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The Greenest Stadium $611 Million Tax Dollars Can Buy Print E-mail
Written by Rob Howard   
Monday, 07 April 2008

Washington D.C. is by far the wonkiest city in the nation, but all those tens of thousands of government employees, lobbyists and NGOers need ways to have a little fun. Unlike New York and Boston, Washington isn’t a great sports town -- DC’s teams in the four major sports have won seven championships since 1924, five belonging to football’s Washington Redskins.

Baseball had been absent for more than three decades in our nation’s capital until the languishing Montreal Expos franchise moved inside the beltway to become the Washington Nationals in 2005. A major component of the move was a new ballpark, as the only stadium in town capable of hosting baseball games, RFK Stadium, was a relative relic.

In late 2005, DC’s city council made good on a controversial promise to help fund a new home for the Nats with public money. Eventually, $611 million public dollars went into the stadium, one of the highest sums for such a project in the country. Before opening day this year, DC Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, then a city council member, tried to excuse the deal in The Washington Post.

“People like myself thought at the time -- and still think -- we could have gotten a better deal. But this was years ago now. Once the deal was penned, it was the responsibility of the government to make sure we built a stadium on time.”

At the time of the deal, no one would have guessed that when Nationals Park opened last weekend, it would be the first major stadium in the nation to earn LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Eager to see the green features of the stadium and some good baseball, EnviroWonk headed to the Nationals opening day last Sunday. (Fellow wonk-in-chief George W. Bush was also on hand to throw out the first pitch and man did he get an earful.)

A photo diary of our night at the park after the jump.

Here’s what we saw:

Public Transportation: DC’s metro is the easiest, fastest and safest way to get to the game regardless if you’re coming from elsewhere in the District, Maryland or Virginia. If you’re a little more adventurous and really want to cut your carbon footprint, hop on your bike as bike racks and even a bike valet are steps away from the stadium’s gates. If you just can’t leave your car at home, head to RFK Stadium to park, then jump on a free shuttle to Nationals Park.


Recycling: Regardless of its actual impact, recycling is one of the most common ways people think they can help the environment. The new Nats park has several dozen recycling bins around the stadium, but they’re poorly labeled and not in convenient places. They’re also single-material bins, not catch-all recycling stations. Ultimately, I had no luck recycling my plastic cup—made of bad No. 7 plastic, mind you—and a one-slice pizza box, which could have just as effectively been a paper plate, when I left the game.

Water Use: Faucets in the bathrooms are low-flow and on timers—bravo!

Lighting: The knock on energy-efficient lights, generally, is that they just aren’t as bright. That was definitely not the case at Nationals Park, where larger, more reflective fixtures make more light from less power.

Finally, just in case anyone forgot where the Nats' bread is buttered, we give you this photo:

USA Today has a great graphic of all the other sustainability measures at Nationals Park, which include reflective and green roofing, and measures to conserve the nearby Anacostia River.

The Nationals first game in their costly, green new stadium ended with a bang—Ryan Zimmerman’s game-ending home run in the bottom of the ninth inning gave Washington a win. Hopefully, DC taxpayers and us envirowonks won’t have to wait until the ninth inning to see the economic and environmental gains Nationals Park has promised.

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