I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2880 

To require the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a carbon incentives 

program to achieve supplemental greenhouse gas emissions reductions 

on private agricultural and forestland of the United States, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 15, 2009 

Ms. PINGREE of Maine (for herself, Mr. SHULER, Mr. SCHRADER, Mr. 

HODES, and Mr. MICHAUD) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee 

on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by 

the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a carbon 

incentives program to achieve supplemental greenhouse 

gas emissions reductions on private agricultural and 

forestland of the United States, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Buy American Carbon 

5 Incentives Program Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) AVOIDED CONVERSION AGREEMENT.—The 

4 term ‘‘avoided conversion agreement’’ means a per5 manent conservation easement covering eligible land 

6 enrolled under a climate mitigation contract pro7 viding that the eligible land covered will not be con8 verted for development. Avoided conversion agree9 ments shall be consistent with the guidelines of the 

10 Farm and Ranchland Protection Program, Forest 

11 Legacy Program, or any other program approved by 

12 the Secretary for use under this section to provide 

13 consistency with Federal legal requirements for per14 manent conservation easements. 

15 (2) CLIMATE MITIGATION CONTRACT.—The 

16 term ‘‘climate mitigation contract’’ or ‘‘contract’’ 

17 means a contract of not less than 15 years speci18 fying the eligible practices that will be undertaken, 

19 the acreage of eligible land upon which the practices 

20 will be undertaken, the agreed rate of compensation 

21 per acre, and a schedule to verify that the terms of 

22 the contract have been fulfilled. 

23 (3) ELIGIBLE LANDS.—The term ‘‘eligible 

24 lands’’ means agricultural and forestland in the 

25 United States that is privately owned at the time of 

26 initiation of a climate mitigation contract. 


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1 (4) ELIGIBLE PRACTICE.—The term ‘‘eligible 

2 practice’’ means an agricultural practice or forestry 

3 practice determined by the Secretary to provide 

4 measurable increases in carbon sequestration and 

5 storage on eligible lands beyond customary practices 

6 on comparable lands. 

7 (5) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘program’’ means 

8 the carbon incentives program required by this Act. 

9 (6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

10 the Secretary of Agriculture. 

11 SEC. 3. SUPPLEMENTAL GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS RE12 DUCTIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 

13 (a) ESTABLISHMENT AND PURPOSE.—The Secretary 

14 of Agriculture shall establish a carbon incentives program 

15 to achieve supplemental greenhouse gas emissions reduc16 tions on private agricultural and forestland of the United 

17 States. 

18 (b) FINANCIAL INCENTIVE PAYMENTS.—The Sec19 retary shall provide financial incentive payments under the 

20 program for activities that— 

21 (1) measurably increase carbon sequestration 

22 and storage over a designated contract period 

23 through management activities on eligible lands; and 


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1 (2) maintain carbon sequestration and storage 

2 and avoid future emissions through permanent 

3 avoided conversion agreements on eligible lands. 

4 SEC. 4. PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS. 

5 (a) CONTRACT REQUIRED.—To participate in the 

6 program, owners of eligible lands shall enter into a climate 

7 mitigation contract with the Secretary. 

8 (b) PROGRAM COMPONENTS.—In establishing the 

9 program, the Secretary shall further provide that— 

10 (1) funds distributed under this section shall 

11 not be substituted for, or otherwise used as a basis 

12 for reducing, funding authorized or appropriated 

13 under other programs to compensate owners of eligi14 ble lands for activities that are not covered under a 

15 climate mitigation contract; 

16 (2) emissions reductions achieved through a cli17 mate mitigation contract shall not be eligible for 

18 crediting under any federally established offset pro19 gram; and 

20 (3) compensation for activities under this pro21 gram shall be set at such a rate so as not to exceed 

22 the net estimated benefit an owner of eligible land 

23 would receive for the same practices through cred24 iting under any federally established carbon offset 

25 program. 


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1 SEC. 5. INCENTIVE PAYMENTS. 

2 (a) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 180 days after 

3 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 

4 establish regulations specifying eligible practices and re5 lated compensation rates, standards, and guidelines as the 

6 basis for developing climate mitigation contracts with own7 ers of eligible lands. 

8 (b) SET-ASIDE OF FUNDS FOR CERTAIN PUR9 POSES.—Not less than 35 percent of program funds shall 

10 be used to provide further incentives for owners of eligible 

11 lands willing to undertake activities and enter into agree12 ments that protect carbon reductions and otherwise en13 hance environmental benefits achieved under a climate 

14 mitigation contract, which shall include— 

15 (1) 10 percent to provide incentive payments 

16 for additional management activities that increase 

17 the adaptive capacity of lands under a climate miti18 gation contract, including but not limited to activi19 ties that increase forest resilience to reversal of 

20 stored carbon; and 

21 (2) 25 percent to make funds available on a 

22 competitive basis to compensate owners for entering 

23 avoided conversion agreements on lands subject to a 

24 climate mitigation contract. 


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1 SEC. 6. PERFORMANCE OF SUPPLEMENTAL REDUCTIONS. 

2 In carrying out the program, the Secretary shall 

3 strive to achieve and report on progress toward reaching 

4 the following levels of carbon sequestration and storage 

5 through climate mitigation contracts: 

6 (1) 100,000,000 tons of cumulative reductions 

7 by 2020. 

8 (2) 200,000,000 tons of additional cumulative 

9 reductions by 2030. 

10 SEC. 7. PROGRAM MEASUREMENT, MONITORING, 

11 VERIFICATION, AND REPORTING. 

12 (a) MEASUREMENT, MONITORING, AND

13 VERIFICATION.—The Secretary shall establish and imple14 ment protocols that provide reasonable monitoring and 

15 verification of compliance with climate mitigation con16 tracts, to include field sampling of actual performance to 

17 develop annual estimates of emissions reductions achieved 

18 under the program. Eligible practices and compensation 

19 rates may be adjusted for future climate mitigation con20 tracts based on results of these measures. 

21 (b) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—At least once every 

22 18 months, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a re23 port containing— 

24 (1) an estimate of annual and cumulative re25 ductions generated through the program, determined 


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1 using standardized measures including economic effi2 ciency; and 

3 (2) a summary of any changes to the program 

4 that will be made as a result of program measure5 ment, monitoring, and verification. 

6 (c) AVAILABILITY OF REPORT.—Each report re7 quired by subsection (b) shall be available to the public 

8 through the official website of the Department of Agri9 culture. 

10 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

11 There are authorized to be appropriated such sums 

12 as shall be necessary to carry out the purposes of this sec13 tion. 

Æ 


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