Alaska, Where Building Code Funds Got the Cold Shoulder

Posted on May 4 2009 by Richard Defendorf

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin accepted all allocations of federal stimulus money but one: $28.9 million for implementing and enforcing building codes that would make new and renovated residential and commercial buildings more energy efficient. The state’s diverse local governments and regional needs make adopting federally mandated, universal code impractical, the governor said. At 663,000 square miles, it is a big place, but with a relatively small population: about 688,000 people. From 1909 to 1949, many who traveled the Valdez-to-Fairbanks Trail in Alaska stopped at Rika's Roadhouse, shown above (note the renewable-energy apparatus in the foreground). The roadhouse now serves as the centerpiece of Big Delta State Historical Park, in Alaska’s eastern central interior.

Governor says environmental conditions in Land of the Midnight Sun “not conducive to federally mandated, universal energy code” for buildings

It took a little coaxing from her colleagues, but Alaska Governor Sarah Palin eventually agreed to accept most of the federal stimulus money for which the state is eligible, including $28 for home weatherization programs.

As reported last week, though, Palin declined a $28.6 million allocation that would require adoption of more-stringent building codes.

“In this case, one size does not fit all. Local governments and many unincorporated communities have very different needs and abilities to implement or enforce a statewide mandate,” the governor said in a statement.

The relevant text of the stimulus bill, Section 410 (click here for a PDF of the law), requires each state receiving these “energy efficiency and renewable energy’’ funds to implement energy code for residential buildings that “meets or exceeds the most recently published International Energy Conservation Code, or achieves equivalent or greater energy savings,” and requires the state to enforce the code in way that brings new and renovated residential and commercial building space into compliance within eight years.

There’s no denying there would be substantial challenges to implementing building code in a state as vast as Alaska, especially given its long and punishing cold season. But the state population totals less than 700,000, and it does seem as if $28.6 million could go a long way toward improving building efficiency standards for a population that small.

Hey, it gets cold in North Dakota (population about 642,000), too.