Congrats to Craftsmen Developers for Site Certification

Our best goes out to Craftsmen Developers, on earning the first 4-Star Site Certification in Delaware under the National Green Building Certification Program. Our own Joe Gordon (one of the top 5 Verifiers in the Country) was happy to provide the Accredited Verifier services needed in order for Craftsmen to achieve this pinnacle of honor.

If you want to learn more about obtaining certification for your residential site or new homes, please contact Howard Fortunato at 302-323-9377.

Here is Craftsmen's article: http://craftsmendevelopers.wordpress.com/2010/08/24/wharton%E2%80%99s-bluff-in-delaware-is-first-site-on-east-coast-to-earn-nahb-research-centers-4-star-green-land-development-certification-2/

Environmental Data from Outer Space!

Pretty soon we will be able to get environmental data from satellites orbiting the earth.

Check this article out at UDaily: http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2011/aug/satellite081710.html

For more information about environmental conditions, you can contact one of our Environmental Scientsists or Specialists: www.landmarkjcm.com

On Yesterdays Theme of Low Bidders

• From: BUILDER August 2010
• Posted on: August 10, 2010

50 Ways for Home Builders to Waste Money

Little things have a way of adding up. In the current economy, they could kill your business. Or they could save it.

By:

Builder Staff

3 | Switch subs and suppliers for the lowest bid.

Do you like it when home buyers shop around for the lowest price, regardless of quality or service? Work with your top subs and suppliers to negotiate better (yet still fair) prices that help keep everyone working above the break-even line. Let them know you aren’t shopping their bids, and they might sharpen their pencils in return for your loyalty and steady work.

Number 3 out of 50!!

Look for Value not the lowest price, it always pays off in the end.

Contact LandmarkJCM for all of your Engineering and Environmental needs.

Think Twice When You Consider Hiring the Low Bidder

Price is not always the best way to choose a contractor or service professional for your important project. See this article by Green Building Elements:

Does Salem's Building Disaster Give LEED a Bad Name?

by Dawn Killough

By Green Building Elements at Green Building Elements

Salem, Oregon is a-buzz with the news that its LEED Certified Courthouse Square building and transit mall have been declared structurally unsound. The ten year old home of Cherriots bus service and hub for local government is being evacuated as we speak. City departments are scrambling to lease office space in other buildings, and quickly move before catastrophic failure of the building threatens them.

Sounds like the introduction to some horror movie, but it is true. The Courthouse Square Building in Salem has been declared structurally unsound and tenants have been given 30 days to move out so the building can be closed. The LEED Certified building has been the crown jewel of the city, until recently when major structural problems were found.

No one knows, or is saying at least, what is causing all the structural issues. Cracked walls and ceilings are the hallmark of what appears to be a buckling post-tensioned concrete slab. The concrete was recently tested and found to not meet the specified strength. Garbage was found in the slab when samples were taken. Claims against the architect and the general contractor have already been settled, but the amounts do not come near the $30 million price tag for the building.

What bothers me most about this situation is that projects like this can give LEED a bad name. Energy efficiency, recycled materials, and green roofs don't do anyone any good unless the building is sound. LEED projects get a lot of press these days, although they are becoming more commonplace, and projects like this can leave the public wondering what designers were thinking. Are they focusing too much attention on being green and not enough on good design?

I've heard it said that green design is good design. It takes an integrated team approach to design a high-efficiency building. Systems have to meld seamlessly together, working with each other, as opposed to jockeying for position and space in the complicated web that is a building. Extreme high-efficiency buildings, such as those attempting LEED Platinum, require a more symbiotic relationship between the building systems, even using each other to further their efficiency.

Unfortunately, this rarely happens in the world of municipal "lowest bid wins" design. Owners want, or require, a high-efficiency building, but are unwilling or unable to pay for the work that is required to design one. I am not saying it is not possible to design a green building in this realm, just that it can be more difficult. We have to learn to look beyond the immediate cost of a design or building, to the life cycle costs of the building system as a whole. Ten years is not a long life for a commercial building, certainly not one that claims to be environmentally friendly.

ELG - Effluent Limitation Guidelines Back to Drawing Board

Citing Flawed Analysis, Feds Send EPA Storm Water Rules Back to the Drawing Board

August 13, 2010 - In a major victory for affordable housing, sound science and more sensible regulations, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been forced to withdraw a key portion of new storm water management regulations for builders and developers and devise new ones based on better research.

