On Wednesday, a group of 27 building materials associations-running the gamut from vinyl, plastics and chemical interests, to manufacturers of adhesives, windows and doors, to lumber dealers-announced the formation of American High-Performance Buildings Coalition (AHPBC). These are the same groups that, last month, started lobbying to stop the federal General Services Administration from adopting the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) next version of LEED, dubbed LEED v4.
On Wednesday, a group of 27 building materials associations-running the gamut from vinyl, plastics and chemical interests, to manufacturers of adhesives, windows and doors, to lumber dealers-announced the formation of American High-Performance Buildings Coalition (AHPBC). These are the same groups that, last month, started lobbying to stop the federal General Services Administration from adopting the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) next version of LEED, dubbed LEED v4.
At the forefront of the coalition are the Adhesive and Sealant Council (ASC), American Chemistry Council (ACC), American Coatings Association (ACA) and American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM). (The full list can be read here.)
The new coalition contends that formation of the LEED standard is not based on science, and that it was not formed by industry consensus. According to GreenBiz.com, the coalition takes issue with the fact that LEED is not developed using guidelines set by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), "which has rules for what it calls 'voluntary national consensus standards.'" On the other hand, LEED incorporates "its own stakeholder-engagement process." The coalition is also upset with LEED's "arbitrary chemical restrictions and claims LEED is becoming a tool to punish chemical companies," GreenBiz.com wrote.
"It may not be an ANSI standard, but the idea that it's not a rigorous, consensus-based process is laughable," Christine Ervin, USGBC's founding CEO, told GreenBiz.com.
The USGBC issued a statement the same day in response to the coalition's founding and said it "applauded" the group's formation. "… After 20 years, it was significant that the representative groups were finally engaging in conversation about the critical importance of green, high performance buildings for America," USGBC said. In the statement, USGBC also reiterated that idea that LEED is "private, voluntary, transparent and democratic."
"We welcome the announcement of the formation of the American High Performance Building Council, but as Ronald Reagan once said, we will 'trust but verify,'" said Roger Platt, USGBC's senior vice president of global policy and law.
