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Obama Administration Spends $17.4 Million to Explore Market for Carbon Credits
CNSNews ^ | June 8, 2011 | Matt Cover

Posted on 06/08/2011 5:52:50 PM PDT by jazusamo

(CNSNews.com) – The Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that it has awarded $17.4 million for pilot projects that will begin exploring how to establish a market for greenhouse gas (GHG) credits, a key component of a cap and trade system, to help reduce carbon and other emissions that apparently contribute to global warming.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the projects were the “foundational work” for establishing an American carbon market.

“This is really sort of foundational work that’s being done,” Vilsack told reporters on a conference call on Wednesday.

The $17.4 million in funding is part of the Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) program, which is supposed to foster innovation in environmental conservation technology and business. In this case, the administration has received special funding to provide CIG grants for projects that demonstrate methods for establishing a GHG-offset markets in agriculture.

Greenhouse gas offsets, often called carbon credits, are a key component of a cap and trade system – the ‘trade’ part of the system in fact. Under cap and trade, businesses with GHG offsets can sell them to other businesses that need the offsets to stay under the emissions cap – the legal limit on carbon-dioxide and other GHG emissions.

(Under cap and trade, in general, companies that exceed their “cap” on greenhouse gas emissions can “trade” (buy) credits as compensation, the money for which is applied to more environmentally friendly industries; you pollute, you pay, and the money goes to green companies.)

GHG offsets can theoretically come from anything that reduces the amount of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gasses in the air, from a pledge to keep rural land undeveloped to planting trees to changing how farms handle animal waste or fertilizer.

“We want to help farmers and ranchers make important and innovative contributions to reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” Vilsack said. “These grants are designed to test and verify exciting new approaches to greenhouse gas reduction that other conservation-minded producers will want to put to work on their operations.”

In other words, the CIG grants fund projects that attempt to measure the quantity of GHGs that are saved – by not farming rural land, for example – and how those savings affect the value of the offsets – how many GHG credits a particular action is worth.

In a cap and trade system, farmers, ranchers, and other agriculture producers theoretically stand to make money by selling credits to other, GHG-intense businesses such as manufacturers and power companies.

Among the projects being funded is a $1 million program across eight states to show that beef and dairy farmers can be incentivized to change how they handle animal feeding and manure to produce less methane emissions.

Another $1.2 million grant given to an Indian tribe in Washington State will examine how to value and trade GHG offsets for planting trees, improved forest management, and not developing forested lands in tribal areas.

Each of the nine projects funded under the special CIG grants – totaling $7.4 million – aim to develop ways to integrate conservation and agriculture reforms into a GHG offset market, the type of market that would be critical to a functioning cap and trade system.

The USDA will also disburse an additional $10 million through its Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) grant program to aid these efforts.

Vilsack said the reason the Agriculture Department was getting involved in the establishment of carbon markets, which currently exist only in states like California and the Northeast, was to better integrate the federal government into regional cap and trade systems, so that the government has a better understanding of how GHG offset markets function.

“[W]e’re hopeful that this would create opportunities for better collaboration for ourselves at USDA and the various states that are themselves establishing markets and that this would assist us in building the capacity within USDA to understand how these markets work and how we might be able to do more of this in the future,” said Vilsack.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government
KEYWORDS: capandtrade; carboncredits; obama; scam; usda; vilsack
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1 posted on 06/08/2011 5:52:56 PM PDT by jazusamo
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To: steelyourfaith

Ping!


2 posted on 06/08/2011 5:53:50 PM PDT by jazusamo (His [Obama's] political base---the young, the left and the thoughtless: Thomas Sowell)
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To: jazusamo

So much for the collapse of the carbon exchange.


3 posted on 06/08/2011 5:56:40 PM PDT by cripplecreek (Remember the River Raisin! (look it up))
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4 posted on 06/08/2011 5:59:00 PM PDT by combat_boots (The Lion of Judah cometh. Hallelujah. Gloria Patri, Filio et Spiritui Sancto.)
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To: cripplecreek

17.4 Million? They could have gotten Enron’s for free.


5 posted on 06/08/2011 5:59:54 PM PDT by scooby321
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To: jazusamo

I’m sure I read that the Chicago carbon exchange (or whatever they called it) collapsed and closed for lack of actual business in January of this year. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/11/09/collapse-chicago-climate-exchange-means-strategy-shift-global-warming-curbs/

Someone should ask to see the cancelled checks on that $17.4 million.


6 posted on 06/08/2011 6:00:38 PM PDT by Mobties (Reduce the government footprint! Let the markets work!)
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To: Mobties

This is what I do not get. I have 5 tons of carbon. You have no carbon but are allocated 3 tons. I buy your 3 tons. I now have 8 tons.

How did we reduce carbon usage?

In order to buy those 3 tons i will need money. So I raise prices on my customers.

