities. (Resolution)
WHEREAS, global reserves of oil and natural gas are finite and sufficient quantities or substitutes are unlikely to be available in the immediate future; and
WHEREAS, U.S. oil and natural gas production have peaked and are now in decline, ensuring our nation’s continued and growing dependence on oil and natural gas imported from politically unstable regions; and
WHEREAS, the United States has only 2 percent of the world's oil reserves, produces 8 percent of the world's oil and consumes 25 percent of the world's oil, of which nearly 60 percent is imported from foreign countries;
WHEREAS, a growing body of energy industry experts believe that the world has already
arrived at, or will soon arrive at, the peak of global oil production, which will be followed by an inevitable decline in available supply thereafter; and
WHEREAS, global demand for oil and natural gas continue to increase; and
WHEREAS, following the global peaks of oil and natural gas production, the interaction of
decreasing supply and increased demand will cause the price of oil and natural gas to become more volatile; and
WHEREAS, Price signals of petroleum scarcity are likely to come too late to trigger effective
mitigation efforts in the private sector, and intervention at all levels of government will be
required to avert social and economic chaos; and,
WHEREAS, the Department of Energy-sponsored study1 on mitigation of Peak Oil demonstrated that a 20-year lead time is required for effective mitigation, while current measures supported by the federal government strategic reserves will replace only 3-weeks worth of gasoline consumption by 2012;
WHEREAS, the United States Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory has stated that, “The problems associated with world oil production peaking will not be temporary, and past ‘energy crisis’ experience will provide relatively little guidance. The challenge of oil peaking deserves immediate, serious attention, if risks are to be fully understood and mitigation begun on a timely basis”; and
WHEREAS, the City of Austin and its citizens and businesses depend on oil and natural gas for their economic welfare and their most critical activities, including transportation and food supply; and
WHEREAS, Austin is entirely dependent on external supplies of petroleum and highly
dependent on external supplies of food and other critical supplies;
WHEREAS, a large majority of money spent on fossil fuels leaves Austin and provides no local economic benefit, while many of the solutions to lessening dependence on fossil fuels result in local jobs and substantial economic benefits;
WHEREAS, Austin residents and businesses are not currently aware of the full implications of an impending decline and will greatly benefit from an objective source of information on this topic; and
WHEREAS, the City of Austin has adopted the Kyoto Protocol, the success of which depends upon reducing carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels; and
WHEREAS, the City of Austin has a national reputation for planning and actions aimed at
maintaining the City’s social values, equity, and quality of life, and can take a leadership role in what may become one of the greatest political, economic, and societal issues of the next half century; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, the Austin City Council supports the undertaking
of a city-wide assessment study in order to inventory city activities and their corollary resource requirements, evaluating the impact in each area to a decline in petroleum availability and to higher prices, with the aim of developing a comprehensive city plan of action and response to Energy Depletion.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, an Energy Depletion Risks Task Force will be established to
assess Austin’s exposure to diminishing supplies of oil and natural gas and make
recommendations to address vulnerabilities. The Task Force will be led and staffed by the
Offices of Sustainable Development, and will coordinate with the Office of Economic Growth
and Redevelopment Services, Finance and Administrative Services, Neighborhood Planning and Zoning Department, Austin Energy, other city offices as required, and will further coordinate with the Texas Department of Transportation. The task force will include up to 11 members representing a broad range of community and business interests.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the Task Force’s charge is:
To acquire and study current and credible data and information on the issues of oil and natural gas production and depletion and the related economic and other societal consequences;
To seek community and business input on the impacts and proposed solutions;
To develop recommendations to the City Council in this calendar year on strategies the City and its bureaus can take to mitigate the impacts of declining energy supplies in areas including, but not limited to: transportation, business and home energy use, water, food security, health care, communications, land use planning, and wastewater treatment. These recommendations will be considered as proposals to be integrated into citywide long term strategic planning; and,
To propose methods of educating the public about this issue in order to create positive behavior change among businesses and residents that reduce dependence on fossil fuels.
And further RESOLVED, The Austin City Council urges the Mayor to provide the necessary
funding and direction to city departments for the development of a response plan.

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and the following is a list of recommended action to be taken by the City Council which we will include in our presentation:

Peak Oil Response Action Items
• Establish a Citizens Advisory Board or Task Force to assess energy threats, identify
sustainability needs, and recommend action plans to the city to mitigate risk.
• Support and expand local food production through zoning and tax incentives -- protect
by code valuable local arable land that is suitable for agriculture from being paved over
or built upon. (It is now said that the average food item travels more than 1500 miles
before it ends up on kitchen tables.)
• Mandate by code one or more large community gardens within each neighborhood
and/or subdivision with plots for lease by residents. Encourage local gardening.
Convert some city-owned arable lands to community agriculture.
• Provide a blueprint to promote local coops for goods, services, and transportation.
• Continue to support mass transit; including light rail or monorail, and express bus
services. Provide tax and zoning incentives for employers who pass along incentives
for employees to use transit.
• Develop zoning and tax incentives for employers who help limit employee automobile
trips by using telecommuting, four-day work-weeks, and flexible work hours to reduce
commuting and peak-time commuting.
• Develop a much larger network of safe walking and biking corridors across the city,
including existing neighborhoods, to connect most neighborhoods with services and
industry. See Amsterdam for ideas
• Design and develop a local rail freight depot and urge businesses to request freight by
rail instead of by overland truck or air (In the U.S., freight rail carries 27.8% of the
ton-miles at 220,000 barrels/day while trucks carry 32.1% of the freight miles with
2.07 million barrels/day [all 2002 data.] Light commercial trucks consume another
300,000 barrels/day. This shows rail is more than eight times more fuel-efficient, as
well as more labor-efficient than trucking.)
• Support the proposed car coop: Austin Carshare (www.carshareaustin.com) as a local
solution to alternative transportation methods. The use of car coops dramatically
reduces the need for many people to even own a car; generally using mass
transportation as their primary source of getting around and the car coop for
specialized transportation needs.
• Aggressively transition government and corporate transportation fleets to hybrid or
alternative fueled vehicles.
• Pass ordinances to restrict engine idling within the city limits.
• Transition all street lighting and signals to solar or other renewable energy sources.
• Provide rebates to citizens to change their incandescent light bulbs to compact
fluorescents. Over the lifetime of each new CF bulb energy savings equivalent to
burning 500 pounds of coal are realized, as compared to incandescent lighting.
• Convert city-owned buildings to solar hot water systems. Provide incentives to
privately-owned businesses to install solar hot water systems.
• Dramatically expand the Austin Energy GreenChoice® program and other energy
efficiency programs. Mandate energy efficiency through building code revisions.
• Provide educational opportunities for our citizens about the coming energy challenges,
risk mitigation strategies for the city and themselves, and provide meaningful
incentives to increase energy efficiencies and dramatically reduce local fuel
consumption.

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Please let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions!