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Peduto pushes green legislation
Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Want a flowery roof? Pittsburgh Councilman William Peduto wants to help you.

Throwing cans in the regular trash? Then he wants to fine you.

The green-minded councilman introduced six environmentally friendly bills yesterday, and pledged that they would just be a lead-in to a revamp of building codes, recycling rules and more.

"Once we create standards for green roofs, we can then begin to incentivize green roofs," he said. His recycling legislation could lead to the city providing residents with recycling containers.

Though recycling is already mandatory, he wants to tighten rules for commercial, municipal and institutional buildings, requiring that all occupied floors have special containers for reusable materials. It also would double fines, to $1,000, on apartment owners who repeatedly violate recycling rules, and empower building inspectors and police to join environmental service workers in enforcing the code.

"We have been lax on enforcement of recycling laws," Mr. Peduto said, noting that the city gets paid for recyclable materials, but pays to dispose of other trash. "For every can or bottle that isn't recycled, it costs the city taxpayers money."

The city also would have to put bins for recyclable materials next to sidewalk trash cans.

His green roof ordinance would tell builders to consult with a structural engineer before putting deep and heavy layers of soil on building tops. Establishing standards for the increasingly trendy green roofs sets the stage for incentives for new buildings and homes with plants on top, he said.

There are a few city homes with green roofs, said Aurora Sharrard, research manager for the Green Building Alliance, and Mr. Peduto's legislation should "make it a little bit more possible."

The other bills would require that the city conduct energy savings audits on all of its own buildings every 10 years; create a Sustainability Commission to advance environmentally friendly policies; codify the existing staff position of sustainability coordinator; and tell the mayor to start buying environmentally friendly products and services.

All of them may come up for discussions and tentative votes next Wednesday, except for the green roof bill, which first goes to the City Planning Commission.

Meanwhile, Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato yesterday signed an executive order establishing a broad new policy to conserve energy and cut wasteful spending in all county government operations.

The Sustainability Policy for Allegheny County, which went into effect immediately in all aspects of government functions, contains "aggressive goals for reduction of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions," he said.

Karamagi Rujumba contributed. Rich Lord can be reached at rlord@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1542.
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First published on October 28, 2009 at 12:00 am