City of Little Rock Announces Sustainable Purchasing Policy

A few minutes ago at the Little Rock Sustainability Summit, the City of Little Rock announced adoption of a new “Sustainable Purchasing Policy.” In simple terms, the City has announced a commitment to promoting and encouraging sustainable purchasing practices throughout its departments and operations.

An excerpt from the Policy statement:

It will be the policy of the City of Little Rock and its various departments to implement purchasing practices that minimize negative impacts on human health and the environment while supporting a diverse and vibrant community and economy. This policy of the City will be to identify sustainability factors that can be incorporated into everyday purchasing practices, empower employees to be innovative in their purchasing practices, complement city-wide sustainability efforts and demonstrate the City’s commitment to sustainable procurement.

Whenever possible, city employees will purchase products and services that integrate fiscal responsibility, social equity and community and environmental stewardship.

City employees will consider the following factors in all purchasing practices to reduce the overall impact of the product or service on the organization and community: pollutant releases, toxicity, waste generation, greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, depletion of natural resources, human health impacts, use of local businesses, use of certified minority or women-owned businesses, product performance and quality, life-cycle cost assessment, impact on staff time and labor and long-term financial changes.

This Policy is the product of collaboration between the City and the Sustainability Commission. It is a concrete example of investment and commitment to sustainability in Little Rock, and should serve as notice of the tremendous opportunity in Little Rock, and in Arkansas, for folks in the business of sustainability and for investment in those business and practices.

October Renewable Energy Recap

It is not widely known, but Arkansas is poised to be a leader in green and renewable energy development, technology, and manufacturing. Consider:

• On October 4, 2010, German wind turbine manufacturer Nordex opened a 42-employee manufacturing plant in Jonesboro, Arkansas. The plant is Nordex’s sole manufacturing presence in the United States.

• Three days later, on October 7, 2010, Mitsubishi Power Systems broke ground on a $100 million wind turbine manufacturing plant in Fort Smith, Arkansas. The plant is expected to be operational in the fall of 2011 and will create 330 jobs.

• On October 23, 2010, one of the premier venture capital forums for emerging technologies, WBT 2011, announced that Arkansas technology start-up Silicon Solar Solutions will be one of 100 companies selected to present to interested investors and venture capitalists. (Silicon Solar Solutions is a Fayetteville-based company committed to making solar energy more accessible and affordable. If the Silicon Solar Solutions folks are right, they have invented the better mousetrap.)

And that’s just the news for October 2010 – so far. The end of this week will see the Little Rock Sustainability Summit, (see previous post) and I expect Arkansas’s emerging place in the sustainasphere to be on display. Stay tuned….

(Department of Full Disclosure: My firm, Williams & Anderson PLC, is outside general counsel for Silicon Solar Solutions.)

The Little Rock Sustainability Summit

The Little Rock Sustainability Summit will be held Thursday and Friday of next week (October 28th and 29th) at the Robinson Center in downtown Little Rock. The Summit is a collaboration between the City of Little Rock, the Little Rock Sustainability Commission, and private interests with an interest in sustainability. Here is the schedule:

October 28, 2010

8am-12pm CEU Class
• Introduction to Building Commissioning
• Optimizing Your Existing Building- A Plan for Action

12:30pm-5:30pm Sustainability Expo Hours

1:00pm-2:00pm Registration

2:00pm-2:30pm Welcome Address

2:30pm-3:15pm Sustainable Business Practices

3:30pm-4:15pm Breakouts
• Built Environment/Land Use
• Retrofitting Your Home

4:30pm-5:15pm Breakout
• Business Landscaping
• Sustainable Landscaping and Purchasing for your Home

5:30pm-7:00pm Reception hosted by Capital Hotel (must be registered for the Summit in order to attend)

Friday, October 29

9:00pm-10:15am Mayor Stodola Opening Remarks / Green Cities Committee

10:30am-11:45am Breakouts
• Sustainability Grants for Government and Non-Profits
• Sustainability Tax Incentives Panel

