An Open-Door Policy for Green Building
Maryland has been a national leader in promoting green building, but it took a backward step when it passed a law that created a state-sanctioned monopoly for the LEED standard in 2008. Until then, Maryland was one of nearly 20 states which recognized both LEED and Green Globes—another major standard that has been widely accepted as equally effective in promoting sustainable forestry.
The Greenip/Beitzel bill would restore the state’s ability to accept other green building standards on the market. Putting one system ahead of all others—instead of allowing an open and neutral system—has produced counterproductive results.
First, it stifles innovation. Competition among green building systems motivates everyone to do a better job—upgrading system rigor, lowering costs, and getting results.
Second, a single-standard approach increases the risk we’ll get pitch-forked by some devil hiding in the details that comprise the standard. LEED, for example, rightly credits wood from sustainably-managed forests. But it uses only one yardstick (the Forest Stewardship Council) to measure sustainable forestry. Other green building standards accept several internationally-endorsed programs for certifying good forest stewardship.
Of Maryland’s 2.6 million acres of forests, three-fourths are owned by families and individuals. Yet only one or two have chosen to adopt Forest Stewardship Council standards. Thousands more adopted a different standard – equally valid – that’s now closed out of Maryland’s green building market.
Dictating one system (that was actually designed more for tropical forests than those in the US) sends a peculiar message:
- We think wood grown elsewhere, even in Brazil, is preferable to wood harvested sustainably in state.
- We’ll take your taxes to promote markets which shut out many Maryland forest owners.
- We’ll make it harder for forest owners to say “no” when developers want to convert their land to uses that can further damage the Chesapeake Bay.
I’m convinced there’s not a single legislator in Annapolis who would endorse these sentiments, but that’s what’s happening. A multiple-standard green building system in Maryland is good for consumers, forest owners, the economy, and the environment. This is equally true for other states besides Maryland that may misguidely be considering adopting a single-standard system.
Larry Wiseman, president and CEO of American Forest Foundation, is a lifelong Marylander, an ardent fisherman and committed proponent of “Saving the Bay.” He’s an advisor to Yale University’s Global Institute on Sustainable Forestry and chairs the principal Federal advisory committee on urban and community forests.
