Legislative Brief: The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009
Legislative Brief Links
View the full text of the bill as passed by the House, and use the following links to see the National Trust's overview and analysis of five major topic areas: |
On June 26, 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) in a 219-212 vote.
This comprehensive energy bill stands to create millions of clean energy jobs and to increase the energy efficiency of older and historic homes and businesses. Home and businesses owners would be provided financial incentives for weatherization under a new Retrofit for Energy and Environmental Performance (REEP) program included in the bill by Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT).
REEP would fund state and municipal investments of up to half the cost of retrofitting the nation's existing homes and buildings. Homeowners could qualify for $1,000-$3,000 in financial incentives for achieving a 10% to 20% percent increase in efficiency, with another $150 for every additional percentage point of energy savings achieved. Historic buildings on the National Register of Historic Places would be eligible for a 120% boost in these same awards because of the special needs and higher costs associated with retrofitting historic buildings. In addition, REEP would give businesses up to $2.50 per square foot for making major energy reductions, and historic buildings would get the same 120% boost made available to historic homes.
The Senate released its draft version of the climate change bill on September 30, 2009, which would affect historic preservation in the areas of smart growth, energy efficiency, building codes, and the creation of green jobs for restoration work. The Senate bill places a high premium in the following areas important to historic preservation:
- Location Efficiency: The Senate bill calls for updates to zoning and other land use regulations, and plans to support development that coordinates transportation and land use planning that focuses future growth close to existing and planned job centers and public facilities as well as use existing infrastructure.
- National Building Codes: As in the House, the Senate bill poses another challenge and opportunity for historic preservationists to advocate for the inclusion of performance based standards as an alternative to prescriptive codes in the establishment of a national building code.
- Retrofit for Energy and Environmental Performance (REEP) program: The Senate bill also includes the REEP provisions in the House bill that provides a 120% boost in incentives for achieving energy-efficiency goals through retrofits of existing homes and buildings.
- Green Job Training: The Senate bill provides for a Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Worker Training Fund that would "place an emphasis on facilitating collaboration between the renewable energy industry and job training programs and on identifying industry and technological trends and best practices to better help job training programs maintain quality and relevance." This aspect of the Senate bill could help spur job training in the retrofit industry that specializes in historic buildings, which will require specialized skills to accommodate preservation needs and promote quality rehabilitation.
There are many aspects of the House and Senate bills that deserve the attention and scrutiny of preservationists because of the effect they would have on older and historic structures. The National Trust is continuing to monitor and advocate for provisions in both the House and Senate that will benefit older and historic structures while meeting the energy efficiency goals in any final legislation.
The Senate is expected to begin marking up its draft climate change bill in the next few weeks.
Included in this web brief is an overview of some of the bill's major topic areas, as well as the National Trust’s analysis of these policy areas as they affect our movement. We encourage you to post your comments and views in throughout the briefing.
Submitted by HP in Cent Virginia at: July 24, 2009
I am closely watching the legislative process associated with climate change and energy efficiency bills. I hope that we will not see our elected representatives produce legislation that is written by, and tailored to the needs of, corporate special interests while forsaking the needs of the American people. After the rampant cronyism, corruption, and nepotism that happened from 2001 through 2008, Congress has a lot of work to do to win back the trust of the American people. So far, ACES appears to be a pretty good bill. Almost everyone is unhappy with some aspect of it, but almost everyone can find at least one thing to like about it as well. Compromise is the essence of a functioning democratic political system. That ACES appears to be the result of a process of genuine negotiation and compromise, rather than kowtowing to powerful corporate special interests, is encouraging. I hope that the National Trust will continue its vigorous work to remind legislators that historic preservation offers many, many solutions to the issues being addressed in ACES.