12pm-1:30pm Luncheon with Keynote Speaker (must be registered for the Summit in order to attend)

1:45pm-3:00pm Breakouts
• Landfill Development and Healthy Maintenance
• Recycling & more

I expect that the Summit will present the best and worst of sustainability in Little Rock and in Arkansas in that our strengths – a vibrant and devoted sustainability community, an unusually supportive Mayor and local government, and a core group of creative, innovative, and motivated entrepreneurs – will be front and center, while our weaknesses – for example, lack of a cohesive commercial recycling program, lack of coordination, and plain old inertia – will be exposed.

The Summit is free to the public, and I will be attending and blogging about it. And here’s an insider tip: go online and register. Registration is free, and if you register you can attend the Thursday evening meet, greet, and cocktail reception at the Capital Hotel and the Friday lunch.

More information about the Summit can be found here: http://www.lrsustainabilitysummit.com/

So What The Heck Is This Sustainability Blawg About Anyway?

Or, perhaps more accurately, what is the law of sustainability?

Good question! My friend, mentor, and law partner Janet Pulliam taught me that sometimes the best way of talk about something that defies definition is to start by identifying what the thing is not about.

So here is what the law of sustainability is not:

• It is not “water law,” “oil and gas law,” or “environmental law”;

• It is not about toxic torts or Erin Brockovich;

• It is not about tree hugging, tree spiking, Glen Canyon, or the Monkey Wrench Gang;

• It is not about a political, religious, or scientific agenda; and,

• It is not about a cost prohibitive approach to doing business divorced from economic reality.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, here is my latest and best stab at what the law of sustainability is about:

It is about bringing a strategic and interdisciplinary approach to the law to partnering with people and businesses that produce or sell sustainable products, services, and innovations, or that operate or aspire to operate in a sustainable manner.

Consider:

You make a widget (widget is a lawyer word for “thing”; we learn it in law school and, therefore, paid a hefty sum for the privilege of using it) that is made entirely of recyclable materials, is recyclable in any community on the earth, and is produced using entirely renewable energy.

This is the easy one. Your business lives smack dab in the middle of the land of the law of sustainability. The federal government (through the Federal Trade Commission) has guidelines that influence the manner in which you can promote and make claims about your product (see previous post). You have particular needs for siting, licensing, permitting, and financing your business, and for purchasing your renewable energy. You may have a LEED certified production facility, and you need to be sure you preserve that certification. If you’ve had the benefit of good legal counsel, then you know that there are local and federal tax credits and incentives related to your workforce and plant and you are taking advantage of them.

Now consider:

You have an idea for a widget, and you want to make that idea a reality. You are decent, well meaning person, but your business plan does not call for a “green” or “environmentally conscious” or “sustainable” business. Bottom line: you just want to be successful, make a few bucks and provide for your family, send your children to the University of Arkansas, and maybe buy a nice bass boat, hunting camp, and/or lake house.

You are still smack dab in the middle of the law of sustainability. There are local, state, and federal tax and financing incentives that can help you build or acquire a manufacturing plant if you take certain easy steps to make the plant “green,” and others that kick-in if you site your plant in a neighborhood that is “depressed” or slated for “revitalization” or “renewal.” There are similar tax breaks and financial incentives that kick in if you employ the right workers. Putting recycling, paperless, and renewable energy initiatives in place from the get go will save your business significant money in the long term. And, more likely than not, when word gets out about your “sustainable” business you will find yourself buoyed by the support of local civic leaders.

So that’s what this blawg is about: I’m a lawyer, and I have some specialized knowledge about the law of sustainability (some of which, quite candidly, others have paid for); Arkansas is prime and fertile ground for people and businesses interested in staking out a piece of sustainability; and I aim to connect the two and tell you about it.

