ATLANTA – A Georgia House subcommittee approved legislation Wednesday that would prohibit local governments from adopting building codes based on the source of energy to be used.
House Bill 150, which passed 12-2 and now moves to the full House Energy, Utilities & Telecommunications Committee, has drawn fire from environmental advocates who say it would make it harder for cities and counties to push renewable energy over dirty fossil fuels.
In Georgia, the cities of Atlanta, Augusta, Athens, Savannah and Clarkston have set long-term goals of converting their buildings to 100% clean energy.
“I know a carbon-free energy goal is going to be a long haul,” Neill Herring, a lobbyist for the Georgia chapter of the Sierra Club, told the subcommittee Wednesday. “[But] cities should have the right to choose.”
The two Democrats on the subcommittee who voted against the bill echoed similar arguments that the measure strikes a blow against local control.
“I may have a preference for renewable energy, but that’s not what this is about,” said Rep. Karla Drenner, D-Avondale Estates. “This is about preempting 535 cities [in Georgia] from doing what their elected people were elected to do.”
But the subcommittee’s Republicans said the concept of local control should apply to residents of cities and counties, not their elected officials.
“Many homes in my district are warmed by petroleum gas,” said Rep. Beth Camp, R-Concord. “If a municipality makes a decision to terminate a form of energy, they’re telling people what they can and can’t do in their homes.”
Rep. Bruce Williamson, R-Monroe, the bill’s chief sponsor, said nothing in the measure prohibits local governments from using tax subsidies to encourage builders to use renewable energy.
Atlanta-based Georgia Power, an affiliate of Southern Co., supports House Bill 150 as protecting its commitment to a diverse portfolio of energy supply sources, including coal, gas, nuclear power and renewable energy including solar.
Southern merged with AGL Resources – now known as Southern Company Gas – in 2016.