Back Room Dealing
Posted by Greg Castillo on October 5, 2009
Sierra Pacific to Sell Its Forests to Combat Global Warming
Less than a week after the Schwarzenegger administration forced the California Air Resources Board to approve new legislation allowing them to do so, Sierra Pacific plans to immediately start selling its trees’ ability to absorb carbon dioxide from the air. Schwarzenegger, who launched a three-day climate summit in Los Angeles on Wednesday, had originally planned to announce the agreement at an evening news conference but canceled it at the last minute. He later released a short statement announcing the deal.
Carbon Credits Galore
Over the next several years, Sierra Pacific will manage 60,000 acres of it forests to boost the amount of carbon dioxide they absorb by 1.5 million tons, generating a tremendous amount of surplus carbon credits for the controversial timber company. They in turn will sell these credits to smokestack industries to “help compensate” for their polluting emissions, which at current market prices will be worth upwards of $10 million.
A Beautiful Moneymaking Alliance
Sierra Pacific, California’s largest private landowner, also coincidentally announced a new deal with New York-based Equator LLC, a private equity fund that will work with Sierra Pacific to find buyers for its new carbon credit treasure chest.
“Combating Global Warming”
Environmental groups are calling the deal a sham made possible by language slipped into California’s revised forestry protocols last week which will allow the timber giant to continue its clear-cutting and other destructive environmental practices… And all while ostensibly helping to combat global warming.
