[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 120 (Tuesday, August 4, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8771-S8773]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. SHAHEEN (for herself, Ms. Snowe, Ms. Collins, Mr. 
        Sanders, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Wyden, and Mr. Schumer):
  S. 1576. A bill to require the Secretary of Agriculture to establish 
a carbon incentives program to achieve supplemental greenhouse gas 
emission reductions on private forest land of the

[[Page S8772]]

United States, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Agriculture, 
Nutrition, and Forestry.
  Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation 
that will establish a Forest Carbon Incentives Program to help 
America's family forest owners slow climate change by increasing carbon 
sequestration and storage on private forestland. This will be critical 
for our national climate change response, and will create important 
economic opportunities for landowners across America. I want to thank 
my colleagues, Senators Snowe, Collins, Sanders, Merkley, Wyden, Leahy 
and Schumer, with whom I have worked closely to draft this bill. I also 
want to acknowledge Senator Stabenow, who has long provided leadership 
on this issue of carbon sequestration.
  This legislation is driven by a simple fact: we cannot achieve our 
greenhouse gas reduction goals without comprehensive and effective 
utilization of U.S. forests for carbon sequestration. The U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency estimates that U.S. forests currently 
sequester a remarkable 10 percent of our annual U.S. carbon emissions. 
Even more remarkably, the EPA estimates that we could double this 
sequestration capacity to 20 percent of emissions with the right 
management and conservation.
  Unlike some of our emerging energy technologies, forest carbon 
sequestration is a climate strategy that is ready to go to work right 
now on meeting our emissions reduction goals. We can immediately put 
forest owners to work on their lands undertaking activities to help 
move us to that 20 percent sequestration goal, and create new revenue 
streams for those small and family landowners to help them navigate 
through these troubled economic times.
  One important pathway to achieve these forest carbon sequestration 
goals will be through carbon offset markets. For those able to 
participate, carbon offset programs will provide important financial 
incentives for projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions while, at 
the same time, helping to keep the costs of a climate program low. The 
opportunity to earn offset credits will create a financial incentive 
for large forest landowners to undertake activities that increase 
carbon sequestration and storage on their lands and that can be 
measured and verified with the precision necessary to meet rigorous 
environmental integrity requirements.
  However, offset markets will not be easily accessible to the many 
family forest owners and other smaller landowners who do not have the 
necessary economies of scale to effectively participate in offset 
markets. Offset projects come with many upfront and ongoing 
transactional expenses that will undermine financial gains and 
constrain the flexibility that family forest owners and other smaller 
scale landowners will require to participate.
  Furthermore, there are some important types of carbon sequestration 
and storage activities, such as permanent conservation easements, that 
produce real carbon gains over the long term but are hard to quantify 
with the precision necessary for offset markets.
  We also need to engage the full range of carbon strategies to meet 
our carbon sequestration goals, even if they cannot conform to the 
requirements of offsets.
  Engaging family forest owners in sequestration is no small piece of 
the forest carbon equation--America's family forest owners control more 
than half of all U.S. private forestland, with 119 million acres in 
ownerships of 100 acres or less. We must create new tools to engage 
these individuals in efforts to sequester carbon and provide economic 
opportunities to gain financial incentives for doing that work.
  In my home State of New Hampshire, our forests embody this diverse 
ownership pattern and the unique opportunity to address climate change 
through forest carbon incentives. New Hampshire is the second most 
forested state in the nation, and more than 80 percent of that 
forestland is in private hands. We do have some large private 
ownerships, including large blocks of working forestland. But most of 
our privately owned forestland is in small ownerships--averaging 37.5 
acres. According to the U.S. Forest Service, 49 percent of New 
Hampshire's forestland, 2,358,000 acres, is in family ownership, with 
124,000 family forest owners in the Granite State.
  If these landowners could aggregate their capacity to store carbon on 
the 2 million acres they own, they could make a significant 
contribution to needed reductions in the presence of carbon dioxide in 
our atmosphere. Each year New Hampshire forests already take up by 
photosynthesis 25 percent of the total CO2 emitted by the State from 
man-made sources.
  But we can capture even more carbon in our Nation's forests with the 
right incentives like those in our proposed program. Creating 
incentives for forest carbon would represent a win-win for New 
Hampshire and a win-win in every State in the Nation that has privately 
owned forested landscapes.
  Simply, the Forest Carbon Incentives Program will provide financial 
incentives for small private forest owners to engage in carbon 
sequestration activities and help our country meet its desired carbon 
reduction goals. The Forest Carbon Incentives Program will be run 
through the U.S. Forest Service and State forestry agencies. These 
experienced forest professionals will work with interested private 
forest owners to develop a ``climate mitigation contract'' for 
undertaking forest management activities that will increase carbon 
absorption and storage. Incentives will be awarded on a straightforward 
``practices per acre'' basis, giving landowners a clear and simple 
agreement and reliable incentive payments. Carbon reductions achieved 
through these practices are not required to be permanently stored, so 
landowners will retain more flexibility with future management 
decisions. This simple and efficient program structure will enable 
landowners at any scale to participate, especially family forest owners 
holding smaller parcels that are unlikely to participate in carbon 
offset markets.
  The program will create additional incentive opportunities for 
interested landowners to protect carbon gains achieved through a 
climate mitigation contract. Landowners can gain ``bonus'' incentive 
payments for also undertaking management that addresses pests, fire, 
and other threats that could damage forests and release the carbon that 
has been stored there. Landowners can also be paid for a permanent 
conservation easement that will assure that their lands in the program 
will never be developed, thereby protecting the carbon in those 
forests.
  This legislation already enjoys support from a broad spectrum of 
national organizations that care about America's forests, such as the 
American Forest Foundation, the National Association of State 
Foresters, The Trust for Public Land, the National Wildlife Federation, 
and The Nature Conservancy among many others. Of equal importance, it 
has earned broad support from local, state, and regional interest 
groups, including the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire 
Forests, New Hampshire Timberland Owners Association, Northland Forest 
Products, Appalachian Mountain Club, and a host of other leading forest 
organizations in my home state.
  America must use every tool available to address climate change, and 
should especially favor strategies that are ready to go now and that 
create new economic opportunities. This legislation will provide both a 
meaningful climate mitigation strategy and create real jobs in the 
woods. I encourage my fellow Senators to consider it carefully.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                S. 1576

