Sierra Club California, Others Oppose Weak Green Building Rules

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Jim Metropulos
Sierra Club California

Environmentalists and California’s legislative leaders are disappointed with the direction the Building Standards Commission has chosen to take with its recent amendments to the 2007 California Building Standards Code, and with its draft Green Building Standards.

At a meeting May 6 in Natomas, the commissioners will hear comments on the rules, just before adopting them. Sierra Club California will join other environmental groups in denouncing the voluntary standards.

Instead of adopting strong, industry-wide rules that would put California at the forefront of green technology, the BSC tinkered with a few energy conservation and public housing rules and let most commercial and residential builders off the hook. If adopted, these rules would already be considered outmoded by those cities and counties that have put much stronger standards in place – and could discourage the growth of genuinely green construction companies and suppliers.

As global warming looms and energy prices spike, it’s the wrong time for “business as usual” at the BSC. Adopting tough standards now will provide a strong foundation for the 2010 building code change.

This certainly isn’t an auspicious beginning to a process Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger tried to get started in October 2007, when he said he’d be “directing the California Building Standards Commission to work with specified state agencies on the adoption of green building standards for residential, commercial, and public building construction.” (see AB 888 veto message). A cadre of California lawmakers, including Senate President pro Tempore Don Perata and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, already wrote an April 18 letter urging the Commission to take a more constructive course.

“California is a world leader in environmental requirements; we do not see the value in establishing optional regulations that fail to establish even a baseline for green building,” the letter states.