So the government taxed the American people to pay me money to fleece my customers so I can have more energy and some poor country can make money.


7 posted on 06/08/2011 6:12:20 PM PDT by EQAndyBuzz (Sarah Palin - SheÂ’s living rent-free inside the MSMÂ’s heads. Credited to Lurk)
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To: jazusamo

IF there was a market for it, the government wouldn’t have to subsidize it.


8 posted on 06/08/2011 6:12:45 PM PDT by Let's Roll (Save the world's best healthcare - REPEAL, DEFUND Obamacare!)
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To: EQAndyBuzz

NJ Governor Christie just pulled the plug on his state’s carbon budget, saying that it had no useful effect on emissions. There was some whining but from what I could see on the news, that was about all,


9 posted on 06/08/2011 6:23:52 PM PDT by Mobties (Reduce the government footprint! Let the markets work!)
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To: jazusamo

Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) program, which is supposed to foster innovation in environmental conservation technology and business.

As if we weren’t broke, lets just spend a teeny tiny 17.4 million on carbon markets. How about coming to your senses before the American people really get wee wee up and start coming for you idiots.

Selling carbon credits is only going to fly if government starts making manure smell like perfume, and puts large dollar signs on nothing, because it isn’t a product that you can do anything with, other than make money off buying and selling nothing. When you think you are making money the tax payers are losing big.

The whole boondoggle is just like Obama care, the scam of the century. Well, let me say this about that. So stupid we are not, and my prediction, the people are not going to fall for it.


10 posted on 06/08/2011 6:30:23 PM PDT by wita
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To: jazusamo
Trying to one up Romney in case the Democrats' concerted effort to help loser RINO Mitt win the GOP nomination is successful.
They both buy into the AGW hoax and this way Obama can say during a debate,”I know we agree that human carbon emissions are going to raise the earth's temperature to ten gazzilion degrees by next Tuesday—BUT I AM DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT—NYAAH NYAAAH!!!”

As Rush said about Mitt and his Man Caused Global Warming gullibility:”Bye bye,nomination.”

11 posted on 06/08/2011 6:37:01 PM PDT by Happy Rain ("The Face of The Party" Pervert Wiener is only one of many Democrat "members.")
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To: jazusamo

This government has ceased to serve its citizens.

it now sreves only itself.

It is our RIGHT to alter or abolish it.


12 posted on 06/08/2011 6:40:23 PM PDT by Eldon Tyrell
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To: wita

Well said. I don’t believe the majority of people will fall for it either.

I also believe more and more people are waking up to the fact we are about broke and we can’t afford to finance scams like this any long, no matter the the grifter presenting it or their party.


13 posted on 06/08/2011 6:40:46 PM PDT by jazusamo (His [Obama's] political base---the young, the left and the thoughtless: Thomas Sowell)
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To: Happy Rain

Amen to that! Mittzy and his man caused global warming can take a hike, along with the nomination.


14 posted on 06/08/2011 6:44:59 PM PDT by jazusamo (His [Obama's] political base---the young, the left and the thoughtless: Thomas Sowell)
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To: Mobties

Actually the money trail on the $17 million would be curious to explore. They are using federally owned building space already, so that’s not a cost. They had to have IT support...figure two guys for $90k each in the DC area. They have travel money for conferences...figure at least $300k for that per year. Toss in an administrative person to manage their GPC card and a front-desk gal (another $200k total).

As for the comment of exploring the market...they actually are sitting there and developing strategies where it’s probably not even a market item....it’s in plain view and figured into various things that we already do. You’d have to expect this to come out in the second four years of the administration.


15 posted on 06/08/2011 6:49:42 PM PDT by pepsionice
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To: jazusamo

Uuuggghhhh. Fffuuubbbooo.

I really loathe this disgusting communist.


16 posted on 06/08/2011 6:52:14 PM PDT by GlockThe Vote (F U B O ! ! !)
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To: jazusamo

And just whose pocket does this sum wind up in?


17 posted on 06/08/2011 6:57:26 PM PDT by dalebert
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To: dalebert

Obama’s....when he leaves office, I’m told he’ll make beaucoup bucks....as he’s part of the carbon credit scheme....


18 posted on 06/08/2011 7:51:36 PM PDT by goodnesswins (...both islam and the democrat plantation thrive on poverty)
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To: jazusamo

Note what it (socialism) has done/is doing to us. Defund ALL socialist collectives. The U.S.A. becomes financially solvent and we become very low-taxed prosperous/productive citizens in a country which acts as a beacon for individual liberty.


19 posted on 06/08/2011 7:52:52 PM PDT by PGalt
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To: jazusamo
Creating bitcoins was a lot cheaper than that, and has the side-effect of reducing rather than increasing government power.
20 posted on 06/08/2011 8:54:03 PM PDT by AZLiberty (Yes, Mr. Lennon, I do want a revolution.)
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