US vote sets loose a plague of 'zombie' green light bulbs

As the old saying goes, there’s more than one way to skin a cat. And the same applies to methods for flaying a government regulation you don’t like.

That seems to be the case for US House Republicans who, according to a report released yesterday, have yet to meet a green law they like. (“The Most Anti-Environment House in the History of Congress” saw GOP reps vote anti-environment 191 times this session, say Democrats on the House Committee on Energy & Commerce.) Long eager to repeal a section of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 that would have required new efficiency standards for light bulbs, the right side of the aisle today didn’t manage to kill greener lighting. They just succeeded in starving enforcement efforts for the coming year.

“A rider related to light bulbs on the FY 2012 Omnibus funding bill does not repeal or adjust the standards themselves or their effective timeline,” noted the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), which represents more than 95 percent of the US lighting manufacturing sector and supports the 2007 efficiency standards. Instead, NEMA points out, the rider attached by Republicans “imposes funding limitations on the Department of Energy (DOE) to enforce the light bulb standards for FY2012.”

That move, the association claims, creates regulatory uncertainty for manufacturers, puts makers of efficient bulbs at a disadvantage compared to companies that flout new standards and sets the stage for a confusing patchwork of state enforcement efforts.

It also essentially creates a zombie green light bulb law … alive, but not alive; dead but undead.

The silver lining, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), is that the spending bill vote kept out “dozens” of other GOP-designed riders aimed at blocking restrictions on air and water pollution, protecting endangered species or allowing more development on public lands.

The NRDC also notes ironically that the light bulb efficiency standards now drained of enforcement funding were signed into law by President George W. Bush.