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Forest Carbon Incentives 
     Program Act of 2009''.

     SEC. 2. CARBON INCENTIVES PROGRAM TO ACHIEVE SUPPLEMENTAL 
                   GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSION REDUCTIONS ON PRIVATE 
                   FOREST LAND.

       (a) Definitions.--In this section:
       (1) Avoided deforestation agreement.--The term ``avoided 
     deforestation agreement'' means a permanent conservation 
     easement that--
       (A) covers eligible land that--
       (i) is enrolled under a climate mitigation contract; and
       (ii) will not be converted for development; and

[[Page S8773]]

       (B) is consistent with the guidelines for--
       (i) the Forest Legacy Program established under section 7 
     of the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act (16 U.S.C. 2103c); 
     or
       (ii) any other program approved by the Secretary for use 
     under this section to provide consistency with Federal legal 
     requirements for permanent conservation easements.
       (2) Climate mitigation contract; contract.--The term 
     ``climate mitigation contract'' or ``contract'' means a 
     contract of not less than 15 years that specifies--
       (A) the eligible practices that will be undertaken;
       (B) the acreage of eligible land on which the practices 
     will be undertaken;
       (C) the agreed rate of compensation per acre; and
       (D) a schedule to verify that the terms of the contract 
     have been fulfilled.
       (3) Eligible land.--The term ``eligible land'' means forest 
     land in the United States that is privately owned at the time 
     of initiation of a climate mitigation contract.
       (4) Eligible practice.--The term ``eligible practice'' 
     means a forestry practice, including improved forest 
     management that produces marketable forest products, that is 
     determined by the Secretary to provide measurable increases 
     in carbon sequestration and storage beyond customary 
     practices on comparable land.
       (5) Program.--The term ``program'' means the carbon 
     incentives program established under this section.
       (6) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
     of Agriculture.
       (b) Supplemental Greenhouse Gas Emission Reductions in the 
     United States.--
       (1) In general.--The Secretary shall establish a carbon 
     incentives program to achieve supplemental greenhouse gas 
     emission reductions on private forest land of the United 
     States.
       (2) Financial incentive payments.--
       (A) In general.--The Secretary shall provide to owners of 
     eligible land financial incentive payments for--
       (i) eligible practices that measurably increase carbon 
     sequestration and storage over a designated period on 
     eligible land, as specified through a climate mitigation 
     contract; and
       (ii) subject to subparagraph (B), permanent avoided 
     deforestation agreements on eligible land covered under a 
     climate mitigation contract.
       (B) No agreement required.--Eligibility for financial 
     incentive payments under a climate mitigation contract 
     described in subparagraph (A)(i) shall not require an avoided 
     deforestation agreement.
       (c) Performance of Supplemental Reductions.--In carrying 
     out the program, the Secretary shall report under subsection 
     (f) on progress toward reaching the following levels of 
     carbon sequestration and storage through climate mitigation 
     contracts:
       (1) 100,000,000 tons of carbon reductions by 2020.
       (2) 200,000,000 tons of further carbon reductions by 2030.
       (d) Program Requirements.--
       (1) Contract required.--To participate in the program, an 
     owner of eligible land shall enter into a climate mitigation 
     contract with the Secretary.
       (2) Program components.--In establishing the program, the 
     Secretary shall provide that--
       (A) funds provided under this section shall not be 
     substituted for, or otherwise used as a basis for reducing, 
     funding authorized or appropriated under other programs to 
     compensate owners of eligible land for activities that are 
     not covered under a climate mitigation contract;
       (B) emission reductions or sequestration achieved through a 
     climate mitigation contract shall not be eligible for 
     crediting under any federally established carbon offset 
     program; and
       (C) compensation for activities under this program shall be 
     set at such a rate so as not to exceed the net estimated 
