This month the Montgomery County Council will vote to take away gas cooking and heating from your home while imposing some of the most stringent energy use standards in the nation known as Building Energy Performance Standards (BEPS) (https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/exec/Resources/Files/17-23.pdf ).

Their quest for energy nirvana will result in extreme hardships for owners of condominiums who will get a $50,000 to $100,000 per unit special assessment to attempt to comply. Condominium owners have testified to this in front of the County Council, but as usual that County Council and especially the Council President Kate Stewart were tone deaf.  Condo Owners Testify

Left with no other options, the condo and business owners are suing the County for it’s unrealistic requirements (https://montgomeryperspective.com/2025/01/15/leisure-world-joins-business-groups-in-suing-state-over-energy-standards/). There is yet another lawsuit brought by restaurant owners against the County. All of these lawsuits will cost millions of taxpayer dollars to defend.

Despite the obvious, the County Council continues this folly of greening Montgomery County regardless of the effect that it has on the citizens. Please reach out and tell the council not to pass the BEPS legislation and remind them that you can vote them out if they do. Their contact information is: https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/council/members/index.html

Reardon D. Sullivan, PE, LEED

Former Chairman - Montgomery County Republican Central Committee

www.MCGOP.com