BILL ANALYSIS AB 1504 SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY Senator S. Joseph Simitian, Chairman 2009-2010 Regular Session BILL NO: AB 1504 AUTHOR: Skinner AMENDED: June 23, 2010 FISCAL: Yes HEARING DATE: June 28, 2010 URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Randy Pestor SUBJECT : CARBON SEQUESTRATION SUMMARY : Existing law : 1) Under the Z'Berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of 1973, establishes procedures for submitting a timber harvest plan (THP) to the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF) when conducting timber operations. An application for conversion must be filed with the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection (BFFP) if timberlands are to be converted. The BFFP is authorized to adopt regulations to assure the continuous growing and harvesting of commercial forest species and to protect certain resources. (Public Resources Code 4511 et seq.). 2) Under the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (CGWSA), requires the California Air Resources Board (ARB) to determine the 1990 statewide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions level and approve a statewide GHG emissions limit that is equivalent to that level, to be achieved by 2020. ARB must adopt regulations for reporting and verification of GHG emissions, monitoring and compliance with the program, and achieving GHG emission reductions from sources or categories of sources by January 1, 2011 to be operative on January 1, 2012, subject to certain requirements. (Health and Safety Code 38500 et seq.). 3) Under the California Forest Legacy Program Act of 2007, authorizes CDF to acquire conservation easements by entering into a contract with the Wildlife Conservation Board to administer the purchase of conservation easements AB 1504 Page 2 based on certain eligibility criteria (e.g., be subject to potential conversion, owned by willing and interested sellers or conservation donors, 10% forestry canopy). (Public Resources Code 12200 et seq.). 4) Under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA): a) Requires lead agencies with the principal responsibility for carrying out or approving a proposed project to prepare a negative declaration, mitigated declaration, or environmental impact report (EIR) for this action, unless the project is exempt from CEQA (CEQA includes various statutory exemptions, as well as categorical exemptions in the CEQA guidelines). (Public Resources Code 21000 et seq.). A state agency regulatory program required plan or other written documentation containing environmental information may be submitted in lieu of an EIR if the Secretary of the Resources Agency has certified the regulatory program pursuant to certain requirements. (21080.5). b) Requires the Office of Planning and Research (OPR), on or before July 1, 2009 to prepare, develop, and transmit to the Resources Agency amendments to the CEQA guidelines to assist public agencies in the mitigation of GHG's or the effects of GHG's as required under CEQA, including the effects associated with transportation and energy consumption, and requires the Resources Agency to certify and adopt those guidelines by January 1, 2010. This bill , under the Z'Berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of 1973: 1) Requires BFFP to ensure that its rules and regulations for harvesting of commercial tree species, where applicable, consider the capacity of forest resources to sequester carbon dioxide emissions sufficient to meet or exceed the state's GHG reduction goals consistent with the ARB adopted CGWSA scoping plan. 2) Requires a timber harvest plan to include an estimate of carbon dioxide emissions from timber operations, including AB 1504 Page 3 emissions from aboveground and belowground carbon pools, such as biomass and soil. 3) Revises legislative intent to encourage sequestration of carbon dioxide and consider values relating to sequestration of carbon dioxide with the goal of maximum sustained production of high-quality timber products, while adding legislative intent regarding climate change carbon dioxide sequestration. 4) Makes clarifying and technical amendments. COMMENTS : 1) Purpose of Bill . According to the author, "The Forest Practices Act became law at a time when the threat of climate change was essentially non-existant. AB 1504 modernizes the Act by acknowledging the critical and cost-effective role forests play in sequestering GHGs and combating climate change, and the threat that climate change can pose to this role." The author notes that "According to ARB's AB 32 Scoping Plan, California's forests currently sequester approximately 5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. This means that the atmospheric uptake and sequestration of carbon from forest growth is greater than emissions from fires, harvesting, land conversion, and decomposition. There were significant limitations (e.g., temporal, spatial, and methodological), however, to the study that formed the basis for the above sequestration rate so ARB is planning on updating its assessment next year. Nonetheless, the Scoping Plan tasks CDF and BOF with evaluating how its current regulations and programs will continue to achieve the 5 MMT target by 2020." Finally, according to the author, "AB 1504 gives the Board of Forestry and CDF the tools it needs to ensure that this sequestration rate is maintained or exceeded through its forest practices rules. Pursuant to its responsibilities under the California Environmental Quality Act, CDF is requiring certain large landowners to analyze the GHG AB 1504 Page 4 impacts of their preferred timber harvest management regimes across their entire ownership. AB 1504 essentially codifies this requirement by directing THP filers to submit an estimate of carbon emissions from timber operations." 2) Scoping plan forest recommendations . According to the climate change scoping plan prepared by the ARB pursuant to CGWSA requirements, "The 2020 Proposed Scoping Plan target for California's forest sector is to maintain the current 5 MMTCO2E of sequestration through sustainable management practices, including reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfire, and the avoidance or mitigation of land-use changes that reduce carbon storage. [CDF] has the existing authority to provide for sustainable management practices, and will, at a minimum, work to maintain current carbon sequestration levels. The Resources Agency and its departments will also have an important role to play in implementing this measure." According to the scoping plan, "Monitoring carbon sequestered on forest lands will be necessary to implement the target. The Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, working with the Resources Agency, the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and ARB would be tasked with developing a monitoring program, improving greenhouse gas inventories, and determining what actions are needed to meet the 2020 target for the Forest sector. Future climate impacts will exacerbate existing wildfire and insect disturbances in the Forest sector. These disturbances will create new uncertainties in reducing emissions and maintaining sequestration levels over the long-term, requiring more creative strategies for adapting to these changes. In the short term, focusing on sustainable management practices and land-use issues is a practical approach for moving forward." The scoping plan also notes that "Future land use decisions will play a role in reaching our greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals for all sectors. Loss of forest land to development increases greenhouse gas emissions levels because less carbon is sequestered. Avoiding or mitigating such conversions will support efforts to meet the 2020 AB 1504 Page 5 goal. When significant changes occur, the California Environmental Quality Act is a mechanism providing for assessment and mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions." CEQA provides for the Secretary of Resources to certify a state agency regulatory program required plan or other written documentation containing environmental information to be submitted in lieu of CEQA environmental documents if the Secretary has certified the regulatory program pursuant to certain requirements. Regulation of timber harvesting operations by CDF pursuant to the Z'Berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of 1973 has been certified by the Secretary as meeting these requirements. By amending the Z'Berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of 1973, AB 1504 may also provide an opportunity for this CEQA functional equivalent program to address the CGWSA scoping plan forest sector recommendations. 3) Opposition and support concerns . According to the California Licensed Foresters Association (CLFA) in opposing AB 1504, this bill "will add to regulatory burdens on an economic sector already depressed by the current economy and the chronically higher cost of growing and harvesting trees in our state." CLFA asserts that "Trees take in atmospheric carbon and convert it to woody biomass. Both standing trees and harvested wood products store carbon. We need more, rather than less, forest management in California." According to supporters, "some - including the U.S. Forest Service - fear that current California forest practices have a dangerous possibility of leaving the state forests as a net emitter of carbon. AB 1504 helps ensure that we have some way of measuring whether California forests are - as we all hope - net sequesters of carbon, giving us time to fix the problem before it overwhelms us if it is not." 4) Clarification needed . Clarification is needed on page 5, line 4, by striking "goals" and inserting "requirements." SOURCE : Assemblymember Skinner AB 1504 Page 6 SUPPORT : EPIC, Forests Forever, Sierra Club California OPPOSITION : California Licensed Foresters Association