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arbcombo -- Notice of Public Workshop on Addition of New Offset Protocols to the California Greenhouse Gas Cap-and-Trade Program
Posted: 22 Feb 2013 11:26:08
ARB will hold a public workshop on new offset protocol development. Staff from the Air Resources Board (ARB) invites you to participate in a workshop as part of amendments of the California greenhouse gas (GHG) Cap-and-Trade Program. This workshop will focus on evaluating the technical details of adding protocols for Coal Mine Methane Projects and Rice Cultivation Projects to the Cap-and-Trade Regulation. At the workshop, ARB staff will provide an overview of the proposed protocols including project eligibility, proposed quantification methodologies, and recognition of early action offset credits. We welcome and encourage your participation in this event. Workshop Time and Location We encourage you to take public transportation or drive low emission/high efficiency vehicles whenever possible. The public workshop will be held at the following location and will also be webcast: Date: Thursday, March 28, 2013 Time: 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Location: Byron Sher Auditorium Second Floor, Cal/EPA Headquarters, 1001 “I” Street Sacramento, CA 95812 Directions: http://www.calepa.ca.gov/EPABldg/location.htm Background The California Cap on Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Market-Based Compliance Mechanisms Regulation went into effect on January 1, 2012. The Cap-and-Trade Regulation contains provisions for the use of a limited number of ARB offset credits generated under approved Compliance Offset Protocols to meet an entities compliance obligation. Currently the Regulation recognizes four Compliance Offset Protocols: Ozone Depleting Substances Projects, Livestock Projects, Urban Forest Projects, and U.S. Forest Projects. ARB publicly announced at the June 2012 Board Meeting their intent to evaluate additional protocols to help meet the demand for ARB offset credits in the program. ARB has identified two new protocols, Rice Cultivation Projects and Coal Mine Methane Projects, as potentially meeting the requirements specified in the Regulation for approval as Compliance Offset Protocols. The protocol for Coal Mine Methane Projects quantifies reductions in methane emissions from mining operations. Underground and surface coal mining can release methane to the atmosphere before, during and after the mining process. There are two key sources of methane from active coal mining: ventilation and degasification. During ventilation dilute methane is vented through mine ventilation shafts. For degasification vertical or horizontal wells remove methane from the underground mine before, during, or after mining. To reduce methane emissions, methane can be captured and used for energy production or flared. The protocol would include methodologies to identify eligible project types, and to identify and quantify of eligible methane sources. The protocol for Rice Cultivation Projects quantifies reductions in methane emissions from flooded rice fields. Flooding results in anaerobic decomposition of organic matter. The organic matter can originate from soil amendments, plant residues or root exudates. The amount of methane produced is affected by the duration of flooding, the rice variety and the availability of crop residues and organic matter. The protocol would use the DeNitrification-DeComposition (DNDC) biogeochemical process model to quantify soil carbon dynamics, N2O and CH4 emissions. At this time projects would be limited to California and the Mid-South Region (list states) for which the DNDC model has been calibrated with empirical data. And the protocol would be limited to three specific project activities: (1) replacing wet seeding with dry seeding, (2) early drainage, and (3) baling of rice straw. Workshop Materials and Written Comments The workshop materials will be posted prior to the workshop at http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/capandtrade/meetings/meetings.htm. At this website, you may join our electronic mailing list to receive notices of ARB activities and public meetings. This website may also be used to submit written comments on the workshop. Please submit written comments by April 19, 2013. Video/Audio Webcast A live video/audio webcast will be available for the workshop at the following link: http://www.calepa.ca.gov/broadcast/?BDO=1. ARB recommends that you not run other programs while viewing the webcast, as it may interrupt or lower the quality of the signal. Information on submitting questions or comments will be provided during the webcast for remote participants. Special Accommodations or Language Assistance If you require a special accommodation or need this document in an alternate format or language, please contact the Cap-and-Trade Program Hotline at 916-322-2037 as soon as possible. TTY/TDD/Speech to Speech users may dial 711 for the California Relay Service. You are receiving this single arbcombo email because you are a subscriber to or have made a public comment to one or more of the following lists: capandtrade, cc, ghg-dis-verifiers, ghg-rep, ghgverifiers, ghg-ver, offsets.
