(The Center Square) – The Building Industry Association of Washington has refiled its lawsuit against the Washington State Building Code Council over delays in updating the state’s energy code to align with Initiative 2066, passed by voters in November, which ensures the state’s utilities continue to provide natural gas service,
The lawsuit, filed Friday in Thurston County Superior Court, asks the court to require the SBCC to initiate emergency rulemaking to speed compliance.
As reported by The Center Square earlier this month, Thurston County Superior Court Judge John Skinder sided with the state’s motion to dismiss BIAW’s first lawsuit over the manner in which the case was filed.
BIAW has now refiled under the Administrative Procedures Act.
The same day BIAW was refiling its suit, the SBCC was meeting and issued a draft statement about I-2066: “There has been confusion over the WA energy codes and the passage of I-2066, and whether the codes should be enforced. The Council is investigating changes necessary to bring the codes into compliance with the requirements under I-2066 and all other relevant laws. Until such time as the Council adopts any changes, the current 2021 codes will remain in place.”
BIAW contends SBCC is required to speed up code changes.
“It is irresponsible and a dereliction of duty for the council not to be taking immediate action to bring the energy codes into compliance with the law. We shouldn’t have to be going to court to force the council to follow the law,” BIAW Executive Vice President Greg Lane said in a news release.
Lane said the current codes, disincentivizing the use of natural gas are illegal, and the council should be working to comply with the law.
BIAW Managing Director of External Affairs Jan Himebaugh spoke with The Center Square Monday about the ongoing dispute with SBCC.
“We’ve asked them multiple times since the initiative was passed to come into compliance and they continue to deny, so now we are in an Administrative Procedures Act challenge because they really just do not want to enforce the law and the will of the voters,” she said. “It’s offensive and should be offensive to the people of Washington.”
Himebaugh said BIAW is confident there is no conflict when it comes to energy efficiency rules in state law.
“You cannot do that by banning or discouraging or penalizing the use of natural gas, and they just don’t want to admit that because they just want 100% carbon reduction, and that’s all they care about,” she continued. “They have tried to conflate the term energy efficiency with carbon neutrality and those are not the same thing.”
She noted some local governments are working to comply with I-2066.
“Some local governments have taken the right approach, and they’re adjusting energy code so you can use natural gas and not have to pay $20,000 to $40,000 extra to use natural gas,” Himebaugh explained. “That’s what the 2021 energy code does. It adds tens of thousands of dollars to the cost of construction and the cost of a home if you want to use natural gas. The people of Washington have said, do not disincentive the use of natural gas.”
A constitutional challenge to I-2066 is set to be argued in King County Superior Court on March 21.
A coalition of environmental and climate groups contend I-2066 violates the state constitution.
“First and foremost, it violates the requirement that an initiative can concern only a single subject because it impermissibly includes several short-term items that make immediate changes and other changes are broad and long-term – all in violation of the Constitution,” plaintiff representative Kai Smith with Pacifica Law Group told Climate Solutions late last year. “I-2066 also violates the separate subject-in-title requirement of the Washington Constitution.”
Himebaugh told The Center Square BIAW is confident I-2066 does not violate the single-subject rule and will hold up.
The state Attorney General’s Office is defending the measure.
Meantime, the WA Department of Ecology has backed off support for a bill to regulate wood-burning stoves sold in Washington state.
Sen. Shelly Short, R-Addy told The Center Square SB 5174 would have been extremely costly and duplicate woodstove emissions standards already required by the Environmental Protection Agency.
“It’s great news they are backing off of that and the bill is dead for this session,” said Short. “Since I have been in the legislature, this is a topic that continually comes up. I feel like they just want to get rid of our stoves. They’ll tell you they don’t, but I’ve been following this since 2010 and it keeps coming up.”