CHENEY -- As regions such as the West Plains continue to grow in both business and residential sectors, discussions about natural gas restrictions are getting heated.
“While neither S3R3 nor the West Plains chamber boards have taken a formal position on the issue, we do have concerns with any legislation that makes our region more difficult to compete with the rest of the world,” said Todd Coleman, S3R3 Solutions executive director.
Late last year, the Legislature introduced The Healthy Homes and Buildings Act.
House Bill 1084 restricts natural gas appliance installation in both new development and on existing structures that receive a permit under the current 2027 state energy code.
Bill proponents say it will reduce annual net energy use by 70% and do away with the use of on-site natural gas appliances for heating open spaces and natural gas water heaters in both residential and non-residential buildings.
The most recent data for greenhouse gas emissions shows numbers for 2018 and natural gas attributed for 12.633 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions in the residential/commercial/industrial sector which is more than 54% of total released emissions, in that category, state Department of Ecology Air Quality Program spokesman Andrew Wineke.
Concerns surrounding the effect on the electrical grid and whether the grid can handle that workload have been expressed.
“The demand on the electrical grid to condition these large spaces, 100,000 square-foot-plus, is significant and very likely will inhibit future development until costly infrastructure is built to support the demand,” Coleman said.
“Much of the new development in the West Plains is on the scale of large manufacturing, logistics and retail spaces, and many of our current and future manufacturers require natural gas in their production lines,” Coleman said.
It could take a long time to get adequate infrastructure in place, Coleman said.
“It would be tough to transition an entire region or state into a system without natural gas this quickly in a cost-effective manner,” he said.
Matthew O. Stephens can be reached at [email protected]
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