We need you!

The Washington State Building Code Council will take public written and public testimony on a Natural Gas Ban for all new residential homes.

Public comment is open until 5 pm on October 14^th, and we are encouraging anyone opposed to voice their opinion.

Among the most critical, is that the building code council has NOT completed a cost benefit analysis or a small business impact study on these code proposals, (as required)

Additional talking points you can use:

• The electrical grid can’t support a full ban on natural gas. Avista believes it would need to double its capacity to absorb a gas ban.
• In Spokane, any new electrical power generation will need to come from Natural Gas – which burns only 45-55% efficient, as compared with new home furnaces that are 95% efficient
• Avista believes we can save far more greenhouse gas emissions through weatherization and upgrading furnaces that we can eliminating new gas hook ups.
• There is no coherent plan to replace the natural gas energy that total electrification will require – leading to more blackouts and price hikes to businesses and ratepayers.
• In Spokane, the planned conversion to heat pumps is a laudable goal – yet heat pumps do NOT work well in our climate (under 30-degree, or over 90-degrees)
• We are facing the worst housing crisis in Washington State’s history. We currently rank 50^th in the nation for the number of housing units per capita. Spokane is also among the worst cities in the nation for housing – some 25,000 housing units short for the City alone. We must do everything we can to add to the affordability of homes, now – without compromising efficiency, which is already among the highest building code standards in the US
• We can save far more greenhouse gas emissions in Spokane, by building more homes where people work and go to school – instead of pushing buyers into Idaho where there is far more availability. Instead, we are seeing daily car traffic nearly double every few years.
• There are no exemptions for those working to produce low income housing. It makes no sense to add $5,000 solar ready electric panels and garage plug-in stations for electric cars for those who are barely able to afford rent

There are a number of ways to provide input before the Oct. 14 deadline, including:

An Oct. 14 public hearing from 10 am – 5 pm.  Location: Room 1213, 1500 Jefferson St SE; Olympia, WA 98504.  You must submit a sign-up form to testify before the hearing date.

Submit written comments by 5 pm on Oct. 14, 2022.

•             Online contact form
•             Comment by email to SBCC@des.wa.gov