Greenhouse Building Gas Rules Facing Legal Challenge in Both Denver and Larger Colorado

A coalition of business and industry groups in Colorado have decided to go to court in opposition to a series of new rules addressing green building issues.

In their suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado in Denver, the Colorado Apartment Association, Apartment Association of Metro Denver, the Colorado Hotel and Lodging Association, and the state chapter of NAIOP—the commercial real estate development association, said that the new rules are proving unnecessarily onerous.

Specifically mentioning that those rules, as promulgated by both the State of Colorado and City of Denver, have addressed themselves to the performance of heating and cooling systems in structures, the litigants are also asserting that the costs of compliance will inevitably be handed down to tenants.

“They’re attacking a small emission problem with a very expensive fix,” Andrew Hamrick, senior vice president for both apartment associations, said of the new rules to the Denver Post.

At the heart of the new rules is a push to do away with natural gas use in large office and commercial buildings, as well as apartment complexes. This means that building owners, in order to comply with the rules, will be required to do away with all natural gas heating systems.

Three years ago, the Denver City Council gave its approval to the Energize Denver plan, which called for reducing by 100% all greenhouse gas emissions for large buildings in the city within the next two decades. The Colorado State Legislature additionally passed a measure requiring buildings measuring more than 50,000 square feet to see a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2030.

According to reports, up to 8,000 large building owners across Colorado could be compelled to spend more than $3.1 billion in order to comply with the new rules. A report published earlier this year by the Colorado Springs Gazette said that over the course of the next three decades, owners will be compelled to spend upwards of $2.6 billion on retrofitting projects, along with $61 million in labor and related costs.

The heart of the lawsuit filed by the groups is simple: they are asking the court to discard both the state and city regulations on the matter.

​By Garry Boulard

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