Remember Your Toilet

They call it progress. I call it authoritarianism.

King County Executive Ron Sims took the first step toward limiting greenhouse-gas emissions from new development on Wednesday with an executive order covering unincorporated parts of the county.

The order will require developers to provide information — such as square footage of buildings and estimated travel on new roads — that the county can use to project greenhouse-gas emissions.

The requirement takes effect Sept. 1. Sims later plans to create emission limits for new developments. Those limits would be sent to the Metropolitan King County Council for approval.

State Department of Ecology Director Jay Manning said Sims’ action may be a harbinger of what’s to come as the state grapples with ways to reduce the emissions that scientists say contribute to global warming.

The state is considering measures similar to Sims’ approach.

In the “ever-greening” of King County, we have seen the creeping bile that is government wresting control of private property for property owners. It took a big leap forward in the past couple years with the so called Critical Areas Ordinance that controlled how much of your land you could utilize, and now has the county setting guidelines with how much “greenhouse gas” your house and property can “emit”.

Oh, they haven’t put this requirement on houses built before 2007 yet, but you can bet that they will. To wit,

Sims said his executive order is a warning shot to the rest of the state. “Every jurisdiction is on notice now,” he said.

The already expensive housing costs in King County will take a 20% jump in the next couple of years as builders have to buy the top of the line (aka: most costly) home heating furnaces, water heaters, washer & dryer sets and kitchen appliances for the newly built homes.

Certain items such as those listed above will also probably not be allowed for sale in King County, because of the “high emissions”, and then be restricted throughout the state shortly thereafter. They want to do to your refrigerator what Congressional Democrats are doing to your car.

Don’t believe me, remember what the Clinton Administration eco-edicts did to your toilet.