Ahhh, holiday time, when the sound of the clerk's stamp on green litigation rings merrily in my ears.  On December 9, the Builders' Association of the Twin Cities sued Minnesota GreenStar.  The complaint and motion for a temporary restraining order is available here. 

Most states and local governments have incorporated third party standards, like LEED, into their green regulations, and that has caused no little amount of controversy. Minnesota, by contrast, created its own green building certification standard for homes.

According to the Star-Tribune:

The program, funded in part with a grant from the MPCA, is voluntary and will have different criteria depending on the type of project. The standards for new construction, for example, will be different from those for a remodeling project. And the standards for an addition will be different from those for a simple kitchen remodel.

GreenStar was the nonprofit formed to create the standards and program, and was originally a partnership of the BATC, the Minnesota chapter of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry and the Minneapolis-based Green Institute. 

With the advent of the downturn in the economy, the partnership fractured into a controversy of green versus green, and the BATC withdrew from the organization. Again, from the Star-Tribune:

But with the construction market so fragile, any additional costs for green certification can be detrimental, especially when many buyers are wondering whether their home values have hit bottom, said Mike Otto, a home builder and remodeler.

That's the sentiment that was driving the builders' association to develop a broader range of standards that would allow builders and consumers more choices to earn the GreenStar certification. Dave Siegel, BATC's executive director, said that members want to embrace an "incremental approach" and create various standards, including some low-level certification that doesn't require more-expensive third-party verification.

At the time, the parties said the divorce was "amicable."  Like many families know, divorce is always amicable right up to the courthouse steps.