Chairman Phil Mendelson
Council of the District of Columbia
Councilmember Mary Cheh
Chair, Committee on Transportation and the Environment
Council of the District of Columbia
Re: Proposed budget raid of Green Building Fund
Dear Chairman Mendelson and Councilmember Cheh:
The Sierra Club DC Chapter is writing to express our opposition to changes to the language of the Green Building Act of 2006 proposed in the Fiscal Year 2021 Budget Support Act of 2020. The proposed amendment would substantially weaken the Green Building Fund and would undermine its original purpose.
The Sierra Club DC Chapter is dedicated to protecting and improving the environment in the nation’s capital. The Sierra Club is the nation's oldest and largest environmental advocacy group. We are a grassroots organization with more than 3,000 dues-paying members and more than 10,000 supporters in DC.
We support the District’s national leadership in the shift away from the fossil fuels that cause climate change and the move toward a clean energy economy. A substantial portion of the District’s greenhouse gas emissions come from its buildings, and the Green Building Fund is instrumental in providing the resources necessary for green building development in the District.
The Fiscal Year 2021 Budget Support Act of 2020 would amend Sec. 6014. Section 8(c)(2) of the Green Building Act of 2006 to allow the use of the Green Building Fund to cover the “[c]osts of abating nuisance properties and housing code violations, including the use of green building materials for abatements.” This amendment would make the fund accessible to countless projects that have little or nothing to do with green building practices, given that the amendment would not require the use of green building materials for these abatements.
The effect of this raid on the Green Building Fund would be less money for energy efficiency and renewable energy in buildings and thus less reduction in DC’s greenhouse gas emissions. DC has committed to a 50 percent reduction in carbon pollution by 2032 and carbon neutrality by 2050. In 2018, the Council passed the Clean Energy DC Omnibus Act, which requires DC buildings to substantially improve energy efficiency. Raiding the Green Building Fund is a contravention of this law, passed by the Council less than two years ago, and of DC’s larger climate commitments.
The Sierra Club believes that monies from the Green Building Fund should support environmentally-friendly buildings in the District and reduce DC’s greenhouse gas emissions. It should not be used for any other purpose. The proposed amendment to the Green Building Act of 2006 contained in the fiscal year 2021 budget would set a bad precedent by compromising the purpose of the fund.
Sincerely,
Lara Levison
Clean Energy Committee Chair
Sierra Club, Washington DC Chapter
Peter Quinn-Jacobs
Clean Energy Committee Member
Sierra Club, Washington DC Chapter
cc:
Councilmember Anita Bonds
Councilmember David Grosso
Councilmember Elissa Silverman
Councilmember Robert C. White, Jr.
Councilmember Brianne K. Nadeau
Councilmember Brandon T. Todd
Councilmember Kenyan R. McDuffie
Councilmember Charles Allen
Councilmember Vincent C. Gray
Councilmember Trayon White, Sr.
Sierra Club Opposes Raid on DC's Green Building Fund
June 16, 2020