Sen. McCormack Happy to See ‘Right to Dry’ Bill Become Law

Sen. McCormack Happy to See ‘Right to Dry’ Bill Become Law By Martha Slater

Vermont is finally safe for clotheslines, and none too soon, according to Windsor County Democratic Sen. Dick McCormack of Bethel.

He recently saw the fulfillment of a 20-year effort, with the passage of H446, a comprehensive energy conservation bill passed in last days of the regular session, that has also been dubbed the “right to dry” bill.

The name came about because prior to passage of H446 on June 1, municipalities and homeowners associations could prohibit the hanging of wet laundry outside to dry.

H446 also includes S18, a McCormack bill that had already been passed with significant co-sponsorship in the senate, to create a legal right to use clotheslines, solar collectors, and “other energy devices based on renewable resources.”

“My concern was energy and then it grew to personal frustration,” McCormack said. “I didn’t want to let this one go. This is a poor people’s issue. Many people have to pump quarters into laundromat dryers and everyone could save money and energy by drying their laundry naturally.

“I’ve never been particularly happy with the ‘right to dry’ designation, since for me the real focus of the bill is energy conservation,” McCormack added. “The people who are getting all upset about seeing clotheslines are the people who are going to the trouble of making rules against them. I can’t imagine there is one native Vermonter that would object to their neighbor’s laundry hanging on a line. This is an imported issue.”

McCormack explained that, in other ways, too, H446 “is a very important bill. One of its aspects is guaranteeing a certain minimum rate to be paid to the developers of solar and wind power.

Another longtime “right to dry” advocate, Vermont Country Store proprietor Lyman Orton, also championed the bill, noting that clothes dryers make up 15% of domestic energy usage in the U.S.

“My feeling is that if someone wants to conserve energy, let’s get out of their way!” concluded McCormack, who noted that he himself uses folding racks to dry his laundry. “Jimmy Carter had it right—energy conservation is the moral equivalent of war.”