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Humboldt Watershed Council

Contentious negotiations to revise the Air Resources Board rules next month

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For the last 18 months, members of a task force of
environmentalists, timber operators and state officials have been locked in
contentious negotiations to revise the rules. The new draft, to go before the
Air Resources Board next month, substitutes a 100-year contract for the
easement, thus allowing development after a century. It also clarifies rules for
companies to quantify and verify carbon.

At least one environmental group
is uncomfortable with the changes. "By removing the easement, you leave the
system open to gaming," said Brian Nowicki, a forest specialist with the Center
for Biological Diversity. "The timber industry wants 'business as usual'
practices, like clear-cutting, to qualify for carbon credit." But groups
represented on the task force, including the Environmental Defense Fund, the
Nature Conservancy and Pacific Forest Trust, say that century-long contracts and
strict accounting rules will guarantee that offsets will be granted only if
additional carbon is stored above and beyond conventional forest
practices. --Jodi Frediani, Central Coast Forest Watch

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