PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson County needs more detailed financial analysis before it can commit to the Department of Natural Resources’ carbon sequestration program, commissioners wrote in a letter to the agency.
In a letter signed by the Board of Jefferson County Commissioners at their regular meeting Monday, commissioners said they need to know the financial implications of the program before the county can commit to participating. In the months since the letter requesting inclusion in the program was sent, commissioners said they have heard concerns from junior taxing districts about the impacts the program would have on their revenues.
“While we can digest and accept a moderate decrease in short-term revenue for long-term sustained income,” Heidi Eisenhour wrote in a letter signed by all three commissioners, “it’s not prudent at this point to even estimate what those reductions might be.”
Carbon sequestration involves leasing acres of forested land in one place to offset the release of carbon in others in an effort to limit the overall amount of carbon released into the atmosphere. The state’s program would use public lands currently used for timber harvest for sequestration instead.
Earlier this year, Eisenhour sent a letter to DNR asking the county be included for consideration in the program, but the department has been unable to provide a financial analysis specific to the county.
Junior taxing districts rely on revenues from timber sales for much of their public services, and at past public meetings, local officials have voiced concerns about how the change in revenues will impact their communities.
A Dec. 3 public workshop on the program was the first time commissioners were presented with any figures specific to Jefferson County, but those numbers were put together by an environmental organization in consultation with DNR.
Peter Bahls, executive director of the Northwest Watershed Institute — a local environmental organization that supports the program — estimated that the county could see roughly $33 million over the course of the 40-year leases.
But Bahls acknowledged the actual amount of money the leases would generate was unknown and based on a number of variables.
DNR Senior Policy Advisor Csenka Favorini-Csorba said the program is still several steps away from being able to develop a detailed financial analysis.
“The complicated thing with carbon projects is that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” Favorini-Csorba said Monday.
The program will eventually select 10,000 acres statewide to be used for sequestration, and DNR is currently in Phase 2, which involves getting feedback from participating counties about which parcels they want to see included or excluded, Favorini-Csorba said.
Once the 10,000 acres are selected, the state’s program will be registered with an independent carbon registry, which will facilitate the sale of carbon credits.
Bahls said at the Dec. 3 meeting a county’s revenue from the project is based on the total number of acres it’s contributed to the program, not how much carbon an individual parcel sequesters.
Public comment on the issue has been mixed, including those provided Monday. One commentator, Tom Thiersch, called carbon sequestration a scam.
“Most carbon credits do nothing but allow the worst polluters to buy their way out,” Thiersch said.
Port Townsend resident Cyndy Bratz called to support the program, urging protection of forests into the future and said recreational uses of forests also generate local revenue.
“This might be more of a long-term gain where we need a short-term fix,” Bratz said. “I’m happy to hear you talk about preserving forests in areas that people will want to use for recreation.”
The letter was revised during Monday’s meeting to include a request for inventory and a question asking if a county could opt out of the program if actual revenue projections do not meet the needs of the community.
DNR is still many steps from selecting parcels, Csenka-Favorini said, but once the 10,000 acres are listed with a carbon registry, the state’s program can’t be changed.
The letter did not ask the county be removed from consideration for inclusion in the program, and commissioners said they were pleased about the program’s contributing to a statewide conversation about decoupling school funding from timber.
“We remain interested in creating and implementing a vision for the future of state forestlands here, one which produces world-class forest products while at the same time contributing to climate mitigation and a multitude of ecosystem functions, without penalizing those that rely on timber revenue,” the letter said.
Commissioners approved the letter unanimously.
________
Reporter Peter Segall can be reached at peter.segall@peninsuladailynews.com.
