[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

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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

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(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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