WASHINGTON, D.C. - Montana’s Congressman, Denny Rehberg, joined colleagues in sending a letter to the United States Green Building Council urging increased use of wood products in green building construction certification done by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).  The timber industry in Western Montana has been particularly hard hit in the current economic downturn, and green building opportunities could help to revitalize future industry growth.

“Wood is among the most reliable and renewable building product there is,” said Rehberg, a member of the House Appropriations Committee.  “We need to expand incentives for America’s wood products industry to ensure our mills stay open and Montana’s loggers, millworkers and drivers have good-paying jobs.”

When a builder chooses to use wood, the LEED standard awards credits only if the builder uses products certified under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).  It doesn’t give credit for two other major U.S. certification system—the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) and the American Tree Farm System (ATFS).  These two programs certify more than 80 million acres in the U.S.  In Montana, more than 1.2 million acres is certified under the SFI and ATFS programs, but none under FSC.

“It’s pretty clear to anyone who’s visited communities that have been impacted by the timber industry downturn that the economic ramifications are significant and widespread,” said Rehberg.  “The timber industry is a critical part of our economy, not just as a stand-alone industry, but as the starting point for thousands of small businesses across many industries.”

The Full Letter is below:

Dear Mr. Fedrizzi:

As members who are both active on forestry issues and represent districts with many small woodlot owners, we are writing to express our concern over the United States Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system.

While we appreciate the efforts of the USGBC to promote energy efficiency and environmental conservation, we are very concerned that the LEED rating system’s wood credit does not recognize two of the largest sustainable forest certification programs in the United States – the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) and the American Tree Farm System (AFTS) – and recognizes only Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified wood.

Over 84 million acres of forests in the United States are certified to SFI or ATFS, almost three times the amount of forests certified to FSC nationally. If the LEED rating system maintains the status quo and does not recognize SFI or ATFS, many builders seeking LEED certification would be discouraged to use third-party certified SFI and ATFS products grown here in the United States. Furthermore, by requiring wood to have third party certification to receive a credit and not forcing that requirement on steel and concrete, the USGBC is discouraging the overall use of a product that uses less energy and produces less pollution in its manufacturing.

We understand that the LEED rating system has proposed draft benchmarks to evaluate forest certification programs, but we are concerned that they do not offer a clear and simple way to give credit for all of the major third-party forest certification systems operating in the United States. Broadening the number of eligible certification programs could stimulate the market for American produced forest products and the communities and jobs that depend on both.

We urge you and your organization to expedite your review of forest management certification systems and to accept all credible forest management certification systems for qualification under the LEED rating system.  Doing so will help ensure strong markets for domestic lumber producers and our forest landowners, which is vital to the future of our forests and our forest industry workers.

Sincerely,