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2007

Amber Waves May 2007 Special issue: Environmental Credit Trading: Can Farming Benefit? View the article.

Great Lakes Water Resources Agreement approved by Quebec
Approval by Quebec's National Assembly of the Great Lakes-St Lawrence River Basin Sustainable Water Resources Agreement. Press Release.

Pennsylvania First Nutrient Trade
In January 2007, the first credit sale was executed by Red Barn Trading Co under Pennsylvania Nutrient Trading Program - View Pensylvania DEP news release.

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Water Environment Federation Position on 2007 Farm Bill
December 2006- Link to WEF website

Partnership Agreement between USDA, NRCS and US EPA Office of Water.
In October 2006. USDA and EPA sign a Water Quality Credit Trading Agreement. Read the agreement. Read the press release.

Ohio EPA - Draft Water Quality Trading Rules
On May 30, 2006, the Agency began soliciting comments on the draft rules for water quality trading. Comments must be submitted by June 30, 2006. For more information, go to Ohio EPA website.

US EPA Proposed Compensatory mitigation regulations- March 2006

"Water Quality Trading: A Guide for the Perplexed" by G. Tracy Mehan III. The Environmental Forum. This article reviews the latest Water Environment Federation publication "Watter Quality Trading: A Guide for the Wastewater Community".

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2005

U.S. Department of Agriculture Policy on Market-Based Environmental Programs
USDA Roles in Market-based Environmental Stewardship
In this Secretary's Memorandum, USDA states that it supports these market opportunities for its constituents and partners, and will assist by providing technical tools and developing accounting practices. USDA will also form an internal council to support activities related to environmental markets.

Iowa Farm Bureau and University of Iowa join forces for the environment (4/20/2005)
Contact: Laurie Groves, Iowa Farm Bureau, (515) 225-5414;
Ferman Milster, University of Iowa, (319) 335-5132
WEST DES MOINES, Iowa – April 20, 2005 – In conjunction with Earth Day celebrations, the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation (IFBF) and the University of Iowa today announced their first transaction of carbon credits to help reduce the emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
The University of Iowa is the first Iowa-based commercial entity to enter into an agreement with the Chicago Climate Exchange by purchasing 2,000 tons of carbon credits for its power plant operations from Iowa farmers through the IFBF program. The University Power Plant is embarking on an innovative biomass project, burning oat hulls from Quaker Oats in Cedar Rapids. The plant burned 27,000 tons of oat hulls last year. Each ton burned displaces more than a half ton of coal. Burning that amount of coal puts 2.5 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
In 2003, IFBF initiated a carbon credit sequestration program for farmers. Carbon sequestration involves capturing carbon dioxide and storing it in soil. To date, more than 83,000 acres of Iowa farmland have been enrolled in the four-year pilot program that recognizes that carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere when crop land is farmed with no-till practices or when grasslands are established. Each acre of land that is not tilled pulls a half ton of carbon dioxide from the air per year. In the future, Iowa farmers could potentially remove several million tons of carbon dioxide from the air annually through increased use of conservation tillage practices.
“The carbon credit sequestration program provides incentives to farmers to encourage them to use conservation tillage practices,” said Dave Miller, director of research and commodity services for IFBF and manager of the IFBF carbon program.
“By participating in the program, farmers can achieve higher soil fertility, increased yields and other outcomes that aid local populations economically, environmentally and socially.”
"That’s why the Iowa Farm Bureau’s carbon sale with the U of I is so environmentally significant,” Miller added. “The sale of 2,000 carbon credits to the University of Iowa represents the carbon dioxide sequestration from 4,000 acres of Iowa farm land.”
With its entry into the Chicago Climate Exchange, the University of Iowa committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1 percent in 2003, 2 percent in 2004, 3 percent in 2005 and 4 percent in 2006 according to Ferman Milster, associate director of utility and energy management for the University of Iowa.
“We have a biomass to energy project underway at the University utilizing oat hulls and expect to generate our own credits in the future. But, to meet our commitments for 2003, we need to buy some credits to offset our emissions.”
“We are very pleased to be a part of this historic development of the carbon market,” says Miller. “It is very encouraging that voluntary, market-based options are emerging to deal with environmental issues. Iowa’s farmers are great stewards of the land and the benefits of this carbon credit exchange combined with no-till and soil erosion control plans will safeguard the land and air for generations to come.”

