Florida state representative Halsey Beshears (R-Monicello) has introduced a bill in an effort to stop what he sees as preferential treatment for Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood due to a state requirement that state agencies comply with the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED program. The legislation would allow state agencies to choose which green building standards to use when constructing new offices on a project-by-project basis, according to The Florida Current.
The representative's main quarrel is with LEED's requirement that all timber be from FSC-certified forests. Beshears told The Current that Florida's timber is as good as the wood that receives credit under the certification program, but of the 16 million acres of forest in Florida, only 200 are certified under LEED.
The bill, which resembles executive orders passed in Georgia and Maine and a bill passed in Mississippi, has the support of the Florida Forestry Association and the Florida Farm Bureau Federation.
Corey Brinkema, FSC president, however, told The Current that the forest products industry is not being truthful and that bill supporters want industry's self-made standards to get credit for being green.
"Those programs [in the bill] have been set up by industry, for industry. They will tend to favor the status quo, which is largely legal compliance," Brinkema told The Current. "The U.S. Green Building Council has made the statement you need to go beyond compliance if you want that green designation."
