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The Tyee Hook -- Province to buy carbon offsets that other firms won't touch

by Colleen Kimmett, http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/Labour-Industry/2010/04/16/CarbonOffsets/
April 16th, 2010

The crown corporation that buys carbon offsets for the province issued a call for projects this week that are already standard practice in the forest industry – leading some to question whether they should count as offsets at all.

On Wednesday, Pacific Carbon Trust (PAC) issued a $3 million call for forest-based offset projects in three areas: afforestation, seed selection and fertilization.

Marvin Eng of the B.C. Forest Practices Board, said the forest industry and ministry do fertilize, and that fertilization has been increasing, particularly in the interior, over the past couple of years. Eng said that while, 'class A' or superior quality seeds are not required, they are often selected as part of companies' operational practices "because you get better volume out of them. Whether or not it's carbon or timber volume."

Offering offsets for 'business as usual' is a waste of money, said Valerie Langer of ForestEthics.

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