[Your information will be inserted here]
Prefix Firstname Lastname
123 Street Address
MyCity, St 12345

November 20, 2009

[The Official's information will appear here]
The Honorable Firstname Lastname
123 Street Address
Washington, DC 12345
Fax: ###-###-####
Fax: [Leg_Fax]

Dear [Official's Title and Name will be inserted here]:

I am writing to bring your attention to a regulatory initiative that, if finalized in its current form, will have drastic consequences for my livelihood.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released a draft specification under the WaterSense label to guide new home construction throughout the United States. Within this one-size-fits-all specification, there are landscape criteria that seek to severely curtail turfgrass on new home sites. As a sod producer that grows and sells turfgrass -- a product that has many benefits, including the pulling and storing of carbon from the atmosphere, controlling stormwater runoff and erosion, and reducing the urban "heat island" effect -- I am extremely concerned about this initiative and am writing to seek your help in securing needed changes to the draft.

The WaterSense landscape specification proposes to limit turfgrass coverage on new homesites in two primary ways. The first way provides builders with two options for changing plant composition: cap the amount of allowable turf coverage to 40 percent of the landscape area of a homesite or use a complex water budget that lacks any scientific basis. These options would apply whether the home is built in Arizona, Oregon, Kansas or Maine, and the vastly different climatic zones of these states alone illustrate the challenge of a national one-size-fits-all standard. Furthermore, weather is a dynamic, not a static, variable. Conditions within a state or region may be wet one year and dry the next, again illustrating the challenge with a national, static standard. Trees and turfgrass are not engineered like a low-flow toilet or showerhead but are natural, living things that require maintenance based on need at a given time and place.

The second way bans turfgrass on so-called "steep slopes," which are defined as exceeding one foot of drop per four feet of landmass. Given the well-recognized role that turfgrass plays in controlling soil erosion on inclines, this criterion undermines sound environmental practices.

The EPA claims that the specification is voluntary; however, already local governments have begun efforts to codify the measure, and there is legislation pending in both houses of Congress to authorize WaterSense. Our fear is that local governments and municipalities will require turfgrass reductions for new home construction, based on these EPA WaterSense guidelines that lack scientific basis.

Efforts to conserve water by using the resource efficiently are worthy and should be supported. The indoor components of WaterSense, which require water-efficient appliances in new homes, enjoy widespread support. However, numerous groups have expressed serious concerns about the landscape provisions -- concerns that have gone unheeded by the agency. If the EPA finalizes the specification in its current form, my operation, part ofthe turf industry in our state, will suffer severely.

We need your help in bringing our concerns to the EPA's attention. In May, Congressional Water Caucus Cochairs Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and John Linder (R-Ga.) sent a letter to the EPA expressing concern with the proposed turfgrasss deselection and requesting revisions to the specification. We would very much appreciate it if you would consider sending a similar letter to the agency, asking that the landscape provisions be set aside to allow for a stakeholder process to improve the specification and advance the goals of water efficiency. Thank you.

Sincerely,

[Your name will appear here.]