Four years ago, South Dakota passed a bill requiring all new government buildings and major renovations to be LEED-certified, with some exceptions. The state engineer’s office has waived the requirement for 32 projects where the costs of certification would have been prohibitive, or because the renovations would encompass less than half the building, or for other reasons.
“(LEED is) much better than a mandatory building code because you get a little wiggle room in these projects,” said Mike Mueller, a spokesman for the South Dakota Bureau of Administration. “The state recognizes that we can’t pick a standard and then pursue it at any and all cost.”
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