Thursday, July 02, 2009

Your Green House   [Stephen Spruiell]

After I posted this item yesterday, a reader sent me the following question:

No personal reply desired, but I've heard on other websites that the Waxman-Markey bill contains a little-publicized provision that would require private homeowners to retrofit their homes to meet federally-mandated energy-efficiency  standards when they put their homes up for sale.  If this is true, it deserves much wider publicity.  I believe many people who are not conservatives would deeply resent this intrusion of the federal government into their personal affairs. 

It is true. Kevin Williamson and I came across this provision when compiling our 50 things wrong with Waxman-Markey, up on the home page now. "Your Green House" is no. 24:

The bill requires the EPA to establish environmental standards for residences, meaning a federally dictated one-size-fits-all policy for greening every home in America. When you’re retrofitting your home according to EPA guidelines, it will come as little comfort to know that the government is reimbursing you for your troubles, especially if you’re doing the work around April 15.

There are 49 more where that came from, so read on and spread the word.

Update: The link to the retrofit provisions in the Waxman-Markey bill stopped working, so I removed it. The link to the whole bill can be found here, and from there the retrofit provisions are pretty easy to find. This Reuters story has more info on the national energy efficiency building codes that would become a part of our lives if this bill were to become law.

07/02 01:45 PMShare