The Orlando Sentinel blasted Florida lawmakers in an Oct. 24 editorial, claiming they had failed to act on warnings that the state was facing a problem with "toxic schools."

"In 2003, a grand jury blasted the Broward County school system for taking too long to get rid of mold in classrooms and failing to repair leaky roofs and faulty air conditioners," the newspaper said.

The grand jury outlined its concerns in a 44-page report, strongly recommending changes the state of Florida needed to make to force school districts to improve indoor-air quality.

"Although Broward schools have since spent millions of dollars trying to fix its problems, the more sweeping statewide grand jury recommendations have been largely ignored," the newspaper concluded.

Indoor Environment Connections. Volume 12, issue 1. November 2010

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is awarding 17 cooperative agreements to nonprofit organizations and university, totaling approximately $2.4 million to improve indoor air quality nationwide.

Additionally, the agency won a jury verdict against a company that had falsified asbestos reports.

The goal of the IAQ projects is to educate Americans on how to reduce the environmental health risks of indoor contaminants through demonstrations, education projects, and training and outreach efforts. EPA is placing particular emphasis on reaching households with children, low income families, and minorities because they are disproportionately impacted by poor indoor air quality."...

Indoor Environment Connections. Volume 12, issue 1. November 2010 by Tom Scarlett

"A judge in New Orleans annouced that a partial settlement has been reached in the ongoing Chinese drywall litigation.

Homeowners in four states will be eligible to get relief from a contaminated drywall dilemma that has allegedly caused them to get sick and caused damage to the homes' infrastructures.

Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin, a Chinese drywall manufacturer, has agreed to pay to repair 300 damaged homes in four states as part of a pilot program that could lead to larger settlement of more than 3,000 claims against Knauf.

"This annoucement is good news, and it's what several lawmakers and I have been pushing for in meetings with trade officials and members of the Consumer Products Safety Commission," said Sen. David Vitter, R-La.

Louisiana is one of the four states in the program, along with Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida."...

Indoor Environment Connections. Volume 12, issue 1. November 2010 by Tom Scarlett

"A federal class action lawsuit has been filed against the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), claiming that LEED-certified buildings are not really as enegy-efficient as they are claimed to be, and that the system's promise of "third-party verification" is not true.

The suit was brought by Henry Gifford, a New York-based energy consultant who is a longtime skeptic about the USGBC's approach to green buildings. He claims to have "25+ years experience making buildings energy efficient, using common sense approaches."

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings.

A victory for the plaintiffs in this lawsuit might force a thorough reevaluation of what constitutes a "green building" in the United States.

A spokeswoman for USGBC said the organization was reviewing the complaint, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, but had no further comment.

This suit alleges antitrust violations, false advertising, fraudulent misrepresentations, violations of the federal RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) statue and other offenses.

The Allegations

USGBC has always claimed, on its website and elsewhere, that LEED certification "provides independent, third-party verification that a building project meets the highest green building and performance measures."

The complaint filed by Gifford challenges this long-accepted notion. "LEED certification does not require any certification of the data submitted in certification applications," the complaint alleges.

Additionally, LEED certification does not require actual energy use data at any stage, Gifford contends.

"LEED certification is not based on actual building performance data, but rather on projected energy use," the complaint asserts. Far from providing "verification" that a structure deserves to be called a "green building," the LEED process "essentially allows applicants to self-certify," Gifford contends.

Indoor Environment Connections. Volume 12, issue 1. November 2010 by Tom Scarlett

A jury near Scranton, Pa., awarded a couple $4.3 million because their home was ruined by a mold problem brought on by a township road project, the Scranton Times-Tribune reported Oct. 25

The jury ordered the township to pay 76 percent of the damages, with the remainder coming from a construction firm called Hanson Aggregates.

The amount the jury awarded for actual property loss amounted to slightly more than $450,000. The jury also awarded the couple more than $3.4 million, for past and future post-traumatic stress disorder and loss of life's pleasures in the use of the property.

The plaintiffs had moved out of the house, fearing for their health after learning it contained more than five different types of mold, one of which was stachybotrys.

Indoor Environment Connections. Volume 12, issue 1. November 2010