STATE OF VIRGINIA PASSED BILL FOR A CHESAPEAKE BAY WATERSHED NUTRIENT CREDIT EXCHANGE PROGRAM
Summary and full text of the bill.

VIRGINIA NUTRIENT TRADING PLAN MAY END CHESAPEAKE GROUP’S SUIT (April 4, 2005)
A new nutrient trading plan in Virginia aimed at reducing nutrient discharges to the Chesapeake Bay may help resolve pending lawsuits by environmentalists that are seeking stricter nutrient discharge requirements for point sources in the state, according to an environmental group source. A source with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) says the
organization’s lawsuits against Philip Morris USA and the town of Onancock, VA, remain pending, but if the state implements its planned stricter water quality standards and a nutrient trading plan, then the legal arguments in the cases will become moot. CBF announced plans last summer to sue EPA and specific sewage treatment plants -- and challenge state permitting decisions -- in a broad effort to reduce nutrient discharges in the bay’s watershed (Water Policy Report, June 28, 2004, p16).
Late last month Gov. Mark Warner (D) signed legislation creating a nutrient trading plan for point sources and appropriating $50 million to the state’s Water Quality Improvement Fund earmarked for the design and installation of biological nutrient removal technologies at publicly owned treatment works (POTWs). The state’s Water Control Board has also adopted new standards, based on EPA criteria, for dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll-a and water clarity that sources say are indicators of nutrient levels and will aid in limiting nutrient discharges. The new standards will not become final until EPA approves them, which will likely happen this summer, a state source says. Relevant documents are available on InsideEPA.com.
Virginia is unique among the states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed because 33 percent of the commonwealth’s nutrient discharges -- the largest single source -- come from point sources, the CBF source says. Agriculture contributes only 29 percent of nutrient discharges in Virginia but is the largest source of discharges in Maryland and Pennsylvania, the source says. Although a point-source trading plan is not a “magic pill,” it will go a long way toward reducing nutrient discharges, the source says. As part of an agreement with EPA and other states in the bay’s watershed, Virginia has pledged to reduce its nutrient discharges by 28 million pounds by 2010. The source says that if all POTWs in the state upgrade to state-of-the-art nutrient treatment technologies, nutrient discharges would be reduced by 20 million pounds.
The state source says regulators still must work out some of the implementation details of the nutrient trading plan, but the state will issue a watershed general permit by Jan. 1, 2006, that will cover approximately 120 significant nitrogen and phosphorus dischargers. The general permit, which will supersede individual permits for nitrogen and phosphorus discharges affecting the Chesapeake Bay, will include wasteload allocations for each of the Virginia tributaries that drain into the bay and a schedule of compliance, according to the legislation.
The CBF source says environmentalists are particularly pleased the new law limits nutrient trading to within the same tributary. Earlier versions of the legislation would have allowed trading between different tributary watersheds, the source says.
Connecticut has a similar nutrient trading program for Long Island Sound, but state sources say Virginia’s plan is larger and contains some unique provisions.
For example, wasteload allocations are based on the flow of the discharge multiplied by the concentration of nutrients, and there are technical limits on the amount of nutrients that can be removed, the state source says. This means that a new POTW plant, or one planning a significant expansion, might be unable to obtain a discharge permit because it would be technologically unable to meet a tributary’s wasteload allocation even with state-of-the-art technology. Under the trading plan, the plant could offset some of the required reductions through best management practices (BMPs) intended to reduce nonpoint source nutrient discharges, such as planting riparian buffers to prevent agricultural runoff from reaching streams, the source says.
The state’s Department of Environmental Quality will need to work closely with the Department of Conservation & Recreation to ensure that BMPs implemented under the trading program are not “double counted” under a parallel effort by conservation officials to control nonpoint source nutrient discharges, the state source says. If a new POTW uses BMPs as part of its discharge offset, the BMP will be tracked through the plant’s individual discharge permit covering all other discharge limits other than nutrients, the source says.
The plan creates a cap on loads, not a cap on growth, the source says. Another unique aspect of the Virginia trading program is that it allows permitted entities to pay into the Water Quality Improvement Fund if, for reasons out of their control, a planned trade did not occur or extreme weather destroyed BMPs, the source says. The state is still determining how this will work but may create a nutrient banking system similar to a wetlands mitigation bank, the source says. While the goal is not to penalize trading participants for events out of their control, “you can’t be buying your way out of compliance,” the source says.
Source: Water Policy Report via InsideEPA.com
Date: April 4, 2005
Issue: Vol. 14, No. 7
© Inside Washington Publishers

