Written Testimony
Submitted by
Lara Levison
Sierra Club DC Chapter
to the
DC Council Committee on Facilities & Procurement
Budget Hearing on the Department of General Services
Thursday, May 28, 2020
Thank you for the opportunity to submit the Sierra Club’s written testimony regarding the FY2021 budget of the DC Department of General Services (DGS). The Sierra Club is the nation’s oldest and largest environmental advocacy group. We have 3,000 dues-paying members in DC, and our top priority is combating climate change. We are working for a just and equitable transition from fossil fuels to a clean energy economy that protects the environment and provides local jobs.
We recognize that the Mayor and the Council face difficult decisions in these challenging times. Responding to the urgent public health needs and economic problems caused by the pandemic must be a first consideration. We applaud the Mayor for using the District’s rainy-day funds rather than eliminating programs or furloughing government employees.
Climate action still urgently needed
As the District faces the crisis of the pandemic and other unprecedented challenges, we are still in the midst of the environmental crisis of climate change. Like COVID-19, climate change is affecting communities of color and low-income communities more harshly. DGS cannot afford to lose sight of DC’s commitment to become carbon neutral and climate resilient by 2050 and cut carbon emissions 50 percent by 2032.
As we noted in our performance oversight testimony in February, achieving these commitments will require dramatic reductions in emissions from the more than 191 million square feet of real estate in DGS’s portfolio (4385 acres), as three-quarters of the District’s greenhouse gas emissions are from buildings. The Clean Energy DC Omnibus Act, which passed in 2018, places several new requirements on DGS to increase building energy efficiency.
DGS Sustainability and Energy Management Division
We appreciate that full time employees (FTEs) in the DGS Sustainability and Energy Management Division were not reduced in the Mayor’s FY21 budget, and we ask the Council to maintain staffing for this office. As soon as possible given the budget situation, this division needs to be reenergized, and it will require more staff and resources if it is to undertake the additional responsibilities required in the Clean Energy DC law while carrying out current responsibilities. DC buildings are underperforming from an energy perspective and making those buildings more energy efficient would reduce utility bills, freeing up scarce taxpayer dollars.
We were pleased to hear that DGS finally hired an associate director for this division (DGS-SE), after a long vacancy. We request that Mr. Jared Lang be included in the “DGS Senior Leadership Team” if he isn’t already.
DGS facility condition assessments & the Renewable Energy Future Act
We were concerned to learn from the May 28 DGS budget hearing that a DGS contractor responsible for “facilities condition assessments” has gone out of business, and DGS is not able to obtain the data that the contractor had collected. We urge DGS to continue to pursue this data and to ensure that data recovery is a part of any District government-issued contract.
As DGS prepares to hire a new contractor for this task, the agency should include the requirements of Councilmember Robert White’s bill, the Renewable Energy Future Act of 2019 (B23-0497), in the contract. This legislation, which the Sierra Club supports, would require DGS to “conduct an evaluation of the viability and cost of initiating or expanding renewable energy generation, including an analysis of the potential for capturing solar and wind energy on-site at every District Government-owned facility as part of the facility condition assessment process.”
For DC to meet its commitment of 10 percent of electricity generated from solar panels in DC by 2041 and net zero carbon emissions by 2050, the District government will need to vastly expand its use of renewable energy. We are aware that DGS is moving forward with renewable energy facilities and contracts and are encouraged by the “key performance indicators” for this division for FY2021 including:
Percent of Electricity Needs Met by Renewable Sources (On-Site or Contracted) - 35%
Percent of Renewable Electricity Purchased as a Total of All Energy Purchased - 25%
Cuts to small capital projects
We share Councilmember White’s concerns, raised in the budget hearing on May 28, about cuts in the capital budget to small capital projects including HVAC, window replacements, roof repairs, and energy retrofits. Allowing the District’s buildings to degrade by neglecting these needs will reduce energy efficiency, reduce the quality of employees’ work environment, and increase costs for taxpayers, since the postponement of smaller projects will necessitate more extensive and expensive repairs later on. This approach is “penny wise and pound foolish.”
Eliminate use of fracked gas in District buildings
To achieve the District’s climate commitments, DGS must begin to eliminate the use of fracked gas for heating in District buildings. DGS should design a comprehensive strategy that would first end all connections of gas in new DC government buildings and substantially renovated buildings. Next, DGS should identify buildings that are good candidates for electrification. And lastly, DGS should develop and publish a plan to fully electrify the most suitable buildings over the next five years.
Waste management and Key Performance Indicators
We commend DGS for increasing budget transparency by breaking out Waste Management into its own category outside of Sustainable DC. This is a major improvement.
We would like more information about the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) related to waste management. The relevant KPIs listed in the budget are "Percent Change in Quarterly Portfolio Organics Generation," "Percent Change in Quarterly Portfolio Recycling,” and "Percent Change in Quarterly Portfolio Trash Generation.” It is not explicitly clear whether the goal is a reduction or increase. We ask that DGS provide the Council and the public with an explanation of how the KPIs were calculated. Since these are new KPIs, we understand that there was not a target in the previous years, but the data for actuals (FY18 and FY19) should also be made available for review.
We understand that the DCPS Recycles! program is funded under the Healthy Schools Act (budget code A1195), and we would like to know how the funds allocated to DGS under the Healthy Schools Act are being used. We encourage the Committee to explore this question.
The Sierra Club will be requesting a meeting with the new DGS-SE leadership to better understand the budgeting process and how we can help support funding for zero waste and sustainable energy activities.