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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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SUPPORT : EPIC, Forests Forever, Sierra Club California
OPPOSITION : California Licensed Foresters Association