National Association of Conservation Districts

Action Alert

Action Requested
Date: June 25, 2009

Subject: Support the Peterson and the Pingree Amendments to H.R. 2454

Urgent Action Requested

Contact your representative in the U.S. House before Friday, June 26 to urge support for the Peterson Amendment and the Pingree Amendment to H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009.

 

Background

NACD has been reporting on negotiations between House committee chairmen Rep. Henry Waxman (Energy and Commerce) and Rep. Collin Peterson (Agriculture) regarding the role of agriculture and forestry in H.R. 2454. The original bill as passed by the Energy and Commerce committee maintained sole jurisdiction for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in any cap and trade program, while members of the Agriculture Committee, led by Chairman Peterson, have been pushing for U.S. Department of Agriculture jurisdiction in carbon off-sets for agriculture and forestry

 

NACD has been very active in climate change discussions, most recently testifying before the House Agriculture Committee in May on the role of conservation districts in verifying carbon sequestration practices. Conservation Districts in Illinois, Michigan, North Dakota and Oklahoma have been working with landowners on carbon offset contacts and undertaking contract verification through a business relationship with the Chicago Climate Exchange. Additional information on the climate debate can be found in the Summer 2009 edition of The Resource (pdf, 8.33MB).  If you have not yet received your copy in the mail, please check it out on-line.

 

NACD also sent a letter supporting the Peterson Amendment to House leadership today. The letter is available for viewing on the NACD website http://nacdnet.org.

 

Congressional leadership has scheduled H.R. 2454 to come to the House floor for a vote this Friday, June 26, making contact over the next few hours critical.

 

Peterson Compromise Amendment (pdf 112KB)

Ongoing negotiations between Chairman Waxman and Chairman Peterson have resulted in a compromise. Chairman Peterson will be offering an amendment that will be brought to the House floor as H.R. 2454 is considered.

 

Specific details of the Peterson Amendment released late yesterday include:

• USDA sole rulemaking authority for an agriculture/forestry off-set program.  EPA’s role will to be at the very end of the process to assign credits a serial number for trading purposes. USDA will develop practices, methodologies, for agriculture and forestry in a carbon off-set program.  They will also provide technical assistance to landowners regarding these practices.



• Resolves Farm Bill “stackability” issues, so there is no conflict with Farm Bill conservation programs. This is important so a producer that participates in a Farm Bill Conservation program is also eligible to participate in the carbon off-set market if they so choose. If however a producer is required to take actions under federal, state, or local law and has latitude on the type of practice (one that sequesters carbon and one that does not), the practice that sequesters carbon is eligible to participate in an off-set market.



• Agriculture and Forestry are exempt from the greenhouse gas emission reduction requirements (they don’t fall under the “cap”)



• An initial list of practice types for carbon sequestration are specifically listed in the bill – altered tillage, winter cover cropping, continuous cropping, reduction of nitrogen fertilizer use or increase in nitrogen use efficiency, reduction in the frequency and duration of flooding of rice paddies, reduction in carbon emissions from organic soils, reduction in GHG emissions from manure and or changes in diet; afforestation or reforestation of acreage that is not forested, forest management, conservation of grassland and forested land; improved forest management; urban tree-planting and maintenance, management of peatland or wetland; etc.



• The amendment clarifies the definition of renewable biomass to be consistent with the Farm Bill definition.  This definition broadens the sources of renewable biomass to include more private and federal lands as sources to meet the renewable electricity standards passed in the 2007 Energy Bill.



• Verification of offset practices – a report must be prepared by a third-party verifier accredited by USDA (USDA will develop accreditation process to ensure that verifiers are professional qualified and have no conflict of interest).  Report will include verification that the offset practices in the plan have been implemented and the quantity of GHG emissions reduction or avoidance, or sequestration of GHG resulting from an offset practice and project.

Pingree Amendment (pdf 44KB)

Also to be considered on the floor is an amendment being offered by Representative Chellie Pingree. The Pingree Amendment, originally H.R. 2880, provides incentives for carbon friendly activities on private forestlands and small forest landowners.  The amendment would make carbon markets accessible for small forest landowners that might otherwise be prohibitive due to high transaction costs. Representative Pingree and several of the bill's cosponsors plan to offer the bill as an amendment to the climate bill, HR 2454.  This amendment will be separate from and in addition to the Peterson amendment.

 

Contact Information

Members of Congress can be contacted through telephone, email and web contact information. This information can be accessed at the following website:

 

U.S. House of Representatives:https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

 

You can also contact your Members of Congress by calling the U.S. Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121.

 

(Please remember when contacting Members of Congress that use of federally owned equipment is prohibited. This includes fax machines, computers, email or any other method which involves federal property)

Report Back

We rely on your feedback to know which Members of Congress have been contacted, what questions or feedback they have, and where additional information may be needed. Please report your contacts to jeremy-peters@nacdnet.org.