Committee on the Environment

This year, the National AIA Committee on the Environment’s Advisory Group has created a new task force on political advocacy. This task force’s mission is to coordinate with AIA Advocacy and Government Relationships staff in Washington, DC, to act in support of federal policy and legislative issues that align with COTE’s core principles. Directed by 2019 COTE Chair Marsha Maytum, FAIA, and chaired by me, the team includes COTE AG member Julie Hiromoto, AIA; John Harrison, AIA; and Leslie Garner, AIA.

Working with the full COTE AG, we have drafted a six-point list of issues and topics that--given the possible actions of this Congress and Administration--are priorities for COTE. We have shared this priority list with Sarah Dodge, the AIA’s new Senior VP of Advocacy and Government Relationships and her staff and will be holding monthly conference calls to discuss actions that the AIA and COTE Membership may need to take in support of these priorities.

Our top priority for 2018: Make our nation’s existing buildings part of the “infrastructure” debate and look for ways that energy efficiency enhancements for existing buildings can be part of a public infrastructure investment. The task force has already taken our first step on this initiative as AIA Government Relationships has asked us to review the Trump Administration’s recently released infrastructure plan. As this document makes no mention of buildings or energy efficiency and lacks a cohesive vision for a sustainable, resilient twenty-first century US infrastructure, we saw many opportunities for AIA COTE to influence the work of any Congressional Committee that may begin to draft actual legislative proposals this year.

Another initiative that the task force is working on is helping AIA Advocacy and Government Relationships respond to a request from Representative Paul Tonko D-NY), the Ranking Member of the Environment Subcommittee of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, for stakeholder input into federal climate policy that this subcommittee will be drafting. Although the primary focus is on carbon cap-and-trade regulation that would certainly need new leadership in the House to be taken up, the Congressman also seeks input on the many ways in which possible energy cost increases could be mitigated and how potential revenues stream could be invested. Architects’ expertise in energy efficiency, cost-effective design and construction, and zero carbon buildings would be a resource for this committee’s work.