LEED standards discourage the use of domestic lumber, says Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and that’s likely why the Department of Defense has recently been banned from building to LEED standards.

The 2012 Defense Authorization Act, the DoD's spending bill, tells the secretary of defense to demonstrate how there would be savings before the armed forces can build to LEED platinum or gold standards. It also requires a report to Congress this summer on the whole LEED effort.

In 2010, 79 lawmakers sent a letter to the Green Building Council objecting to what they said was the exclusion of domestic sources of wood from the LEED rating system.

Critics say LEED favors the use of steel and concrete over sustainable wood in construction and renovation projects.

The Federal Times reports Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., argues the Defense Department's allegiance to LEED standards discourages the use of domestic lumber.

"After completing this study, the Department of Defense should use credible standards that more accurately assess U.S. wood products," Wicker said in an email, the Times reported.