Forest Product and Paper Lobbyists Focus on New Climate Legislation

The forest products and paper industry is sending more lobbyists to Capitol Hill to make its case to policymakers shaping new climate and energy legislation.

As the U.S. House of Representatives prepares for a markup of the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES), four paper companies and a trade group representing 175 or so forest and paper businesses and associations have hired lobbyists to work on those issues, according to GreenWire ("Some See Energy Bill Helping Money Grow on Trees," May 11).

The forest industry seeks credit for offsetting greenhouse gas emissions in any market-based U.S. cap and trade system, saying that U.S forests and forest products currently offset 10 percent of U.S. carbon emissions.

PFT President Laurie Wayburn is quoted in the story:

Forest preservation is important not just for climate but for air, water and habitat reasons, said Laurie Wayburn, president of the Pacific Forest Trust, a conservation group advising Congress on forest policies.

"Clearly, it's in everybody's interest to have an incentive-based system that rewards land owners" who preserve and restore forests, Wayburn said.

But there needs to be better accounting, Wayburn said, of how much carbon that forest businesses are producing and what their trees absorb.

Read the full story on on the New York Times Green Inc. blog.