Eco-Justice Connection

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Susannah Tuttle, Eco-Justice Connection Director

North Carolinians Deserve Updated Building Codes

By Susannah Tuttle, Eco-Justice Connection Director

On Friday, July 7th, Governor Cooper vetoed HB 488. As people of faith, we applaud his leadership and understanding of how this piece of legislation will negatively impact the people […]

North Carolinians Deserve Updated Building Codes

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On Friday, July 7th, Governor Cooper vetoed HB 488. As people of faith, we applaud his leadership and understanding of how this piece of legislation will negatively impact the people and environment of North Carolina.

The impacts of HB 488 will hinder the progress of crucial updates to the state’s building energy conservation codes, which have been under consideration by the North Carolina Building Code Council for the past two years. Currently, the Council is deliberating an update that would align the codes with the 2021 standards, representing a significant improvement over the existing codes established in 2009. Regrettably, certain members of the N.C. General Assembly are actively attempting to impede these much-needed updates through House Bill 488.

NC Interfaith Power & Light, the NC Council of Churches energy justice program, has collected signatures from individuals and congregations endorsing an expert editorial opposing HB 488. We are now praying that those members of the N.C. General Assembly, who possess a deep sense of conscience and genuine concern for our communities, will sustain the veto and allow the NC Building Code Council to complete the necessary and overdue update to the NC Building Codes. 

According to independent analysis and results from homebuilders who are already incorporating provisions of the proposed code, these updated Codes will save new residential homeowners an average of $399 (18.7%) a year in utility costs. Updating the codes in line with the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code will create thousands of new jobs, boost the North Carolina economy, and result in $5.3 billion in savings to residential consumers over a thirty-year period.1

If the Governor’s veto is overturned, House Bill 488 will throw out these savings and two years of work by the NC Building Code Council.  Instead of new codes taking effect in January 2025, they would be delayed until 2031. This would mean new homes in North Carolina would be built to 20-year-old code standards that are less efficient and more expensive for occupants to operate during a time of significant utility rate increases and lead to our state missing out on federal FEMA funding.

If the current Building Code Council is allowed to finish its work, the economic benefits to the 10 million people of North Carolina will be: $5.3 Billion in utility bill savings over the next 30 years2, plus increased tax revenues, more manufacturing jobs, and job training programs that will give more North Carolinians a living wage, and homes that are more likely to survive hurricanes.

This bill is truly a justice issue that impacts the people and environment of North Carolina. Please use your “power & light” from within and help protect the Veto on HB 488 and contact your members of the North Carolina General Assembly today!

1Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of the 2024 North Carolina Energy Conservation Code, Page 2, PNNL-180509. March 24, 2023.
2Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of the 2024 North Carolina Energy Conservation Code, Page 2, PNNL-180509. March 24, 2023

COP 27: Together for Implementation on Loss and Damage

By Susannah Tuttle, Eco-Justice Connection Director

As you have hopefully heard in the news, the 27th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 27) is currently taking place in […]

COP 27: Together for Implementation on Loss and Damage

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As you have hopefully heard in the news, the 27th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 27) is currently taking place in Egypt. The theme for COP 27 is #TogetherForImplementation. Of the many years of global meetings that have taken place since the 2015 Paris Agreement, this “implementation summit” of 2022 is the year nations are expected to demonstrate that they are in a new era of implementation by turning their commitments into action. Walking through the maze of the COP 27 campus you can see the branded theme everywhere from massive banners and big screens to the plant-based paperboard water bottles handed out daily to participants.

The general view of COP 27 is to build on previous successes and pave the way for future ambition to effectively tackle the global challenge of climate change. We recall that the main aim of the Paris Agreement is to keep the global average temperature rise this century as close as possible to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Every minute that we delay implementation of real action we see that number rise and so we know we must move beyond the “talk” of negotiations into the commitments of climate finance in very real and equitable terms. That said, the discussions around the creation of a loss and damage (L&D) financial facility are of highest importance at COP 27.

Last week, Bobby Watson wrote a Texas Impact blog on L&D  highlighting some of the overall tensions around the issue. This week, along with many others from American Civil Society, I attended a meeting with Senator Schumer’s staff to discuss how they might help us move this critical issue forward. We discussed our concerns that although US climate envoy, John Kerry, has said his country was “totally supportive” of moves to address loss and damage and is “100% ready” to discuss the issue in detail, the U.S. State Department has not yet agreed to support the creation of a L&D financial facility. Directly after the meeting with Schumer’s team a group of us headed over to the Climate Justice Pavillion to hear more about the demands for the L&D finance facility from a panel moderated by Manish Bapna, President and CEO of Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

Because we are well aware of the political challenges of allocating funds via U.S. Congress for climate action, we should be willing to listen to those in the negotiation space representing our country and hear their hesitations to make promises to developing countries that they do not feel confident they can deliver in the form of finances.  However, this is no excuse to be an obstacle by blocking the rest of the world’s ability to move forward in creating this L&D financial facility which is so desperately needed. 

