Fossil Fuel Lobbying Leads to Weaker Building Codes on Energy Efficiency
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Fossil fuel companies successfully lobbied to strip climate-friendly measures from national homebuilding guidelines last week.
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Democrats called the gas industry's influence over the guidelines writing process "a real scandal."
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Top House Republicans are now pressuring the Energy Department to slow programs helping states/cities adopt the new building codes.
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They claim the codes could limit energy choices and are not cost-effective for all regions.
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The letter makes misleading claims about the effects of updating codes, which apply to new construction to avoid future retrofit costs.