The Portland, Oregon, city council has strengthened the city’s four-year-old green building policy (see

EBN Vol. 10, No. 2) to require that all new municipal facilities achieve LEED^® Gold certification (joining only Scottsdale, Arizona, and Vancouver, British Columbia, in calling for Gold). Major retrofits and existing occupied buildings will be required to meet LEED-EB Silver standards, and tenant improvements and leased facilities must achieve either LEED-CI Silver or certification through Portland’s G/Rated Tenant Improvement Guide. All private-sector development projects larger than 10,000 ft² (930 m²) that receive municipal funding will be required to meet LEED Silver. Further requirements and incentives were adopted for public infrastructure and private-sector development. “This new and, most important, integrated package of requirements and incentives will ensure Portland continues to pace the country as a green building leader,” says Susan Anderson, director of Portland’s Office of Sustainable Development. Details are at www.sustainableportland.org.

On April 22, 2005 (Earth Day), Public Works and Government Services Canada announced the creation of a new Office of Greening Government Operations (OGGO). The new office is intended to consolidate the department’s environmental expertise and provide government-wide leadership on greening government operations. OGGO will be the principal source of advice and guidance for the federal community regarding greening operations, specifically green procurement, green property management, recycling and waste management, risk management, and remediation of contaminated sites.

SmartWood, the sustainable forestry program of the Rainforest Alliance, has audited and certified Potlatch Corporation’s 473,000 acres (190,000 ha) of Arkansas forestland according to Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standards. Additionally, Potlatch’s pine sawmill in Warren, Arkansas, has achieved FSC chain-of-custody certification, allowing the company to market its southern yellow pine dimensional lumber products with the FSC label. See

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Vol. 13, No. 5 for more information about the company’s commitment to FSC. Potlatch is online at www.potlatchcorp.com.

Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm issued an executive directive in April 2005 requiring that all new buildings for state agencies, universities, and community colleges be certified according to the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED^® Rating System. The directive also requires that all buildings owned or operated by the state reduce their consumption of energy 10% by 2009 and reduce their purchase of electricity from the utility grid 20% by 2015.

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has revised its estimate of the size of the global market for FSC-certified products. Previously believed to fall somewhere between $3 billion and $5 billion (see

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Vol. 13, No. 10), the market is now believed to be “in excess of $5 billion.” The revision is based on the results of a global survey conducted in early 2005 that considered input from 250 certificate holders, or about 5% of all FSC-certified companies. The revised figure is also consistent with other new information, including the United Kingdom Ethical Purchasing Index. FSC is online at www.fsc.org.

The Northern California chapter of Architects, Designers, and Planners for Social Responsibility (ADPSR) has announced a new scholarship to promote “solutions to problems of poor indoor air quality, electromagnetic fields, mold, and other environmental toxins,” in the hopes of preventing environmental illness including multiple chemical sensitivity. The scholarship is a memorial to David Kibbey, an indoor air quality specialist and green building proponent, and a core member of ADPSR, who died in 2001. The scholarship is open to U.S. residents in graduate, post-graduate, or independent study. ADPSR will award one or two scholarships of about $2,500 each. Applications are due May 20, 2005. For details, e-mail idegeofroy@sbcglobal.net or visit www.adpsr-norcal.org/menu/About/kibbeyscholarship.htm.

U.S. net imports of petroleum reached a record level in 2004, coming in at 57.8% of all petroleum used, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), a statistical agency of the U.S. Department of Energy. Just over 19% of those imports came from the Persian Gulf countries. EIA is online at www.eia.doe.gov.

Consumer Reports^® launched a new, free website on Earth Day, April 22, 2005, to help consumers make environmentally responsible purchases. Greenerchoices.org began with a dozen products in several categories and plans to expand in the future. An additional “green ratings” feature details Consumer Reports’ findings on the energy-efficiency and water-efficiency of specific products. Released to coincide with the website launch, results from a Consumer Reports survey found that nearly 90% of U.S. consumers actively consider environmental and health factors when making purchases. More than 40% of respondents said they would be willing to pay more for green electricity, and nearly 70% said they would pay more to recycle their televisions and computers.

North Dakota Senator Kent Conrad announced plans in March 2005 for North America’s largest biodiesel manufacturing plant, to be constructed in Minot beginning late this summer. The $50 million North Dakota Biodiesel, Inc., plant will be able to produce 100,000 tons (91,000 tonnes) of biodiesel each year from more than 355,000 acres of canola. The plant is expected to be operational by the end of 2006. For more on biodiesel see

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Vol. 12, No. 1.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has dropped a pending requirement that only certified contractors using workers trained in lead-safe practices be allowed to remodel or renovate buildings constructed before 1978, when lead paint was banned. Voluntary compliance is more cost-effective, especially in light of the decentralized nature of remodeling work, according to a May 2004 PowerPoint briefing for then-deputy-administrator Stephen Johnson, now EPA administrator. “Industry [is] overwhelmingly in favor of a voluntary approach over regulatory framework changes,” according to the briefing, which describes voluntary compliance as a “win-win situation.” However, the regulations would have prevented at least 28,000 lead-related illnesses each year, preventing $1.6 billion in medical costs and economic losses each year, according to EPA’s own analysis. “EPA has abdicated its public health responsibilities by glomming onto a voluntary program without a scintilla of evidence that their preferred ‘non-regulatory approach’ works,” says Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), which has threatened to sue for the adoption of the original regulations. More information is online at www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=493.