Today, in support of the letter House Democrats sent to President Biden, a press release was distributed globally titled: US & Global Activists call on the United States to Stop Blocking a Loss & Damage Fund which includes quotes from our colleagues that we are working with in Sharm El-Sheikh, amplifying the call for a L&D financial facility. 

It is becoming more clear by the day that if the implementation launch of a loss and damage facility at COP 27 does not take place this will be a huge loss for humanitarian empathy. This is exactly where I turn to my faith and prayerful hope that it will happen in time, it just has to.

PRAYER: 
During these last days in Egypt, may the U.S. delegation let go of all inhibiting and paralyzing fear to be guided by the moral compass of compassion in the name of justice for all God’s children. We are all in this #TogetherForImplementation!

NCIPL Director’s Testimony on EPA Methane Rules

By Susannah Tuttle, Eco-Justice Connection Director

2021 EPA Oil and Natural Gas Listening Sessions EPA-HQ-OAR-2021-0295 Hello, my name is Susannah Tuttle. I am Director of the NC Interfaith Power & Light and serve as the Director […]

NCIPL Director’s Testimony on EPA Methane Rules

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2021 EPA Oil and Natural Gas Listening Sessions
EPA-HQ-OAR-2021-0295

Hello, my name is Susannah Tuttle. I am Director of the NC Interfaith Power & Light and serve as the Director of the Eco-Justice Connection at the NC Council of Churches. 

I am grateful for the opportunity to share my strong support for EPA’s proposed methane rules and urge EPA to strengthen the rules to maximize the benefits for public health and the environment. 

In 2004 I received my Masters in Divinity after studying at the Graduate Theological Union with a focus on ecological ethics. As a faith leader I have spent my entire career working to address the causes and consequences of global warming as a moral imperative. 

There is no doubt that Methane pollution is a profound threat to our health and our climate. The oil and gas industry is the largest source of methane pollution in the United States. Addressing this pollution, in the form of leaks from new and existing operations, is the low hanging fruit of climate solutions. 

People of faith see climate change as the greatest ethical and moral concern of our time. Not only do frontline communities, communities of color, the young and old suffer the most from climate change, they are affected most from methane pollution which is linked to our warming climate. We must work for strong methane rules. We must act now for life.

As people of faith and conscience, with a shared commitment for stewardship of our common home, Interfaith Power & Light’s congregational network supports strong and effective methane pollution safeguards. Using currently available technology, the U.S. can do its part to meet a global imperative, achieving a 65% reduction of methane from oil and gas by 2025 and more by the end of the decade.  As the largest historic emitter of climate warming pollution, the U.S. must do its fair share and dramatically reduce its methane pollution.

As you have already heard from so many experts across this country, EPA must strengthen the monitoring requirement. EPA should  require regular monitoring at smaller, high polluting wells. Hundreds of thousands of wells across the country generate just a trickle of usable product but are large and disproportionate emitters of methane. EPA has recognized in the proposal that a “low production” exemption is not appropriate. However, under EPA’s current proposal operators that calculate lower potential emissions could still escape regular leak monitoring. This is a big problem since operators wouldn’t be required to factor in super-emitters or equipment failures.

I echo all those who have already stated how flaring is another wasteful and avoidable practice that is rampant in the oil and gas production sector. When companies rush to extract oil, some forgo investments necessary to capture and sell gas and instead burn it as a waste product, emitting a host of climate and health-harming pollutants. Flares also commonly malfunction and spew methane directly into the atmosphere. Therefore EPA must move to end routine flaring.

All of these additions must be included before the proposal is finalized to ensure EPA is fully protecting our health and addressing the climate crisis.

We are pointed in the right direction, but we are running out of time to tackle the climate crisis, and we cannot miss out on this opportunity to protect public health and the environment. These proposed safeguards must be strengthened before they are finalized to ensure EPA is using the full force of the Clean Air Act to and truly meet this moment.

Finally I urge EPA to finalize this rulemaking as quickly as possible, climate change is an emergency and our planet cannot afford further delay. 

On behalf of my family, our communities, and the congregational networks I serve… I thank you for this opportunity to provide comments and I send prayers of peace & blessings to you all.

Susannah Tuttle, M.Div
NC Interfaith Power & Light
NC Council of Churches
November 30, 2021

Link to EPA process: https://www.epa.gov/controlling-air-pollution-oil-and-natural-gas-industry/epa-proposes-new-source-performance