New natural gas code violates state law

Washington’s State Building Code Council has once again adopted rules designed to eliminate natural gas energy for new residential and commercial construction. The original proposal was modified when a similar regulation adopted by the city of Berkeley, Calif., was overturned by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Like the previous version, the new rules were pushed through the process without providing adequate information about the costs of the new regulations.

For example, the preliminary cost benefit analysis for the changes in the energy code is required to demonstrate that “that the...