US Senate Introduces Carbon Offset Bill which includes 2 Provisions for Biochar

[John]

_____ANOTHER CALL TO ACTION!______________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 5, 2009

US Senate Introduces Carbon Offset Bill which includes 2 Provisions
for Biochar
Contact: Thayer Tomlinson, IBI Communications Director, 914-693-0496
or Kelpie Wilson, IBI Communications Editor, 541-592-3083

A newly introduced bill in the US Senate provides additional
congressional support for biochar projects to qualify for carbon
offsets, as well as R&D funding for the US Department of Agriculture
(USDA) for biochar production and utilization projects.

The Clean Energy Partnerships Act of 2009 was introduced November 4,
2009 by Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, along with five
cosponsors--Senators Max Baucus (MT), Amy Klobuchar (MN), Sherrod
Brown (OH), Mark Begich (AK), and Tom Harkin (IA). The bill is
designed to ensure that any US domestic cap-and-trade bill provides
maximum incentives and opportunities for the US agricultural and
forestry sectors to provide high-quality offsets and GHG emissions
reductions for credit or financial incentives. Carbon offsets play a
critical role in keeping the costs of a cap-and-trade program low for
society as well as for capped sectors and entities, while providing
valuable emissions reductions and income generation opportunities for
the agricultural sector. The bill specifically identifies biochar
production and use as eligible for offset credits, and identifies
biochar as a high priority for USDA R&D, with funding authorized by
the bill.
Importantly, the Clean Energy Partnerships Act of 2009 assigns
jurisdictional authorities to the Secretary of Agriculture for offsets
and emissions reductions opportunities in the agricultural and
forestry sectors, with the EPA Administrator in charge of other offset
and emissions reductions opportunities. Within 1 year of enactment,
the USDA Secretary is authorized by the bill to establish an initial
list of project types eligible for inclusion in the domestic offsets
program; biochar production and use projects are identified on the
initial project list specified by the Congress.

The bill establishes an advisory committee to jointly advise EPA and
USDA on scientific and technical advice for offset projects, including
agricultural and forestry offset projects. Besides creating offset
opportunities for the agricultural sector, the bill establishes a
program that utilizes the proceeds from 2% of the allowance
allocations to incentivize additional emissions reductions and
increased sequestration from the agricultural and forestry sectors.
Projects identified for support under this program include projects
that are not otherwise economically viable, or projects types not yet
mature enough to qualify for offset credits.

One of the bill's subtitles also amends a bioenergy program from the
2002 Farm bill to provide additional opportunities for bioenergy
projects to enhance rural economic development and national energy
security. The title would utilize .7% of allowance allocation proceeds
to fund projects that qualify as biorefineries under this provision;
some biochar production facilities might qualify for this program,
depending on the bioenergy characteristics of the system.

An R&D title would fund additional research and demonstration projects
for agricultural mitigation and adaptation activities relative to
climate change programs, using the proceeds from 1.1% of allowance
allocations. Biochar production and use as a soil conditioner are
specifically identified as high-priority R&D programs for the
Secretary to pursue. Along with 6 farm groups, IBI endorses this bill.

To read the full text of the bill, go to:
http://www.biochar-international.org/sites/default/files/END09F94.pdf