The move is the result of a lawsuit filed by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and petitions filed by both NAHB and the federal Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Advocacy asking the agency to revise its new Effluent Limitation Guidelines (ELGs) for the construction and development industry.

"After a big rainstorm, it's typical to see some storm water drain from a construction site. In these new regulations, EPA set a numeric limit on the amount of sediment that can cloud the water that both NAHB and SBA claimed was arbitrary and based on flawed analyses," said NAHB Chairman Bob Jones, a home builder and developer in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

"In addition, NAHB was able to show that trying to achieve these limits would have cost not $953 million – which the agency had estimated – but up to $10 billion annually, hurting small businesses and housing affordability, with little additional environmental benefit: EPA itself admits the ELG would control less than one quarter of one percent of all total sediment runoff," Jones said. "By forcing EPA to take a hard look at the facts and admit its error, NAHB scored a major victory for home builders and home buyers nationwide."

After reading NAHB's brief, the Justice Department asked EPA to defend the numeric limit. EPA was forced to admit several flaws in the final rule and that it had improperly interpreted the data. As a result, the Justice Department filed a motion with the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals asking it to vacate the numeric limit and place a hold on the litigation until February 2012—while EPA goes back and develops a numeric limit that builders can actually comply with.

Published in December 2009, the ELG imposed a nationally applicable—and potentially impossible-to-meet—limit of 280 "turbidity units" on storm water discharges from construction sites disturbing 10 or more acres of land at one time.

While today's ruling removes the numeric limit, the other requirements of the ELG remain in place. EPA is expected to issue interim storm water management guidance for construction site operators as the agency works to refine the rule.

"NAHB supports responsible development and the goals of the Clean Water Act. The association will continue to work with state and federal regulators to keep our waterways clean," Jones

New Ocean Policy Announced (Includes Coasts)

The final recommendations from the Ocean Policy Task Force are out and adopted through Executive Order.

From the press release (emphasis added):

Establishes a new regional approach to how we use and protect the ocean, our coasts, and the Great Lakes to decrease user conflicts, improve planning and regulatory efficiencies and decrease costs and delays, and preserve critical ecosystem services.
Creates a comprehensive alternative to sector-by-sector and statute-by-statute decision-making.
Establishes regional planning bodies, bringing Federal, state, and tribal partners together in an unprecedented manner to jointly plan for the future of the ocean, our coasts, and the Great Lakes.
Ensures science-based information is at the heart of decision-making.
Emphasizes stakeholder and public participation.

Find more information here:

http://nahbenews.com/nahbehs/issues/2010-08-06/2.html

EPA Enforcement in Chesapeake Bay Watershed

The United States Environmental Protection Agency reports:

Since 2009, the Agency has entered into 10 civil judicial settlements and issued 36 administrative orders to sources contributing to the Bay’s impairment.

These enforcement actions:

• Cover 248 facilities in nine states and the District of Columbia

• will reduce approximately 2100 pounds of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) and 82 million pounds of sediment to the Bay watershed, along with 16 million pounds of nitrogen oxides to the Bay airshed annually once all required controls are fully implemented

• Additionally, settling companies have agreed to:

• invest more than an estimated $731 million in actions and equipment to reduce pollution to the Bay and to pay civil penalties of $7.2 million

• Of the 28 sites in the Bay watershed where actions were taken under Superfund to clean contamination of hazardous substances:

• actions at 18 sites ensured that cleanups are conducted by the entities responsible for the toxic contamination at the facility, 11 of which are federal facilities

• the Agency funded the initial assessment, removal, or remedial work for the remaining ten sites and will seek to recover cleanup costs from the liable parties responsible for the toxic contamination at these sites.

For a map and list of facilities, see the web site:

http://www.epa.gov/compliance/civil/initiatives/progress-chesapeakebay.html

Another Successful Program by Mick

Dear Mick,
Thank you so much for coming out and presenting to EcoQuest.

This program
is amazing. I loved the fact that you had an overwhelming majority of almost all of the reptiles and amphibians found in Delaware. The kids really loved it and I greatly appreciate you doing this. I have enclosed some pictures of the program for your enjoyment. Please feel free to use them for marketing purposes as well.

Once again Thank you!

Brianna Barkus

Sustainability Coordinator

St. Andrew's School

(302)285-4418