Government Affairs Updates - 01/05/2007

You are reading an archived version of the ASHRAE Government Affairs Update. Please click here for the most recent update.

• Senate Democrats Outline Initial Agenda for 110th
• Permanent R&D Credit Sought by Senate Finance Chair
• DOE Undersecretary for Energy to Leave Government
• Renewables and Efficiency Prompt Letter from Representatives
• Climate Change Assessment Overdue According to Representatives
• Building Code in Boston to Go Green

Senate Democrats Outline Initial Agenda for 110th

In a memo to Senate Democrats, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) outlined goals and timelines for the 110th Congress which began on January 4. Initial priorities include ethics and lobbying reform, increasing the minimum wage, a Medicare prescription drug program, and implementing recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. During the spring work period, the Senate will tackle global warming and legislation aimed at achieving energy independence.

The committee process will play a key role in the formulation of key legislation. Nine of the first ten bills introduced will go through the committee process—ethics reform legislation will go straight to the floor.

While Democrats in the House of Representatives have committed to achieving these agenda items in the first 100 hours of the new Congress, it will take the Senate several months to achieve final approval.

Reid also expressed the importance of bipartisanship and compromise.

Click here for a copy of the memo.

Permanent R&D Credit Sought by Senate Finance Chair

Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont), Chair of the Senate Finance Committee introduced a bill to make the research and development credit a permanent part of the tax code. The credit has bipartisan support, but had previously been extended through temporary extensions—the most recent through 2007 at the end of the 109th Congress. Similar legislation to make the credit failed during the last Congress.

DOE Undersecretary for Energy to Leave Government

The Department of Energy’s Undersecretary of Energy, David Garman will leave his post at the end of January to start a consulting firm. Garman was nominated by President George W. Bush for the position on March 4, 2005 and was unanimously confirmed by the Senate on June 15, 2005. Undersecretary Garman oversaw DOE’s portfolio of applied energy research, development, demonstration, and deployment activities. These activities include next generation nuclear power reactors, clean coal technologies, hydrogen fuel cells, superconductivity, advanced vehicle technologies, efficient building technologies, and thin film solar photovoltaics.

Prior to being confirmed as Undersecretary, Garman served as the Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. During his four-year tenure in that position, Garman and his management team were credited by the National Academy of Public Administration for radically transforming the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy from a troubled organization to a model worthy of emulation.

Prior to joining the DOE, Garman served on the personal staff of two U.S. Senators and on the Professional Staff of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. He also represented the Senate leadership at virtually all major negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change from 1995-2000.

Renewables and Efficiency Prompt Letter from Representatives

Representatives Mark Udall (D-Colo.) and Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.), along with 78 other representatives, sent a letter requesting President Bush to include higher funding levels for renewable energy and energy efficiency in his fiscal 2008 Energy Department budget request. It asks the White House to "develop a request that fully funds" the efficiency and renewable energy programs government-wide at levels authorized by the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

The letter also seeks full funding of the advanced hydropower and geothermal power programs, which the White House has proposed to "zero out" in previous budgets. The lawmakers also want full funding for biomass and biofuels, wind and solar programs and efficiency programs for buildings, industry and motor vehicles.

Bush's budget will arrive in early February, on the heels of congressional efforts to pass a yearlong resolution to fiscal 2007 programs at or near 2006 levels and in the wake of an anticipated $100 billion supplemental funding request for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Click here for a copy of the letter 

Climate Change Assessment Overdue According to Representatives

According to a letter to top federal officials sent by two dozen House members, the federal government is overdue in producing a second national assessment of climate change and its impacts. The lawmakers criticized the Bush administration for its decision to follow its 2000 national assessment of climate science and consequences with a series of 21 staggered, narrowly defined reports.

The Global Change Research Act of 1990 requires preparation of a scientific assessment every four years of current climate change research and effects. The letter claims the 21 reports do not meet the requirements. Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), as well as a coalition of environmental groups also filed a lawsuit requesting compliance.

"To help Congress shape a well-informed, forward-looking climate change policy, we call on the Bush administration to comply with the law by producing a policy-relevant climate impacts assessment report at the earliest possible date," according to the letter. "The failure of the CCSP to produce a national assessment report within the time frame required by law has made it more difficult for Congress to develop a comprehensive policy response to the challenge of climate change."

Signing the letter were Democratic Representatives. Jay Inslee (Wash.), Henry Waxman (Calif.), Wayne Gilchrest (Md.), Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.), Ron Kind (Wis.), Tim Ryan (Ohio), Sam Farr (Calif.), Lloyd Doggett (Texas), Doris Matsui (Calif.), John Olver (Mass.), Adam Schiff (Calif.), Mike Honda (Calif.), George Miller Calif.), Tammy Baldwin (Wis.), Betty McCollum (Minn.), Frank Pallone (N.J.), Tom Allen (Maine), Jim Moran (Va.), Rush Holt (N.J.), Eliot Engel (N.Y.), Lois Capps (Calif.), Stephanie Herseth (S.D.) and Anthony Weiner (N.Y.) and Republican Jim Saxton (N.J.).

Click here for a copy of the letter

Building Code in Boston to Go Green

Boston plans to amend its building code to require that all large-scale private construction meet the minimum criteria of the United States Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards for new projects. While other governments have adopted the Council’s standards for private construction, Boston is believed to be the first city to revise its building code to adhere to them.

Other jurisdictions adopting LEED for private developers include Washington, D.C., Pasadena, Calif., and the State of New Mexico. Eighteen states and 12 federal agencies use them for new public buildings.

The change in Boston’s building code means that each project must meet at least 26 of 69 criteria within LEED. Developers can choose from the 69 items, which include construction with recycled content, water-efficient landscaping systems and proximity to public transportation. The city is adding four other criteria, including one that would pertain to a project involving historic preservation.