December 17, 2010
SACRAMENTO, Calif.— A cap-and-trade program approved Thursday by the California Air Resources Board includes damaging loopholes that would incentivize clearcutting in the name of reducing carbon emissions. The program — adopted as part of California’s effort to reduce statewide greenhouse gas emissions — would allow industrial polluters to purchase carbon “offset credits” instead of reducing their own greenhouse gas emissions. Among the options is buying offset credits from forest clearcutting.
“Clearcutting forests is not the solution to global warming,” said Brian Nowicki, California climate policy director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Including forest clearcutting not only threatens forest ecosystems and important wildlife habitat, but the integrity of California’s cap-and-trade program as a whole.”
Dozens of representatives of forest conservation organizations and residents of rural communities in California’s forested areas testified at the air board’s hearing Thursday in opposition to the inclusion of forest clearcutting in the rule. Air Resources Board member Dorene D’Adamo proposed an amendment to protect against forests being converted to tree farms for the purpose of generating carbon credits, but the board ultimately voted to allow forest clearcutting to remain in the rule.
Anything to get around something and make a buck. This is totally ridiculous! Talk about defeating the purpose. We ought to be planting, not cutting down. Let's start putting back what we've depleted. I think the Air Resources Board should either change their name, or let the public know exactly what type of air they're talking about. Sounds like dirty air to me!
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