New York, Nov. 13-- New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's legal fight to keep vinyl flooring from being considered a "green" building material has been recognized by one of the state's largest environmental groups.
Citizens' Environmental Coalition recognized Spitzer's office with the Healthy Building Network's annual Green Building Award on Nov. 12 at the United States Green Building Council's annual convention in Pittsburgh, Pa.
The award recognizes the efforts of Spitzer's Environmental Protection Bureau in a "thorough and impassioned legal defense" of the New York Green Building Tax Credit.
The program excludes vinyl floor covering as an eligible material because vinyl produces the chemical dioxin.
The flooring industry filed a lawsuit to overturn the exclusion, but that lawsuit was dropped earlier in 2003.
Builders and consumers who choose to use vinyl flooring in a building will not be eligible for a tax credit.
Spitzer deserves recognition for "choosing such a dedicated team of experts committed to protecting the public health by standing up to a powerful adversary's self-serving attempt to undermine democratically enacted standards," according to Kathy Curtis, Executive Director of Citizens' Environmental Coalition, who presented the award.
The Green Building tax credit allocates $25 million to reward builders who design and construct environmentally friendly structures.
