WASHINGTON -- Seventy-nine members of the U.S. House of Representatives have signed a letter requesting the U.S. Green Building Council to end Forest Stewardship Council's monopoly on LEED credits for certified wood.

In the letter steered by Congressmen Kurt Schrader (D-OR) and Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), congressmen representing 35 different states, urged the organization to “accept all credible forest certification systems for qualification under the LEED rating system,” including the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI).

In addition to the letter from a bipartisan group of congressmen, USGBC received a petition with nearly 6,000 signatories calling for LEED recognition of all “wood and paper products certified to independent, respected and credible standards including SFI, ATFS, CSA, FSC, and PEFC.” 

“From the halls of Congress to other elected officials across North America to architects, builders, family tree farmers and forestry and sustainability experts around the world, the support for a change in LEED has grown exponentially,” said Kathy Abusow, president and CEO of SFI. “Wood should be recognized for its environmental merits, and third-party certified forest products should be given additional credit.”

According to SFI, more than three quarters of certified forests in North America are certified to standards other than FSC and thus are not currently recognized by USGBC.

The letter from the House members states that maintaining the status quo will mean builders seeking LEED certification “would be discouraged to use third-party certified SFI and ATFS products” grown in the United States. On the other hand, the letter stated that opening LEED to other forest certification programs “could stimulate the market for American produced forest products and the communities and jobs that depend on both.”

According to SFI, Canadian forestry officials and 10 U.S. governors have written letters of their own asking LEED to recognize other wood certification schemes. Those governors Arkansas, Idaho, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Oregon, Virginia and Washington.
 
Read letter signed by 79 Congressmen to USGBC President & CEO Rick Fedrizzi.

Read petition signed by more than 6,000 people asking USGBC to open up its LEED rating system to other wood certification programs.

Read SFI's press release.