PLANET announces immediate call to action

PLANET and the newly formed National Hispanic Landscape Alliance are calling industry professionals to contact their senators today in order to influence the turf reduction section of the Environmental Protection Agency’s WaterSense Program. The turf reduction section could become part of the International Code Council’s model-building code, which could be adopted in communities across the country.

The associations are trying to get signatures by the end of business today, Friday, May 13.  Click here for a template letter to send to your senators. U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (FL) is already requesting the EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson reconsider the turfgrass criteria in the WaterSense program.

What is the turfgrass reduction? In 2009, the EPA’s “Research Report on Turfgrass Allowance” encouraged homebuilders to install water-efficient landscapes in new homes, and it gives contractors “the option of designing the landscaped areas to use a regionally appropriate amount of water … or to design the landscaped areas to contain no more than 40 percent turfgrass.”

PLANET and NHLA say the program fails to acknowledge the environmental benefits of increased turfgrass use.

To read the call to action letter from PLANET’s Director of Government Affairs Tom Delaney, click here.