Stephen Del Percio, a great green law guru in his own right, just asked whether I thought the characterization of green risk as "new wine in old bottles" is right.   The answer is yes and no.   I like to think of green law as the child of environmental and construction law--old concepts, like contract law, standard of care, etc., with new twists.

Laws mandating LEED certification for incentive-based programs can take some of the pressure off of local governments from obtaining an in-house expertise in green building.   Laws mandating LEED certification as a mandate would almost certainly be an illegal delegation of authority.