Re: Accounting for Carbon Emissions from Forests
Governor Jerry Brown
c/o State Capitol, Suite 1173
Sacramento, CA 95814
Senator Mark Leno
Chair, Senate Budget Committee
State Capitol, Room 5019
Sacramento, CA 95814
Assemblymember Nancy Skinner
Chair, Assembly Budget Committee
State Capitol, Room 6026
Sacramento, CA 95814
Dear Governor Brown, Senator Mark Leno, and Assemblymember Nancy Skinner:
Re: Accounting for Carbon Emissions from Forests
We are writing to express our deep concern as to the flawed science being used to justify certain budget proposals regarding expenditure under AB 32 fee revenues. California’s proposed budget includes recommendations for including thinning treatments as part of the expenditures under the Cap and Trade revenues. The justification is that forest thinnings will always reduce wildfire occurrence and intensity and therefore lead to lower CO2 emissions. The science simply does not support that premise.
As further elucidated in the attached bibliography, and as amply demonstrated in our and others research, thinning in and of itself is simply another form of forest harvest/disturbance and it causes emissions of CO2, not reduction of emissions. To understand whether there is a net reduction in CO2 emissions, one must compare the losses caused by the thinning treatments with the reduction in losses related to changing fire behavior. The fundamental flaw in the logic is that one half of the equation is being ignored.
While we certainly agree that a thoughtful strategy to reduce fuel loads can enhance forest resilience, in and of itself, simply having one time thinnings opportunistically in the absence of such a clear strategy and a well implemented plan does not necessarily lead to any direct CO2 emissions reductions at those thinned sites.
We urge you to pursue and support a strategy to restore forest resilience to California’s landscape. These efforts can and should be done without compromising the integrity of the globally respected, rigorous, and accurate CO2 emissions accounting system that was established under AB 32.
Having your budget support actions that are actually emissions, while calling them emissions reductions, would deeply undermine the integrity and reputation of California’s exceptional efforts to address and mitigate global warming under AB 32. We stand ready to assist you in any way possible to help you maintain that leading reputation.
Sincerely yours,
Jerry F. Franklin
Professor
College of Forest Resources
University of Washington
Mark E. Harmon
Richardson Chair and Professor
Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society
Oregon State University
John Campbell
Associate Professor
Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society
Oregon State University
Beverly E. Law
Professor
Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society
Oregon State University
CC: Director Ken Pimlott, CalFIRE
Senate President pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg
Assembly Speaker John Pérez
Senator Jim Beall, Chair, Senate Budget Subcommittee #2
Assemblymember Richard Bloom, Chair, Assembly Budget Subcommittee #3