In October 2009, President Barack Obama signed Executive Order 13514, which sets numerous green requirements for the federal government. The EO will certainly impact construction contracts with the federal government. According to the White House’s Press Release, the Executive Order requires agencies to meet a number of energy, water and waste reduction goals:
- 26% improvement in water efficiency by 2020;
- 50% of construction, recycling and waste materials will be diverted from landfills by 2015;
- 95% of all applicable contracts will meet sustainability requirements;
- Implementation of the 2030 net-zero-energy building requirement;
- Implementation of the stormwater provisions of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, section 438; and
- Development of guidance for sustainable Federal building locations in alignment with the Livability Principles put forward by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Transportation, and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Agencies will be required to go through the rulemaking process to implement EO 13514. There are a number of steps to the rulemaking process:
- agencies must inform the public of proposed rules before they take effect;
- the public can comment on the proposed rules and provide additional data to the agency;
- the public can access the rulemaking record and analyze the data and analysis behind a proposed rule;
- the agency analyzes and responds to the public’s comments;
- the agency creates a permanent record of its analysis and the process;
It will be very interesting to see the initial rules proposed by the various agencies and how various players weigh in during this green building rulemaking process.
How do you think interested parties are going to react?