EPA Announces Landmark Clean Air Interstate Rule
"CAIR will permanently cap emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides in the eastern United States. When fully implemented, CAIR will reduce SO2 emissions in 28 eastern states and the District of Columbia by over 70 percent and NOx emissions by over 60 percent from 2003 levels." Read the full USEPA press release. March 10, 2005.

Bush Plan Could Drain Effort to Clean Up Waters
Under his budget, funds for an antipollution program would be about half the 2004 level. Other environmental projects also face cuts. By Miguel Bustillo and Kenneth R. Weiss, Times Staff Writers, February 9, 2005. Read full Los Angeles Times Story

Chesapeake Bay Blue Ribbon Panel recommends $15B Cleanup Fund
The panel calls for a $15b fund with the federal government and states splitting 80:20. It calls for flexible approaches including trading. The panel promotes point-point trading but specifically says: "The Panel did not see a model of point/nonpoint-source trading which it could endorse at this time, although it was informed that some jurisdictions are interested in developing such a program." Bay Journal article
See quote on page 30 of report.

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2004 NEWS

USEPA Announces Water Quality Trading Handbook
The USEPA released its "Water Quality Trading Assessment Handbook: Can Trading Held Advance You Watershed's Goals?" The purpose of the handbook is to help users evaluate whether the circumstances in a particular watershed make it likely or unlikely that trading can be effectively implemented on a watershed basis to address the existing water quality problem(s). Link to handbook.

Watershed Services: The New Carbon
Katoomba Group's Ecosystem Marketplace. Environmental Trading Network interviewed for article.

The National Association of Counties (NACo) passed a resolution last week in support of EPA's 2003 Water Quality Trading Policy.
The resolution reads: In support of EPA's water quality trading policy. NACo calls upon the President and federal agencies, as well as state regulatory authorities, to adopt water quality trading policies consistent with the policy proposed by the EPA. NACo suggests any regulations or policies adopted to control and reduce watershed nonpoint pollution should be flexible and voluntary, and not necessarily require costly controls when less costly controls may be appropriate and effective. Link to NACo.

USEPA Selects Targeted Watersheds for 2004.
Five of the fourteen watershed projects involve trading. Read a summary of each trading project. Link to the EPA website.

California Trader Arrested on Wire Fraud Charges.
Read the USEPA press release.

Benjamin Grumbles, Acting Assistant Administrator for Water, USEPA, testifies before the Subcommittee on Water Resources and the Environment, U.S. House of Representatives, February 26, 2004. Read the statement.

State of Virginia Senate Bill No. 639 defines allowable tributary loading of phosphorus and nitrogen from major basins.
Read the bill.

USEPA Releases New Guidance for Watershed Based NPDES Permitting.
The permitting serves as an important mechanism to institute trading. Long Island Sound (CT) and Neuse River (NC) permits are described within the guidance. Link to the guidance.

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Click here for 2003 and 2002 news.

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CHICAGO CLIMATE EXCHANGE (CCX) NEWS

CCX Announces Demonstration Linkage with European Union Emissions Trading Scheme April 4, 2006
Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) announced today that it will allow European Union CO2 emission allowances to be used in compliance with CCX commitments for calendar year 2005 marking the first actual linkage between North America’s only reduction and trading system and the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme. Read the full press release.

CCX prepares 4-year extension beyond 2006
CCX announced during its Second Annual Membership meeting that it will extend and expand the program for an additional four years (2007 through 2010). A number of other milestones were announced, including that there are now 100 Members and the US Conference of Mayors’ unanimous approval of a Resolution recommending that all cities in the Conference consider joining CCX. Read the full press release.

CCX Announces Launch of Futures Subsidiary
CCX announced Chicago Climate Futures, its futures subsidiary, and unveiled plans to launch a cash market for sulfur dioxide emissions trading by the end of 2004. Read the full press release.

CCX and International Petroleum Exchange Sign Cooperation and Licensing Agreement for EU Emissions Trading Scheme. Read the full press release.

