Black Hills timber industry fights 'LEED'

Energy standard unfair to Pondersa pines, sawmills say

By Bill Harlan, Journal staff | Friday, February 22, 2008

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PIERRE -- The Black Hills timber industry says a bill to set energy-efficiency standards for new state buildings would put local loggers and sawmills at a disadvantage.

"It rewards companies for using products from outside the United States," Jeff Parrett of Wheeler Lumber in Whitewood told the House State Affairs Committee, which held a hearing on the bill Wednesday.

Senate Bill 188, in its original form, would require new state buildings and major state remodeling projects to meet the "LEED silver standard," which is the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standard of the United States Green Building Council.

The Senate passed that first version of SB188 by a vote 31 to 3 on Jan. 29.

However, after objections Wednesday from Wheeler and other timber-industry representatives, the House State Affairs Committee voted 9 to 2 to amend the bill to allow state agencies to choose from among a number of standards.

Now, that version of SB188 is headed to the House floor with a "do pass" recommendation, and the two versions could end up in a conference committee.

The state has more than $70 million in construction projects pending, and the argument is over how best to make those projects energy efficient.

Bureau of Administration Commissioner Jeff Bloomberg urged the committee to adopt the LEED standard, saying it was the most widely used system. More than 20 states have adopted it. The Department of Defense uses LEED, and so does the National Guard, the General Services Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs and other federal agencies.

"We have experience with LEED," Bloomberg said. For example, the Black Hills State University student union was renovated to meet the LEED silver standard.

LEED has four levels -- from lowest to highest, certified, silver, gold and platinum.

To get a silver rating, buildings must score 33 points out of a possible 69.

Points, or "credits," are earned for a variety of environmental measures including energy efficiency, use of recyclable materials, access to public transportation and other criteria. (Every state building will get a point for being smoke free.)

Buildings can even get points for providing parking spaces for hybrid cars and electrical outlets for electric cars.

Larry Mann, a lobbyist for the Black Hills Forest Resources Association, told lawmakers, "You can earn a credit for putting in a $395 bicycle rack but you can't get a credit for using timber produced on a national forest."

In fact, in some cases, Chinese timber would get credits when Black Hills timber would not.

"The state is planning to put my company at a competitive disadvantage," said Dave Brenneisen of the Pope & Talbot sawmill in Spearfish, which employs 280 workers and 100 contract loggers.

"We want to be able to compete fairly," Brenneisen said.

Steel and concrete, for example, would earn credits for being recyclable under the LEED standards, while Black Hills pines would not get a credit for being a renewable resource. "There is simply no greener product than Black Hills timber," he said.

Logging in the Black Hills also has other environmental advantages, he said, such as reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfires and bug infestations.

Bloomberg, however, pointed out that states with even more timber resources than South Dakota have adopted LEED to no ill effect.

Bloomberg also noted that architects and engineers support LEED.

Rapid City mechanical engineer Doug Feterl of West Plains Engineering in Rapid City called LEED "the predominant standard" in the construction industry. "The state needs to be a leader in sustainable designs," he said.

Bryan Vulcan, president of FourFront Design, a Rapid City architectural and engineering firm, said LEED standards would reduce costs over the life of the building.

Vulcan argued against the amendment the state affairs committee adopted. "It would become cumbersome," he said.

The committee, however, disagreed. The version of SB188 that will go to the House floor would allow state agencies to use LEED or the Green Building Initiative's Green Globes rating system or "a comparable rating system."

Contact Bill Harlan at 394-8424 or bill.harlan@rapidcityjournal.com