I may be mistaken but the revenue is not annual but one time but the effort needs to go on for hundreds of years to keep the incremental storage of carbon
On Sat, Dec 9, 2017 at 3:31 PM, Andrew Lockley <andrew.lock...@gmail.com> wrote: > Poster's note: This approach seems more politically and economically > realistic that most CDR strategies. I'm not sure the science on grazing > patterns is settled, however.https://www.forbes.com/sites/j > effmcmahon/2017/12/01/get-paid-watching-the-grass-grow-texas > -style-carbon-sequestration/#7d10da92b4a4 > Get Paid Watching The Grass Grow: Carbon Sequestration, Texas-Style > > - > - > - > - > - > > <https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/> > Jeff McMahon <https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/>, CONTRIBUTOR > Opinions > expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. > TWEET THIS > > - “Really what it boils down to, which is a very Texas way of > thinking: making ecosystem services a monetizable property right," Medlock > said. "I think it’s something that should be on the table and should be > discussed." > > <https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.forbes.com%2Fsites%2Fjeffmcmahon%2F2017%2F12%2F01%2Fget-paid-watching-the-grass-grow-texas-style-carbon-sequestration%2F&text=%E2%80%9CA%20very%20Texas%20way%20of%20thinking%3A%20making%20ecosystem%20services%20a%20monetizable%20property%20right.%22> > > Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images > > A planner working on flood control in Houston believes he has come upon a > way—that conservatives will love—to remove a billion tons of carbon dioxide > from the atmosphere. > > Jim Blackburn sees carbon in the soil as a private-property right that > landowners should be compensated for, considering the service they are > providing to the ecosystem by storing it there. > > "We think we can set up a system that every red state in the nation would > accept in a heartbeat," said Blackburn, an environmental lawyer and planner > widely quoted > <https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=newssearch&cd=5&ved=0ahUKEwic57mi5ufXAhXB7oMKHYmxB1UQqQIIMygAMAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2Finteractive%2F2017%2F11%2F11%2Fclimate%2Fhouston-flooding-climate.html&usg=AOvVaw0GesUASrappFEedm7KrkB2> > for > his work on Houston's flooding. "Whether we can get it accepted in > California, well, that’s a different question." > > Researchers have shown that ranchers can efficiently store atmospheric > carbon in the soil by using a grazing technique that emulates the > behavior of buffalo on the prairie. > <http://www.jswconline.org/content/71/2/156.full.pdf+html> By moving > cattle through a series of paddocks that are given a longer recovery time > than continuous grazing allows, ranchers can sequester several tons of > carbon dioxide per acre per year, Blackburn said. > > The federal government has estimated > <https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/climatechange/social-cost-carbon_.html> > that > atmospheric carbon pollution has a social cost of about $40 per ton. That's > the dollar amount of damage a ton of carbon dioxide emissions causes > to agricultural productivity, human health, property from increased flood > risk, and increased costs for heating and air conditioning. > > If ranchers were compensated at the level of the social cost of carbon, or > close to it, Blackburn said, "the ecosystem services that are provided by > nature might in fact generate a lot of income for these landowners." > > The average ranch in Texas is 523 acres in size, according > <http://agecoext.tamu.edu/files/2013/08/AgFacts.pdf> to Texas A&M > University. Blackburn believes ranchers can count on $140 per acre per year > from carbon sequestration, if he succeeds in developing an exchange to > distribute the money. For the average ranch, that would mean an annual > income of $73,220, just from letting the grass grow. > > "If you grow carbon in your soil, it’s a property right," Blackburn said. > "You own the carbon you grow. And if you measure it and you prove that > you’ve added it to the inventory, we believe that you can sell it." > > It's not a new idea, although it may be new to Texas. They've been doing > something > similar in Canada > <http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/%24department/deptdocs.nsf/all/ofa15056>. > > The economist Kenneth B. Medlock III, director of the James A. Baker III > Institute's Center for Energy Studies, believes the idea has merit in the > United States. > > “Really what it boils down to, which is a very Texas way of thinking: > making ecosystem services a monetizable property right," Medlock said. "I > think it’s something that should be on the table and should be discussed." > <https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.forbes.com%2Fsites%2Fjeffmcmahon%2F2017%2F12%2F01%2Fget-paid-watching-the-grass-grow-texas-style-carbon-sequestration%2F&text=%E2%80%9CA%20very%20Texas%20way%20of%20thinking%3A%20making%20ecosystem%20services%20a%20monetizable%20property%20right.%22> > > Blackburn struck on the idea while trying to preserve ranch land around > sprawling Houston. > > "It started as a flood-control solution," he said, "trying to figure out > how to keep our ranches to let them be flooded during a hurricane surge and > keep them from being broken up and ultimately developed. If we don’t > develop in the low-lying coastal areas we won’t have flooding." > > Storing water is another ecosystem service Blackburn believes landowners > could be compensated for. It would give them a financial incentive to > preserve their open land, which would counter the development trends > that have exacerbated flooding in Houston > <https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/investigations/harvey-urban-planning/>. > Blackburn set up the Texas Coastal Exchange > <http://sspeed.rice.edu/sspeed/Coastal_change.html> to create these > landowner incentives. > > When it comes to carbon sequestration, Blackburn's challenge is creating > an exchange that will move money from people who have an interest in > sequestering carbon—oil and gas companies, theoretically—to those who have > land where carbon can be stored. > > "We have been trying to figure out how to set up a system to basically > incentivize the oil and gas industry—or to convince the oil and gas > industry—to pay for the carbon," Blackburn said. > > A carbon tax could simplify that problem, Medlock said, especially if it > were implemented with this kind of exchange in mind. > > "When you’re writing tax policy you can actually put in methods to avoid > tax payments. One such method might be the use of this type of exchange." > > Polluters could pay the $40 equivalent of a carbon tax for each ton > of emissions to ranchers who would reabsorb that ton and sequester it in > the soil. Ranchers would be selling carbon they've collected, polluters > would be buying it with the intent of leaving it in the soil. > > "We’re figuring there’s probably a billion tons of carbon dioxide that can > be stored in the nation’s soils," Blackburn said. > > *By Jeff McMahon, based in Chicago. Follow Jeff McMahon on **Facebook* > <https://www.facebook.com/jeff.mcmahon>*, **Google Plus* > <https://plus.google.com/u/0/+JeffMcMahon/posts>*, **Twitter* > <https://twitter.com/#!/jeffmcmahon_chi>*, or email him **here* > <http://jeffmcmahon.com/contact-jeff-mcmahon/>*.* > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "geoengineering" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to geoengineering+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to geoengineering@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION: This email message and all attachments contain confidential and privileged information that are for the sole use of the intended recipients, which if appropriate applies under the terms of the non-disclosure agreement between the parties. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. 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