Landscape Architect & Specifier News

APR 2014

LASN is a photographically oriented, professional journal featuring topics of concern and state-of-the-art projects designed or influenced by registered Landscape Architects.

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86 Landscape Architect and Specifier News The Ohio Senate passed SCR 25, a bill to ban the use of the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) LEED v4 by state agencies. The bill has been sent to the state General Assembly. If the bill passes the House, no state project will be eligible for LEED registration/certification after summer 2015, when LEED v3 sunsets. The bill's author (pictured) is Senator Joe Uecker (R-14th District), but USGBC says chemical lobbyists are behind this bill, and pushed it through the Ohio State Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, of which Uecker is a member. USGBC said, "a drove of chemical industry lobbyists from DC joined the bill's sponsor for testimony." Twenty-one Ohio-based businesses, professionals and constituents submitted testimony in opposition to SCR 25. Ohio Senate Votes to Nix LEED in the Buckeye State The Ohio Senate has passed a bill (SCR No. 25) www.legislature. state.oh.us/res.cfm?ID=130_SCR_25 to end LEED in Ohio. The bill contends LEED v4 "fails to conform to recognized voluntary standard development procedures, including but not limited to American National Standards Institute (ANSI) procedures, and fails to base environmental and health criteria on risk assessment methodology." Ohio leads the country in LEED-certified public schools (120), with hundreds more in the LEED pipeline. "Since 2007, we've watched the OSFC (Ohio School Facilities Commission) successfully grow a program that shows LEED is working for Ohio," said Rachel Gutter, director of the Center for Green Schools at USGBC. "These schools are saving money, energy and resources," she added. The bill states the OFCC would continue to incorporate energy efficiency and sustainable design features into approved school projects "through the use of alternative green building rating systems, codes, and standards other than LEED v4." "We're very disappointed to see Ohio state senators listening to powerful, high-paid special interest groups and not Ohio citizens, hundreds of whom have voiced their concerns and opposition to SCR 25 since it was introduced last fall," said Tyler Steele, vice chairman of the board of directors for the USGBC Central Ohio Chapter. SCR 25 calls for a green building rating "consistent with state energy efficiency, environmental performance objectives and policies . . . developed in an open and transparent way with the input of Ohio building materials and products manufacturers… [and] properly grounded in science . . ." USGBC counters that LEED is the premier green building rating system, and a voluntary, transparent and consensus-based program that incorporates all facets of building construction and materials. "Ohio must not abandon its use of LEED certification. The system promotes energy efficiency, preservation of our natural resources and encourages state projects funded by state taxpayers to use locally-sourced materials, thereby benefitting Ohio-based businesses," said Brenda Schultz of Nucor Steel in Marion, Ohio. I n f o r m a t i o n R e q u e s t # 7 1 0 86-87.indd 86 3/25/14 4:04 PM

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