TECO Joins CCX Teco Energy, Inc. has further committed to voluntarily reduce greenhouse gas emissions by four percent below the average of its 1998-2001 baseline by 2006, the last year of the pilot program. Read the full press release.

CCX Reaches Milestone of 1 Million Tons of Carbon Dioxide Traded Cumulative volume through June 2004 was 1,024,000 metric tons CO2 , surpassing in its first six months of continuous trading the total volume traded during the entire first year of the sulfur dioxide (SO2) cap-and-trade program established by the U.S. Clean Air Act of 1990. Read the full press release.

IPE and CCX Announce a Link for EU Emissions Trading
The International Petroleum Exchange (IPE), Europe’s leading energy futures and options exchange, and the Chicago Climate Exchange are working together to provide a marketplace for EU emissions trading. Read the full press release.

First New York Securities, LLC Joins Chicago Climate Exchange FNYS, a leading Wall Street proprietary trading firm, announced today its membership in the Chicago Climate Exchange as a liquidity provider. Read the full press release.

Rolls Royce Joins Chicago Climate Exchange Rolls-Royce North America has made a legally binding commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by four percent below the average of their 1998-2001 baseline by 2006. Read the full press release.

Chicago Climate Exchange Reports Record Trading Day January 9, 2004 saw the trading of 21,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide at $0.95/metric ton. Read the full press release.

University of Oklahoma Joins Chicago Climate Exhcange The University, the first academinc member of the Exchange, "has made a commitment to reduce its own emissions of greenhouse gases by 4 percent below the average of its 1998-2001 baseline by 2006." Read the full press release.

Chicago Climate Exchange Announces Results of December 2003 Trading. Read the full press release.

ICAP Energy LLC Joins Chicago Climate Exchange ICAP, an innovative leading in the energy industy joined the CCX and will act as a liquidity provider. Read the full press release.

Refco Joins Chicago Climate Exchange Refco, a leading diversified financial firm, became a Charter Member of CCX and will act as a liquidity provider. Read the full press release.

Chicago Climate Exchange Announces Completion of Exchange Rulebook. The CCX Rulebook marks the first articulation of the structure and governance of a multi-sector and multi-national greenhouse gas trading program, including modalities of emission quantification, monitoring, verification, offset definitions and trading. Read the full press release.
Read recent articles on CCX in Forbes Magazine and the Los Angeles Times.

Evolution Markets Joins Chicago Climate Exchange. Evolution Markets LLC, the largest emissions and OTC coal brokerage firm in the world, announced its Charter Membership in the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX®) as a liquidity provider. Read the full press release.

Chicago Climate Exchange to Host Opening Ceremony and Announce Results of First Auction on September 30, 2003. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham and Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley will attend the opening ceremony celebrating the beginning of CCX's market operations. Read the full press release.

Chicago Climate Exchange Announces Start to Trading
The auction of CCX emission allowances to its Members will begin on October 1, 2003. Submittal of sealed bids will close on September 30, 2003. Continuous electronic trading of allowances and offsets will begin on October 10, 2003. Atlanta-based Intercontinental Exchange, the leading electronic venue for the trading of over 600 energy and metal commodities, has been contracted to provide the CCX trading platform. Read the full press release.

Chicago Climate Exchange Names Founding Members
The Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), developed by Environmental Financial Products, Inc., one of the partners on the Great Lakes Protection Fund grant supporting the ETN, named its founding members on January 16, 2003. Members include American Electric Power, Baxter International, the City of Chicago, DuPont, Equity Office Properties Trust, Ford Motor Company, International Paper, Manitoba Hydro, Mead Westvaco Corporation, Motorola, Inc., STMicroelectronics, Stora Enso North America, Temple Inland, Inc. and Waste Management, Inc. Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley will serve as Honorary Chairman of the CCX. In this unprecedented, voluntary action these entities have agreed to a legally binding commitment to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 4% below the average of their 1998-2001 baseline levels by 2006. The CCX is a voluntary cap-and-trade program for reducing and trading greenhouse gas emissions. It administers the pilot program for carbon sources, farm and forest sinks and offset providers in the first market-based voluntary trading program for greenhouse gases. The pilot phase is focused on the United States, with offset providers from Brazil allowed to participate. To find out more, read the press release or visit their website.

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