First Name | Rudolph |
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Last Name | Darling |
Email Address | rdarling@sbbmail.com |
Affiliation | |
Subject | Compliance Offset Protocols |
Comment | The ARB plan permits timber companies to clearcut California’s forests, while allowing the companies to sell “credits” in the process. Since trees take at least 80 to 100 years to recoup their carbon emissions after clearcutting, there is no credible justification for permitting this type of trading. Many timber companies re-plant after clear-cutting anyway and paying them to do so just encourages them to clear-cut even more. I see no merit to this ill-advised scheme. The carbon emissions from clearcutting—which includes all the impacts from soil disturbance—are not offset for 80 to 100 years or more. We do not have time to wait that long, in the battle to save the planet from global warming. Under this plan, polluters will be able to trade their emissions for credits from forestry “offsets” that are not offsets at all, and will only serve to hasten the demise of the planet and California’s rich biological heritage. California’s Sierra Nevada and Klamath-Siskiyou forests are designated global biodiversity hotspots. Clearcutting – as practiced by the majority of timber companies in the state and sanctioned by our state regulators—permanently eliminates habitat for entire suites of plants and wipes out the entire home ranges for dozens of animals. Even though trees are replanted, the resulting tree farm bears nothing in common with a natural forest (except for the presence of one or two species of conifers). Please strip this provision from the protocol and disallow clearcutting. |
Attachment | |
Original File Name | |
Date and Time Comment Was Submitted | 2010-12-14 19:21:47 |
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