Clear-Cutting Greenhouse Gas Emissions Must be Avoided or Mitigated Under CEQA
All timber harvest plans (THP) in California must comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA); however, logging companies and the state have largely ignored the enormous increase in global warming emissions caused by clear-cut logging practices.
CEQA requires greenhouse gas emissions resulting from a project to be quantified, as well as, THPs must identify ways to avoid or mitigate the emissions. According to the Center for Biological Diversity, the conservation group calling for the greenhouse gas requirements of CEQA to be followed:
Requests to clear-cut thousands of acres of California’s forests are currently before the state Department of Forestry . For example, the Swamped Timber Harvest Plan would alone clear-cut 424 acres. None of the requests address carbon emissions, however, as required by CEQA. This is an especially serious problem given that the published science shows that clear-cutting can remove more carbon from the forest than any other disturbance, including fire.
