This Washington
Governor Sides with Building Industry in Energy Code Debate
This was originally posted yesterday.
Governor Gregoire caved to the building industry's concerns that Washington State's revised energy code, which sets minimum requirements for energy efficiencies in the building industry and is set to take effect July 1, would negatively impact their ability to sell and build new houses.
As we reported last week, the Building Industry Association of Washington recently asked a federal court in Tacoma for an injunction against implementation of the code, and environmentalists are gearing up to fight the suit.
Circumventing that legal action (the lawsuit may still go through despite Gregoire's actions because it's meant to invalidate all or parts of the code indefinitely), Gregoire sent a letter to John Cochran, Chair of the Washington State Building Code Council, which is in charge of implementing the energy code, asking him to delay the effective date by 9 months.
She cited instability in the construction industry as her main reason for asking for the delay.
"We're surprised and disappointed that a leader who has claimed to be a champion of climate protection and a clean-energy economy would backpedal on this common sense energy conservation standard," said John Healy of NW Energy Coalition, an advocacy group for improved energy efficiency. "The Code Council should ignore the request and implement these improvements now."
The Washington State Building Code Council has scheduled a special meeting for 1 p.m. on Friday to discuss Gregoire's letter.
Governor Gregoire caved to the building industry's concerns that Washington State's revised energy code, which sets minimum requirements for energy efficiencies in the building industry and is set to take effect July 1, would negatively impact their ability to sell and build new houses.
As we reported last week, the Building Industry Association of Washington recently asked a federal court in Tacoma for an injunction against implementation of the code, and environmentalists are gearing up to fight the suit.
Circumventing that legal action (the lawsuit may still go through despite Gregoire's actions because it's meant to invalidate all or parts of the code indefinitely), Gregoire sent a letter to John Cochran, Chair of the Washington State Building Code Council, which is in charge of implementing the energy code, asking him to delay the effective date by 9 months.
She cited instability in the construction industry as her main reason for asking for the delay.
"We're surprised and disappointed that a leader who has claimed to be a champion of climate protection and a clean-energy economy would backpedal on this common sense energy conservation standard," said John Healy of NW Energy Coalition, an advocacy group for improved energy efficiency. "The Code Council should ignore the request and implement these improvements now."
The Washington State Building Code Council has scheduled a special meeting for 1 p.m. on Friday to discuss Gregoire's letter.
