SACRAMENTO — The Schwarzenegger administration pushed through new rules Thursday allowing California's biggest timber firms to cash in on the fight against global warming even as they clear-cut parts of their forests.
Forest owners stand to reap tens of millions of dollars in the coming decades by selling the capacity of their woods to cleanse the air of carbon dioxide, offsetting greenhouse gases belched by industrial polluters.
But the administration's successful effort to allow loggers to sell their carbon credits to industry while also clear-cutting their lands sparked intense opposition from several conservation groups.
Ecologists say the self-styled "green" governor, an opponent of global deforestation, is undermining his credibility by letting logging firms profit from the global-warming battle while practicing California-style deforestation.
"The governor is using Vietnam-era logic: We have to burn the village to save it," said Jeff Shellito, an environmental consultant. "It's hypocrisy. How can the governor be a leader on the world stage if his own regulators are saying it's OK to do clear-cutting?"
Supporters say the new rules, approved by the California Air Resources Board, provide airtight accounting standards for trading carbon credits and will become the gold standard for other states.
"California is adopting the most stringent forestry protocols in the world," said Linda Adams, Schwarzenegger's environment secretary. "We're very proud of this effort."
Environmentalists called the decision predetermined, saying the Air Resources Board distributed an e-mail news release announcing the decision more than two hours before voting.
Some board members expressed reservations, and requested another look at the regulations in the future.
"I just don't like clear-cutting," board member Dorene D'Adamo said, adding that if timber firms are allowed to trade carbon credits "what's wrong with asking them to do more?"
A new marketplace
In two years, the state will roll out a new carbon-trading marketplace, a provision of the landmark 2006 global warming law signed by Schwarzenegger. Major polluters such as power plants and oil refineries would tap that market.
Some of the state's biggest timber firms, including Sierra Pacific Industries and Green Diamond Resource Co., have done no carbon trading because they don't want to be told how to manage their forests.
