South Carolina pulled one tooth out of LEED v4's mouth of credits earlier this month when the state's governor signed into law a bill that forbids green project builders from seeking a specific credit.
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South Carolina pulled one tooth out of LEED v4's mouth of credits earlier this month when the state's governor signed into law a bill that forbids green project builders from seeking a specific credit.
The first version of the South Carolina bill sought to ban LEED certification of most publicly funded building projects. Only after heated debates in the South Carolina Senate and House of Representatives was LEED, minus one credit, allowed to remain an option for publicly funded projects at all.
LEED, the green building certification set by the United States Green Building Council, has been combed through by many state houses in the past few years as politicians, foresters, builders, chemical companies and environmentalists argue the certification's merits.
The bill that South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley signed on April 7 lets LEED stay, but disallows major building projects to seek the MRc4 credit. This particular credit is new to LEED, and is considered to contain two of the most controversial points in the entire system, according to LEED online community and credit database LEEDuser.com.
Specifically, the credit offers a maximum of two points to projects that use products that not only have been "verified to minimize the use and generation of harmful substances," but for which "the chemical ingredients in the product are inventoried," according to the USGBC.
The bill in South Carolina explicitly disagrees with this credit, saying projects "requesting third-party certification shall not be allowed to seek a rating credit or point for building product disclosure and optimization credit that requires material ingredient reporting."
Chemical manufacturing is a large industry in South Carolina, and chemical companies, associations and lobbyists have been actively trying to stop government use of LEED, according to BuildingGreen.com.
The credit ban will continue through any subsequent version of LEED, and applies to any current and future third-party certification initiatives.
