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Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Re the Energy Bill

There's a rumor that the energy bill would require passing a government efficiency inspection of your home before you can sell it. I cannot find this in the 1,200 page bill. Does anyone know the section, subsection, etc.? Or is this right-wing agitprop?

7 comments:

Sheldon Richman said...

A contact in the HR tells me there is NO explicit language to this effect, but something in the bill could be interpreted that way. That's already a different story.

Sheldon Richman said...

If anyone is interested in reading the bill -- heh, good luck -- it's here.

Sheldon Richman said...

Question: how many members of Congress read it in its entirety? None, I bet.

Sheldon Richman said...

Ominous:

"There shall be established national energy efficiency building codes under this subsection, for residential and commercial buildings, sufficient to meet each of the national building code energy efficiency targets established under subsection (a), not later than the date that is 1 year after the deadline for establishment of each such target, except that the national energy efficiency building code established to meet the target described in subsection (a)(1)(A) shall be established by not later than 15 months after the effective date of that target....

"[The Secretary shall] disseminate the national energy efficiency building codes to State, tribal, and local code officials, and support training and provide guidance and technical assistance to such officials as appropriate....

"Not later than 1 year after a national energy efficiency building code for residential or commercial buildings is established or revised under subsection (b), each State-- ... [shall] review and update the provisions of its building code regarding energy efficiency to meet or exceed the target met in the new national energy efficiency building code, to achieve equivalent or greater energy savings;...

"Upon the expiration of 18 months after a national energy efficiency building code is established under subsection (b), in any jurisdiction where the State has not had a certification relating to that code accepted by the Secretary under subsection (c)(2)(B), and the local government has not had a certification relating to that code accepted by the Secretary under subsection (e)(5), the national energy efficiency building code shall become the applicable energy efficiency building code for such jurisdiction. [Emphasis added.]"

More to come, possibly.

Sheldon Richman said...

"Each State, or where applicable under State law each local government, shall implement and enforce applicable State or local codes with respect to which a certification was accepted by the Secretary under subsection (c)(2)(B) or paragraph (5) of this subsection, or the national energy efficiency building codes, as provided in this subsection.

Sheldon Richman said...

This implies that the code would not be applied to existing houses on the market:

"A State shall be considered to achieve compliance with a code described in paragraph (2)(A) if at least 90 percent of new and substantially renovated building space in that State in the preceding year upon inspection meets the requirements of the code."

Don't misconstrue what I am saying: This is an abominable piece of legislation.

Nick Manley said...

Sheldon,

I suggested a symposium by Libertarians about environmentalism. I suppose we have some ideas already out there but not influential ones...

I saw that inspection test claim raised on Glenn Beck ~ not the most reliable source. He made it sound like it was explicit.