Forest offsets give EPA regulators some tough nuts to crack

[depakid]

If a tree grows in a forest, does it make an emissions offset? What happens if it burns down? Both the integrity and the cost of the legislation working its way through Congress that would put a cap on U.S. greenhouse gas emissions hang on questions like these. Experts have for the most part applauded the rigorous criteria for offsets in the far-reaching climate and energy bill passed by the House Energy and Commerce Committee last week.

But while the bill, proposed by Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), lays out a game plan, U.S. EPA would have to answer these and many other questions. The task could be one of the more complicated ones the agency has faced. "Offsets are really going to allow this bill to get passed," said Shanna Brownstein, a policy associate with the Climate Trust, a nonprofit offset provider. "But implementation is critical, because it could very easily compromise the environmental integrity of the entire program."

The reason is that offsets -- greenhouse gas emissions reductions that occur outside of the overall carbon cap -- can be bought as credits by regulated industries to lower their compliance costs. They could account for up to 2 billion tons of the planned emissions reductions every year. Half would be sourced domestically and half abroad, although the most recent Waxman-Markey substitute allows that international credits could reach three-quarters of the total in the likely chance that the U.S.-based market falls short.

But, as some are quick to note, offsets are tricky business. The agency is tasked with setting provisions to verify and enforce those reductions, both in the United States and, even harder, abroad. EPA is also to determine what constitutes a "permanent" emission cut that is "additional," or wouldn't have otherwise occurred without a carbon price.

More: http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2009/05/27/27climatewire-forest-offsets-give-epa-regulators-some-toug-91999.html