AGC Hosts Building Design and Construction Industry Meeting on Climate Change

AGC Wednesday hosted a meeting with executives and representatives of several building design and construction industry stakeholders at the National Building Museum to discuss recent regulatory and legislative efforts to address greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.  The group received a briefing from a representative of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to update them on the regulatory efforts underway at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to control greenhouse gas emissions from mobile and stationary sources under the Clean Air Act.  The U.S. Chamber and AGC share a concern that the Clean Air Act would lead to over-regulation of building construction and major renovation and ultimately halt construction.  The group also received a briefing on the legislative outlook in Congress, including comments from a staff member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.  The House Energy and Commerce Committee last week approved a bill that aims to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 83 percent below 2005 levels by 2050.  The Senate has yet to propose climate change legislation.  AGC will now work to identify areas of consensus among the building design and construction community to influence the debate on Capitol Hill as climate change legislation moves forward.