LEED v.4 invokes politial controversy in the Ohio Senate

Ohio has the most LEED certified school buildings above any other state.
Edgewood High School Media Center, Pursuing LEED Gold, Designed by SHP Leading Design.
Photo courtesy of SHP Leading Design.

On October 31^st, 2013, the Ohio State Concurrent Resolution 25 (SCR 25) was proposed in effect to ban the United States Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) Version 4 from all public construction projects in the State of Ohio.

Ohio Senators Joe Uecker, R-Loveland, and Tim Shaffer, R-Lancaster introduced the resolution noting that while it is in the best interest of the State of Ohio to continue to encourage energy efficiency and green building practices, that LEED v.4 needs to be banned. “This is a resolution, not a bill. A ‘wake-up call,’ and a ‘please take notice and listen to our concerns’ kind of effort,” says Senator Joe Uecker.

After extending the comment period for nearly a year, the USGBC officially celebrated the introduction of LEED v.4 at the USBGC’s national conference Greenbuild in Philadelphia in October, 2013.

“LEED v.4 has a new credit that requests building owners to track the chemical content of a certain percentage of the products they use in the building. This credit could start to evolve into a chemicals redlist [a type of blacklist] such as one that exists within the Living Building Challenge already,” says Allison Beer McKenzie, AIA, LEED AP and Sustainability Director for SHP Leading Design, of Cincinnati, Ohio.

Ohio has several building materials manufacturers that produce plastic foam insulation, PVC, and manufactured wood products, among other products associated with chemical and petroleum-based building materials. “I want energy efficiency and green building standards to continue in Ohio. However, looking at the numbers, [of job losses as a result of LEED v.4] Ohio has too many jobs at stake,” says Uecker.

SCR 25’s solutions include the use of “alternative private sector green building rating systems, codes, and other standards.” No such specific alternative private sector green building rating systems are specifically referenced as viable alternatives.

SCR 25 mentions Ohio’s green schools progress, requesting that an alternate green building rating system be used, other than LEED v.4. Since 2009, LEED for Schools has been an important part of green school design in Ohio and across the nation. Ohio has more green schools than any other state, boasting 345 LEED-certified buildings that are saving Ohio millions of dollars on energy costs statewide each year.

Lobbyists from the American Chemistry Council, the American Coal Ash Association, American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, and a long list of other entities claim the USGBC closed them out of a true, and open consensus process like that of ANSI. The USGBC does use a voluntary consensus format, but they do not seek out 100% consensus like ANSI because the USGBC is first and foremost a green building advocacy organization. “Furthermore, it is a completely different kind of procedure for ANSI to seek out consensus for only one product at a time as it is for the USGBC to seek out consensus for an entire green building rating system,” says McKenzie.

Washington Post Op Ed author Michael McNally, President and CEO of Skanska USA, points out that there was not 100% consensus to ban lead paint in 1978. LEED v.4 went through multiple review periods garnering 22,000 public comments. “After seeing how the USGBC delayed voting for v.4 for over a year, I was surprised that 86% of the members made a final vote to accept v.4,” says McKenzie.

“If there are accusations against certain chemicals, let’s have an open and transparent discussion about them,” says Uecker. “We do not want to see a list of chemicals to avoid come into Ohio. That kind of list could have a negative impact on Ohio jobs and could add serious additional costs to construction.”

SCR 25 makes an additional request that the State of Ohio use a green building rating system that is “properly grounded in science.” Evaluating manufacturing processes is complicated. Vinyl, for example, has been an important material for interior finish materials in health institutions. “PVC is a big player in this controversy. In some ways, our building industry may not be capable of eliminating PVC entirely. Take electrical wiring, for example, that is all encased within PVC,” notes McKenzie.

“The USGBC has done good things from green building best practices to energy efficiency standards,” says Uecker. “We have a problem though when they moved into environmental regulations of products.” The USGBC points out that a building can be certified while still having products contained therein that are not necessarily condoned by the USGBC’s beliefs. “The US General Services Administration recently reviewed LEED v.4 extensively and made a determination to continue to use LEED v.4 as well as to add Green Globes to guide green building practices for federal projects,” concludes McKenzie.

A revised version of this article was published in Engineering News Record magazine on 11/27/2013.