Most excellent news from Colorado: Governor Bill Ritter has signed the Landscape Architects Professional Licensing Act into law, establishing licensure of landscape architects in Colorado.  In doing so, the Centennial State becomes the 49th state to regulate the profession. Julia Lent, ASLA's director of government affairs, will have the full story in the next issue of LAND Online, which will be mailed out on Tuesday. The Governor's office has the official press release (the licensure bill, SB107, is listed at the bottom of the release).

New construction rules approved recently by Seattle lawmakers "encourage builders to construct green roofs, vegetated walls and other features that clean the air, insulate buildings and ease the burden of Seattle's wet climate on the city's drains and creek beds," The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports.

Under the rules, some builders will have open-space requirements overlooked if they present a space or garden that is smaller, but layered with dense vegetation.

Extra credit is given for tree canopies and stormwater-stopping green roofs, according to the article. Here's what one informed councilman said about the measures:

"It's aesthetically pleasing, it helps with water quality and replenishes groundwater, creates habitat -- even contributes to reducing global warming," said City Councilman Peter Steinbrueck, chairman of the Planning Committee. "And it gives back to the community."

One skeptical developer doubts the effectiveness of a green roof in stopping the notorious Seattle rain. The Dirt wonders, if a green roof can make it there...

but any way you slice it, it isn't growing back:

Artificial turf is getting a closer look in Brighton, Colorado. The Brighton Standard Blade reports the pros and cons of it being discussed at a recent city council meeting where, "most agreed that it would reduce water, and possibly fertilizer."

Drought is a concern in the area. And one city planner said that likely regulation of artificial lawn would "make sure it’s the kind that will drain" and not contribute to water pollution.

A supervisor of urban design for Aurora, Colorado said the city began looking into a policy of using artificial turf when residents expressed concern about drought and saving water. The only downfall mentioned is the high cost.

Any (living) alternatives out there?

Boston may become one of the biggest cities to require green building codes and ordinances, but it certainly isn't alone. As this post on Gristmill points out, a number of metro areas, cities and counties have recently put through similar requirements that include conservation and sustainability measures.

As the post posits: Will greener codes be one of the biggest environmental stories of 2007? The Dirt wonders specifically about the LEED ratings used in some of the new requirements. In one year's time, will codes be revised again to raise the minimum criteria. And which municipality will be first to raise green roof requirements?

After it was widely reported that classicist Thomas Gordon Smith would be tapped as the chief architect of the General Services Administration, the government agency--which has an annual construction portfolio of more than $1 billion--named GSA veteran architect Les Shepherd as the new chief. (The Chicago Tribune has the details.) The appointment is seen as a victory for modernists who hoped the GSA would continue to create the type of buildings that were created under the design excellence program started by Ed Feiner, Hon. ASLA. Shepherd, one of Feiner's closest aides, has been with the GSA for 18 years, and has served as acting chief architect since February 2005.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on whether or not the Environmental Protection Agency should be compelled to regulate vehicle carbon emissions under the Clean Air Act. The case, Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, pits states and environmental groups looking for some action on global warming against the government regulator. The Washington Post op-ed page gives a nice, concise rundown on the major arguments in the case. Essentially, the EPA says the Clean Air Act does not give it the power to regulate auto emissions, and even if it did, it doesn't want to due to "scientific uncertainty as to the mechanisms of global climate change." The states and environmental groups, on the other hand, will have a hard time establishing standing to bring the case.

For further reading from The Post on climate change, check out two articles on the subject posted over the weekend. The first says energy companies are starting to face facts on climate change regulation, while the second chronicles how nature, businesses, and planners are adapting to the realities of climate change.

We've got a few more articles to add to our highly selective election coverage:

• Florida approves tax for land preservation: Voters in Collier County, Florida, overwhelmingly backed a measure to keep in place a tax that funds efforts to buy and conserve open space. Eighty-three percent of voters favored continuing the county's Conservation Collier program through 2013. “People care about this community enough to recognize that this is a program that’s good for everybody,”  Ellin Goetz, FASLA, chairwoman of the Keep Conservation Collier political action committee, told the Naples News.
  
•  Deval Patrick pledges to make Massachusetts a center of renewable energy: Massachusetts Governor-elect Deval Patrick's successful candidacy was fueled in part by his pledge to make the state a center of renewable energy production--symbolized by his vocal support of the controversial Cape Wind project. In an interview with the Berkshire Eagle, Patrick said "If we get [renewable energy] right, the whole world will be our customer and it builds upon many of Massachusetts' natural strengths."
  
• Californians approve record $40.1 billion in public infrastructure spending: The state will spend the money on highways, schools, and housing, The Ground Floor reports.
  

So, Democrats and Republicans got down to business in the Midterm Midtacular yesterday, but we're not going to rehash everything that went down--you can check out CNN for that. Instead, we draw your attention to a few items that you might be interested in, but might have missed in the whole will-they-or-won't-they Senate fight. If there were races or ballot initiatives in your area you think Dirt readers might want to know about, let us know in the comments section--and leave a link.

States vote to restrict eminent domain: In reaction to a Supreme Court ruling last year lifting restrictions on eminent domain, nine states voted to approve measures that would "bar or restrict the government from taking private property for a private use," AP reports. California rejected its measure, while Arizona took the whole thing a step further by requiring authorities to compensate property owners if land-use regulations lowered the value of their property. Idaho rejected the idea. You can see the AP's list of ballot measures, which lists states voting for and against eminent domain restrictions, here.

Pombo loses: One of the Republican House members swept out of office was Richard Pombo, the seven-term California congressman who headed up the House Committee on Resources. Pombo, who had proposed selling off U.S. national parks, weakening the Endangered Species Act, and drilling for oil off the coast of California was bitten by the anti-Bush bug and links to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, the Sacramento Bee reports. Democrat Jerry McNerney won California's 11th District by a margin of 53 percent to 47 percent.

Washington State goes green: Voters in Washington braved the rains to vote on two measures supported by environmentalists and smart-growth advocates. First, voters approved a measure that would set new efficiency and conservation standards for state utility companies. Second, they turned back a measure that would require the government to compensate landowners if regulation kept them from using a property fully, or waive the regulation all together. The Post Intelligencer has the details.

Those rock stars over at BLDG BLOG have an interesting post on efforts in the SW London borough of Richmond to get serious about the greenhouse gas emissions coming from cars' tailpipes. Essentially, the local council is looking into a scheme (that's what they call a plan over there) that would charge for parking permits based on a car's emissions--the higher the emissions (presumably based on gas mileage), the higher the cost of parking. The Economist has the details.