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IN BUSINESS GOING GREEN Double Vision: Two Green Chambers By Buck Wargo staff writer Having two chambers of commerce in Las Vegas with the same name might make one or the other green with envy. It’s the Las Vegas Green Chamber of Commerce, times two. Two separate organizations formed around the same time share the same name and similar missions: supporting their members and fostering green policies and educating the public about green initiatives. And it doesn’t look like either is going away—unless legal action forces one of the chambers to make a name change. That could happen from the organization founded by Gregory St. Martin, a commercial real estate broker and founder of the Las Vegas Green Chamber of Commerce, registered as a nonprofit organization with the Nevada Secretary of State. It’s considered a chapter of the national Green Chamber of Commerce based in San Francisco. It launched Aug. 1. On the other side is the four-year- old Las Vegas Ward 5 Chamber of Commerce that launched its version of the Las Vegas Green Chamber of Commerce after St. Martin’s. But it had filed for a business license with Clark County in April 2010. St. Martin’s group touts Mandalay Bay, Republic Services, Bank of Nevada and Clark County School District among its members. The Ward 5 group’s version includes Cox Communications, Caesars Entertainment and others. St. Martin counters that his group is registered with the state, has the national affiliation and publicly launched first in August. Having another organization with the same name, he said, is creating some confusion. “I wish Ward 5 would rather be friends,” St. Martin said. “It’s something we have to overcome if they’re going to continue to use our name. We have people waiting on the sidelines to see which group emerges.” It doesn’t sound like there will be any changes by Ward 5, which was founded in 2007 to support businesses in the inner city and bring them there. Ward 5 President Katherine Duncan, development director for the second version of the Las Vegas Green Chamber of Commerce, said there’s room for two green chambers. “We both have the same goal of reducing the carbon footprint on Earth,” said Duncan, who said the only problem so far has been confusion among people trying to call her group instead of St. Martin’s. The Ward 5 launch was based on focus groups and was in the works before St. Martin’s group started, Duncan said. She said if that group wanted to fold into her group, she would welcome them. That doesn’t seem likely, however, because their missions are similar, but not exactly the same. St. Martin said he offered Duncan’s group some seats on their board after she contacted him after a newspaper article ran promoting the new chamber. St. Martin’s group only allows members who qualify by operating as a green business through recycling, energy efficiency and promoting green initiatives. Duncan’s group has no such requirement. “That is the ultimate form of green washing,” St. Martin said. “It’s allowing anyone to join who wants to give you money and be a member. You can’t do that with our organization. We want businesses who are doing something green to help the planet.” Duncan said businesses shouldn’t be discriminated against. Instead, it’s better to encourage them to be members and urge them to be green, she said. “You shouldn’t have to pass a test to join,” Duncan said. “We’d rather bring them in and green them up.” Duncan said she doesn’t like any talk about a lawsuit even though St. Martin claims his group has the right to the SEE CHAMBER PAGE 19 18 | 16 MAY 2011 |