Oh yeah: as for the term “blawg,” that’s just the same as “blog” but with “law” in the middle, which I’ve learned is the way that lawyers title their blogs. My law firm paid a wonderful consultant, Chris Fritch, a lot of money to learn me that.

(Department of Shameless Plugs for Chris Firtch: www.ClientsFirstConsulting.com)

It Ain’t Easy Claiming Green: The FTC Proposes New Guidelines For Green Claims (Part 1)

On October 6, 2010, the FTC issued proposed guidelines for “green claims.” The proposal updates the “Green Guides” issued by the FTC in 1998 and are a long over due response to the viral proliferation of green claims in today’s marketplace.

In a nutshell, the proposed guidelines are a strong signal that those making green claims in connection with products or services can expect a much higher level of scrutiny from all quarters, and particularly from the federal government. For these eyes, the new guidelines are summed up in this equation: claim + proof = not deceptive (and, therefore, not fodder for an enforcement action).

Here are the high points:

First, the FTC reaches into entirely virgin territory and proposes guidance for claims not currently addressed by the Green Guides.

• The claims “made with renewable materials” and “made with renewable energy” will need to be qualified and explained.

• If you are going to claim a product is “made with renewable materials,” you will also need to explain what the renewable material is, why it is renewable, and where it comes from.

• If you are going to make the unqualified claim a product is “made with renewable energy,” it better be 100% made with renewable energy. If the power used to make any component of the product was generated through the use of fossil fuels, then you cannot make the unqualified claim. Likewise, be prepared to specify the source of the renewable energy, and consider the energy used in making the product packaging.

• Claims involving carbon offsets and credits will need to be specific, quantified, and supported by competent and reliable scientific evidence. For those seeking to benefit by advertising a carbon offset that is the result of mere compliance with the law, no dice: you should not advertise a carbon offset that is a lucky side effect of a legal requirement.

Second, the FTC is looking to add considerable meat to the guidelines already in place, and the new guidance touches on just about every aspect of a green claim.

• General environmental benefit claims like “green” or “eco-friendly” will become difficult, if not impossible to make without some kind of prominent, plain-language qualification.

• Certifications and “Seals of Approval” will also become difficult to use. These to must be substantiated and accompanied by a prominent and substantive qualification. And no more blind reliance on a third-party reviewer; the person making the claim is always responsible for backing it up.

• The use of the terms “degradable” and “compostable,” (it’s a really a real word!), are addressed. The short rows on these: it’s all about timing. A product that takes years to biodegrade or compost cannot carry the claim; the process must occur over a reasonably short period of time.

• The most significant new guidance addresses “recyclable,” and “free-of” claims. Here it is obvious that the FTC is going after the advertising carnies who follow the “it ain’t deceptive if you don’t know you’ve been deceived” maxim. Thus, a product is only recyclable if the consumers where the product is sold have access to recycling facilities for the product. The fact that a product is “free-of” one substance is immaterial if either (a) the substance has never been associated with the product in the first place (i.e., milk that is free of bleach), or (b) the product contains a substance that poses risks similar to those posed by the substance not present.

In all, the proposed guidance, discussion, comments, and examples run nearly 140 pages in the Federal Register. If you are unfamiliar with the Federal Register, picture dense government prose, in a painfully small font, three columns across and then think of a joke that involves a cure for insomnia.

So what’s it all mean? The public comment period for the proposed green guidelines ends in December 2010, and we can expect the final guidelines to go into effect shortly thereafter. This means that if you are in the business of making green claims, you have roughly two months to understand these 140 pages, figure out how they apply to you, and come up with a plan for dealing. Or, more efficiently, two months to buy the advice of someone who has already read and understood the proposed guidelines.

(Department of Blatant Pitch Awareness: I am a lawyer, and that was a blatant pitch.)

The full text of the proposed guidelines can be found here: http://www.ftc.gov/os/fedreg/2010/october/101006greenguidesfrn.pdf