House Energy Independence and Global Warming Committee

Voluntary Carbon Offsets--Getting What You Pay For

Wed, 18 Jul 2007 13:30:00 GMT

Eager to be part of the solution to global warming, many consumers, businesses and government agencies have turned to carbon pollution offsets to help reduce or eliminate their “carbon footprint.” While these offsets represent a promising way to engage consumers in global warming solutions, there are many unanswered questions as to the efficacy and accounting of these unregulated commodities.

Witnesses
  • Derik Broekhoff, Senior Associate, World Resources Institute
  • Joseph Romm, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
  • Thomas Boucher, President and Chief Executive Officer, NativeEnergy LLC
  • Russ George, President and Chief Executive Officer, Planktos, Inc.
  • Erik Blachford, CEO, TerraPass Inc.

Contact: Moulton, David – Democratic Staff Director at 202-225-4012

From the Washington Post: At the hearing, Planktos CEO Russ George, whose company plans to engage in oceanic iron-seeding in the east Pacific, said the EPA was working with “radical environmental groups” who are criticizing his company. In written submissions, he said his firm’s work had been “falsely portrayed” to “generate public alarm.” George said “it’s the clearest ocean on Earth because it’s lifeless, and it’s not supposed to be that way.” He asserts that the potential is enormous. He said that the annual drop in ocean plant life was like losing all the rain forests every year. “If we succeed, we’ll have created an industry. If we don’t succeed, we’ll have created a lot of great science.”

More from the article at this post.