Environmental and Racial Justice Advocates in Washington State:
Please sign your name onto a letter urging the State Building Code Council (SBCC) to adopt proposed updates to the residential building code. An overview of the code update process and key proposals can be found here.

Reach out to Ali Lee with any questions: eco8cb@gmail.com. Thank you!

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Members of the State Building Code Council:

We, the undersigned environmental and racial justice advocates, stand in solidarity to urge you to adopt the proposed residential building code updates. In particular, we strongly support the requirements for heat pump systems in new homes and stricter ventilation for new homes with gas stoves.  

As homeowners and renters, we believe these updates align with environmental, racial justice (ERJ) and sustainability goals. This package of proposals takes steps to address both the efficiency and the use of fossil fuels in our newest homes. Requiring clean heat pump technologies addresses indoor and outdoor air pollution and will ensure that we are building healthy, resilient, and affordable homes that increase quality of life for impacted and overburdened communities.

Clean Air Is a Human Right
We do not all breathe the same air. The Washington Environmental Health Disparities Map demonstrates this reality. It reveals the overlap between environmental exposures such as diesel emissions (which include formaldehyde, benzene and nitrogen dioxide), PM 2.5 concentrations and populations living in poverty, in unaffordable housing, and/or at risk from cardiovascular disease, in addition to other vulnerabilities. The intersection of these threats and vulnerabilities reveals that large swaths of Washington can be classified as “highly impacted communities,” making the residents in these communities the most impacted by current and future effects of climate change. Sustaining our fossil fuel consumption only increases these disparities and negative impacts.

In addition to these disparities, which primarily apply to the quality of outdoor air, there is a mounting body of evidence that demonstrates the toxicity of indoor air due to fossil fuel combustion. In fact, the EPA estimates the air in our homes is 2-5x more polluted than outdoor air. This is significant because people spend the majority of their time indoors–up to 90% of their lives. The majority of this pollution can be attributed to the use of fossil gas. A study from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health examined the effects of gas appliances on indoor air quality and found that “combustion pollutants are produced from the use of gas appliances, including water heaters, stoves, ovens, furnaces and other indoor heating devices.” There is also a growing consensus that gas stoves in particular have a negative effect on health, especially for vulnerable populations. One report estimates that children in homes with a gas stove have a 24% to 42% increased risk of developing asthma symptoms. The UCLA study finds that: in addition to reducing the number of premature deaths and cases of acute bronchitis, the wholesale transition of gas to electric appliances in buildings could especially “benefit low-income households and environmental justice communities,” who “face disproportionate air-pollution burdens and limited access to clean energy resources”  Eliminating gas from our indoor spaces will have immediate and lasting benefits for communities who already suffer from unhealthy outdoor air pollution.

The HEAL Act Demands Equitable Action
The passage of the Washington HEAL Act in 2021 was intended to make a “historic step toward eliminating environmental and health disparities among communities of color and low income households.” Eliminating polluting methane gas from our homes is a crucial piece of eliminating these disparities. A recent study illustrates that even at the level of infrastructure safety we have in place, communities of color and lower-income communities are at a disadvantage, as there are significantly more gas leaks where they live. To meet the state’s sustainability and environmental justice goals, we need to reduce the footprint of the fossil fuel industry in our communities and in our homes.

The goals of the environmental and racial justice movement are clear:

• Ensure equitable protection and access
• Undo institutional discrimination
• Dismantle environmental racism
• Eliminate environmental health disparities

We cannot accomplish these goals if we continue to expand our fossil fuel system. Building new homes all-electric is an essential step in meeting these goals. Thank you for your efforts to advance a building energy code that creates an equitable, healthy and sustainable future for all.

[signatories]