Efficiency First

On April 20, the Wall Street Journal published an editorial criticizing the proposed HOME STAR efficiency retrofit program, which the newspaper dismissed as “Essentially … a federally sponsored sale at the local Home Depot or Lowe’s.” Two prominent supporters of the legislation, Rep. Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Rep. Peter Welch of Vermont, responded to the piece with the following letter to the editor, published on April 26:

In a clunker of an editorial, (“Clunkers for Caulkers,” April 20) you argue that congressional efforts to help families make their homes more energy efficient would not, in fact, help our struggling economy. We know this is false. HomeStar would create nearly 170,000 jobs in construction, manufacturing and retail—areas of our economy hurting the most. Furthermore, it would save homeowners $10 billion in energy bills over 10 years, far more than the cost of the program itself.

The Journal’s editorial board appears more inclined to bulldoze foreclosed houses —as it suggests in the piece—than to make it cheaper for families to heat and cool their homes or to move our country away from a reliance on foreign oil. Such priorities may play well on Wall Street, but not to America’s struggling homeowners.

We are surprised that you aren’t behind the HomeStar bill, since it is supported by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers.