As we move into the first full week of 2010, the Northland Pines decertification proceeding is casting a long shadow over the short-term green building legal landscape- but more on that in a bit. Before we push forward here at GRELJ and continue dissecting them in much more detail this year, I think it makes sense to look back at what I think were the five most important green building-related legal issues which emerged during 2009:

• The stimulus package contained numerous green building-related provisions, including significant funds for state and local governments to implement energy efficiency codes. However, most of these funds have yet to be distributed, so it will be interesting to track legislative implementation during the course of 2010. Some municipalities are beginning to look more closely at the logistics of  implementing third-party-driven legislation, including in our own backyard here in New York. This will be a critical and ongoing issue to monitor.

• USGBC acknowledged the legal risks implicit with building green, but its white paper on the subject dubbed them “old wine in new bottles.” We reviewed the white paper here at GRELJ and concluded that it seemed “to be an effort to sweep many of the thornier legal issues that may indeed ferment into ‘new wine’ under the rug.” My reasons for disagreeing with the paper’s conclusions stemmed (and continue to stem) from the pace of regulatory activity, the lack of input from the insurance industry on green building risks, the uncertainty over the prevailing standard of care for design professionals practicing in the green building space, and the questionable body of green building performance data.

• Critiques of LEED building performance moved into the mainstream; USGBC mobilized in response. The ongoing debate about the energy performance was picked up on in media outlets that included the New York Times after Henry Gifford and USGBC’s Brendan Owens debated the merits of LEED at the NESEA forum last March. LEED Version 3.0 was released with the obligation for owners and landlords to report data on building performance to USGBC, though many of you wondered what USGBC would actually do with that data upon its compilation. USGBC’s Building Performance Initiative, which was launched in advance of Greenbuild in Phoenix, is ongoing; we’re likely to start seeing results and further studies and critiques of LEED building performance throughout 2010.

• The National Institute of Building Sciences convened a Task Group to review various third-party building performance rating systems, which identified associated risk and policy problems for the A/E/C community to contemplate. The Task Group’s recommendations to NIBS’ Board of Directors included the development of various white papers analyzing risk and policy issues in greater detail; we emphasized the import of this effort in the context of NIBS’ political backing and the scope of the report’s conclusions.

• The potential for decertification of LEED Version 3.0 projects that (1) fail to report building performance data or (2) provide a legal mechanism for the reporting requirement to carry forward after a sale or sublease caused a firestorm of blogosphere commentary. Interestingly, though, the first publicly reported decertification proceeding- the Northland Pines High School complaint, which USGBC is currently reviewing – received comparably little attention.

In my opinion, these last two items were clearly the most important green building legal stories of 2009. Although the Northland Pines proceeding is not the full-blown green building litigation that many have predicted, it implicates all of the legal issues associated with decertification that were discussed last year. It is also the type of scenario out of which green building litigation could arise in the event USGBC/GBCI revokes the school’s LEED Gold status. For all of these reasons, and regardless of the outcome, the Northland Pines proceeding will be the first major green building legal story of 2010, particularly because we are (publicly) witnessing USGBC/GBCI follow the procedures of its Certification Challenge Policy for the first time.

If there are any other noteworthy issues we missed, please feel free to note them in the comments below. Happy New Year, everyone!

For those of you reading this article in a reader or by email, we recently gave GRELJ a makeover and encourage you to visit the site in your browser. Hopefully the new design is easier to read and better organized. One new feature is threaded comments, which allow you to reply specifically to a given comment in each thread. I look forward to any feedback on our new look.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the “Recovery Act”) offers multiple opportunities for property owners, developers and other stakeholders in the green building arena. There are tens of billions of dollars in funding initiatives for green building in the Recovery Act. Many of the provisions are complex and the specific projects that are to be have yet to be fully provided. That being said, the commitment to green building is clearly apparent throughout the Recovery Act and a quick summary of the critical green building funding proposals are detailed below:

• Federal Building Efficiency: At least $4.5 billion is allocated to the U.S. General Services Administration (“GSA”) to convert GSA facilities to “High-Performance Green buildings”, thus making federal buildings more energy efficient. Pursuant to that certain GSA Memorandum to Assistant Regional Administrators, PBS Regional Realty Service Officers from Samuel J. Morris, III, Acting Assistant Commissioner for the Office of Real Estate Acquisition – PQC, dated December 27, 2007, the GSA has adopted the U.S. Green Building Council’s (“USGBC”) LEED certification system and has set a goal that new construction or substantial renovation of a building or leased space over 10,000 rentable square feet receive at least LEED Silver certification.

• Establishment of Office of Federal High Performance Green Buildings: $4 million in funds were set aside for the establishment of the Office of Federal High Performance Green Buildings within the GSA, which office was created by the 2007 Act. The Office of Federal High Performance Green Buildings may have the longest lasting impact on the green building movement based upon the future actions it will take regarding federal government office space and buildings overseen by the GSA

• Green Building Training: $3 million has been allocated for a green building training and apprenticeship program for federal buildings.

• Renovation of Department of Defense (“DOD”) Buildings: A portion of the $4.2 billion in funds to modernize various DOD facilities will go toward green building related improvements.

• Local Government Energy Efficiency and Conservation: $6.3 billion in grants to help state and local governments make investments that make them more energy efficient and reduce carbon emissions.

• Energy Star Appliances: $300 million to provide consumers with rebates for buying energy efficient Energy Star products to replace old appliances.

• Public Housing Capital Fund: $4 billion is allocated for the Public Housing Capital Fund to retrofit the public housing projects to make them more energy efficient.

As detailed above, the specific projects that will receive allocations pursuant to the Recovery Act have not been fully released. A multitude of websites are being increasingly utilized and/or created in order to provide up-to-date information as to the available Recovery Act projects. The website www.fedbizopps.gov is an excellent resource for federal projects. As of March 1, 2009, conducting a “Quick Search” using the term “LEED” results in 313 specific federal opportunities. Another useful site is www.recovery.gov, which provides specific details regarding the Recovery Act, including a useful tool that contains links to each of the individual state websites that have been created in connection with the Recovery Act. Here at GRELJ, we will continue to track the Recovery Act and keep our readers aware of where things go from this relatively early point forward.

Geoff White is a Senior Associate in the Commercial Transactions and Real Estate Group at Frost Brown Todd. He is a contributing author to Green Real Estate Law Journal. He also oversees the Green Building Series on the Frost Brown Todd’s Construction Law News website. Mr. White is licensed to practice law in Kentucky and Ohio and is a member of the Kentucky Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council. Learn more about Geoff at http://www.frostbrowntodd.com/geoffwhite/