Lowcountry Swamp Selling Carbon Credits to California
Sunday, August 10, 2014 at 2:48PM A black water swamp in South Carolina owned by the Audubon Society is helping companies in California meet their carbon emission goals to ease global warming.
About 5,200 acres of the 17,000-acre Francis Beidler Forest, Audubon Center and Sanctuary near Harleyville have been registered with California's cap and trade program as carbon offsets in a program that also brings dollars to preserve the South Carolina landscape.
In cap and trade, the government issues permits allowing companies to emit a certain amount of greenhouse gases but giving them flexibility how they comply. They can trade emissions permits with each other and, in California, can purchase credits to offset as much as 8 percent of their emissions.
The offset credits can be purchased from registered projects that prevent greenhouse emissions. In the case of the Beidler Forest, it is land that will remain the same and the carbon stored in the trees will never enter the atmosphere through burning or a change in land use.
More than 5,500 acres at the forest about 40 miles northwest of Charleston is covered by a conservation easement, a legally binding document meaning it can never be developed. The forest has 1,800 acres of virgin cypress and tupelo black water swamp, considered the largest tract of its type in the nation.
Scientists surveyed the forest and verified the offset area contains 450,000 metric tons of carbon that have been registered as credits.
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