About Precaution

NY Green Building Tax Credit Excludes PVC

A NY law created the Green Building Tax Credit in 2000 to provide financial incentives for building with environmentally friendly materials. The program improves the national Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) standards by excluding the eligibility of PVC flooring for a tax credit.
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Summary of Green Tax Credits
This memo by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation briefly summarizes the Green Building Tax law.
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State Regulations
These are the state regulations implementing the Green Building Tax Credit law.
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NYS Attorney General Successfully Defends Green Tax Credits
This 2003 News Release from Attorney General (AG) Eliot Spitzer announced that PVC manufacturers had withdrawn their lawsuit challenging the state’s first-in-the-nation "green building" tax credit program for construction materials. The PVC industry sued the state in 2002 for not providing tax credits to PVC flooring and withdrew the lawsuit one week prior to opening arguments.
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State Scientist Affidavit on PVC Health Risks
This Affidavit by a Senior Public Health Scientist at the AG’s Office describes health threats associated with the PVC lifecycle. Healthy Building Network (HBN) compiled the extensive material submitted by the AG’s Office and issued it as “Vinyl Under Oath,” a PDF file compact disc that can be obtained by contacting HBN at http://www.healthybuilding.net
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Environmental Groups News Release & Article
Citizens’ Environmental Coalition and Healthy Building Network issued a News Release and the Legislative Gazette published an article about the 2003 lawsuit victory.
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