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Just before leaving
Oregon for Bonn, Germany and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC), Governor Kate Brown issued a couple of Executive Orders which she
claimed would, “drive the state's efforts forward in reducing greenhouse gas
emissions.”
The governor's first
executive order, would require new homes built after September 2020 be equipped
and ready for solar panel installation. Commercial buildings must meet the same
mandate by October 2022. Additionally, by October 2022, all parking structures
for new homes (this means your garage or car port) and commercial buildings
must be wired for at least one electric vehicle charger.
Then, by October
2023, Gov. Brown directed the state's Building Codes Division to require all
new homes to be "zero-energy ready.”
Wow … How will this
impact new home prices in a state where our “affordable housing” fuel gauge
already reads, “Empty.”
These are two
excellent examples of seemingly well-intentioned Executive Orders that actually
harm poor, under-privileged and middle-class households while squandering
valuable resources at the same time.
These building
requirements impact all new construction not just new construction in prime
solar gain environments. Every new home, even those shaded by tall, near-by buildings,
tall evergreens, or situated on north-facing slopes will be required to
purchase and install features that will never be utilized.
For the countless
other homes with moderate solar gain potential, what percentage of those will
utilize these “solar-ready” features? These mandates force substantial resource
waste while harming a disproportionate number of poor and lower middle-class
families by saddling them with associated direct costs that they cannot afford
and will never use. Will Moms be forced to give up a year's supply of bread and milk to buy a feature they'll never use?
The Founding Fathers
knew, that outside of its legitimate functions, government does nothing as well
or as economically as the private sector of the economy. So, why don’t we allow
voluntary, free-markets to work? To wit, if you are building a new home and
want it to be “solar ready,” then make that choice, if not, then no one should
force that decision on you. Why would the Governor want to force someone to buy
something they don’t want or need? This
reminds me of Obama’s healthcare requirement that all males purchase maternity
and prenatal health insurance even though they will never need or use this
coverage.
It appears Gov. Brown’s policy
interventions were made without considering the unintentional waste stemming
from the one-size fits all standard. Additionally, this policy neglects simple
things like possible technological innovations and market supply/demand
constraints.
Meanwhile, the
agencies tasked with implementing these policies will be ever diligent in doing
their best to follow the rules. This becomes a situation where bureaucrats are
hard at work following the flowchart and checking the boxes to ensure that they
adhered to the letter of the Executive Order. All the while, the ill-defined
terms of this executive mandate will lead to practical implementation problems
via obtuse rules and opaque administrative procedures.
With regard to
“driving the state's efforts forward in reducing greenhouse gas emissions,”
these two Executive Orders don’t really drive anything, anywhere. Rather, they
will make new housing and construction more expensive, waste precious
resources, and tighten existing housing markets which will adversely affect
people lower on the socioeconomic scale.
As I mentioned
earlier, these orders were announced just before the Governor left for the UN
conference for climate initiatives in Germany.
Apparently, this was the point.
Unfortunately, the
governor has fallen prey to empty sophistry and these executive efforts
resemble meaningless rallying points for her gubernatorial campaign and for
all like-minded Democrats rebelling
against President Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris climate accord.
Looking at news
releases, the latest Bonn meetings didn’t accomplish much, either.
 The
greenhouse emissions from the eruption of Mount Agung, Bali weren’t addressed.
Nor, were the forest fires that raged across the Western United States, or
elsewhere on the planet. Additionally, the talks reported 273 gigawatts of
worldwide coal capacity which is currently under construction, with another 570
gigawatts in planning stages. This would be a whopping 42 percent increase in
global energy production from coal. This building boom will be necessary
because the electric vehicle charging stations will have to be powered by coal,
hydro or natural gas – solar power can’t meet the battery demand.
Besides, this year’s stated
goal continues to be a target of keeping global temperature rise to well below 2-degree
C, and 1.5-degree C if possible. This 2-degree global warming metric is the
same 2-degrees that renewable energy cronies and government elites have bandied
about for over 30 years.
In the US, it started
with the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearings on June 10,
1986. The event featured testimony from numerous researchers, one of whom was
James Hansen, a leading climate modeler with NASA.
In essence, Hansen,
"predicted that global temperatures should be nearly 2 degrees higher in
20 years" and "the average U.S. temperature has risen from 1 to 2
degrees since 1958 and is predicted to increase an additional 3 or 4 degrees
sometime between 2010 and 2020."
Note, none of these
predictions came to pass. Nor, is there substantial evidence that these conditions
are imminent. Luckily, there is a nice escape hatch for being undeniably wrong.
The errors are
explained away by, "the natural variability of the temperature in both
real world and the model are sufficiently large that we can neither confirm nor
refute the modeled greenhouse effect on the basis of current temperature
trends."
In other words, “We
don’t know what we are talking about but we are here to save you; so, give us
your money!”
Remember, if we don't stand for rural Oregon values and common-sense, No one will.
 Dennis Linthicum
Oregon State Senate 28
Capitol Phone: 503-986-1728
Capitol Address: 900 Court St. NE, S-305, Salem, Oregon 97301
Email: sen.DennisLinthicum@oregonlegislature.gov
Website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/linthicum
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