     benefit an owner of eligible land would receive for similar 
     practices under any federally established carbon offset 
     program, taking into consideration the costs associated with 
     the issuance of credits and compliance with reversal 
     provisions.
       (3) Reversals.--
       (A) In general.--In developing regulations for climate 
     mitigation contracts, the Secretary shall specify 
     requirements in accordance with this paragraph to address 
     intentional or unintentional reversal of carbon sequestration 
     during the contract period.
       (B) Intentional reversals.--If the Secretary finds an owner 
     of eligible land violated a climate mitigation contract by 
     intentionally reversing a practice or otherwise intentionally 
     failing to comply with the contract, the Secretary shall 
     terminate the contract and require the owner to repay any 
     contract payments in an amount that reflects the lost carbon 
     sequestration.
       (C) Unintentional reversal.--If the Secretary finds an 
     eligible practice has been unintentionally reversed due to 
     events outside the control of the owner of eligible land, the 
     Secretary shall reevaluate and may modify or terminate the 
     climate mitigation contract, after consultation with the 
     owner, taking into consideration lost carbon sequestration 
     and the future carbon sequestration potential of the 
     contract.
       (e) Incentive Payments.--
       (1) Regulations.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
     enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall issue regulations 
     that specify eligible practices and related compensation 
     rates, standards, and guidelines as the basis for entering 
     into climate mitigation contracts with owners of eligible 
     land.
       (2) Set-aside of funds for certain purposes.--
       (A) In general.--Not less than 35 percent of program funds 
     made available under this program for a fiscal year shall be 
     used--
       (i) to provide additional incentives for owners of eligible 
     land that carry out activities and enter into agreements that 
     protect carbon reductions and otherwise enhance environmental 
     benefits achieved under a climate mitigation contract; and
       (ii) to develop forest carbon monitoring and methodologies 
     that will improve the tracking of carbon gains achieved under 
     the program.
       (B) Use.--Of the amount of program funds made available for 
     a fiscal year, the Secretary shall use--
       (i) at least 25 percent to make funds available on a 
     competitive basis to compensate owners for entering avoided 
     deforestation agreements on land subject to a climate 
     mitigation contract;
       (ii) not more than 10 percent to provide incentive payments 
     for additional management activities that increase the 
     adaptive capacity of land under a climate mitigation 
     contract; and
       (iii) not more than 2 percent for the Forest Inventory and 
     Analysis Program of the Forest Service to develop improved 
     measurement and monitoring of forest carbon stocks.
       (f) Program Measurement, Monitoring, Verification, and 
     Reporting.--
       (1) Measurement, monitoring, and verification.--The 
     Secretary shall establish and implement protocols that 
     provide monitoring and verification of compliance with 
     climate mitigation contracts, including both direct and 
     indirect effects and any reversal of sequestration.
       (2) Reporting requirement.--At least annually, the 
     Secretary shall submit to Congress a report that contains--
       (A) an estimate of annual and cumulative reductions 
     achieved as a result of the program, determined using 
     standardized measures, including measures of economic 
     efficiency; and
       (B) a summary of any changes to the program that will be 
     made as a result of program measurement, monitoring, and 
     verification.
       (3) Availability of report.--Each report required by this 
     subsection shall be available to the public through the 
     website of the Department of Agriculture.
       (4) Program adjustments.--At least once every 2 years the 
     Secretary shall adjust eligible practices and compensation 
     rates for future climate mitigation contracts based on the 
     results of monitoring under paragraph (1) and reporting under 
     paragraph (2).
       (g) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized 
     to be appropriated to carry out this section such sums as are 
     necessary.

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