Carbon Sequestration - Field Hearing Page: 1

                                
U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation

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Carbon Sequestration - Field Hearing
Friday, June 6, 2003
Dr. James R. Mahoney
Environmental Consultant
I am James R. Mahoney, Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Deputy Administrator of the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). I am appearing today in my capacity as Director of the United States
Climate Change Science Program (CCSP). The CCSP integrates the federal research on climate and global
change, as sponsored by thirteen federal agencies (the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense,
Energy, Health & Human Services, the Interior, State, and Transportation; together with the Environmental
Protection Agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Science Foundation, the
Agency for International Development, and the Smithsonian Institution) and overseen by the Office of Science
and Technology Policy, the Council on Environmental Quality, the National Economic Council and the Office of
Management and Budget.
I am very pleased to have this opportunity to describe the Administration's scientific research program on
climate and global change, with specific reference to the important role that soil carbon sequestration can play in
reducing net greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations. Climate variability often plays an important role in shaping
the environment, natural resources, infrastructure, and economy. Potential human-induced changes in climate
and related environmental systems, and the options proposed to adapt to or mitigate these changes, may also
have substantial environmental, economic, and societal consequences. Because of the pervasiveness of the
effects of climate variability and the potential consequences of human-induced climate change and response
options, citizens and decision makers in public and private sector organizations need reliable and readily
understood information to make informed decisions about climate issues.
President Bush's approach to addressing global climate change emphasizes science-based decision making, and
recognizes that economic growth is part of the solution. A nation that grows its economy is a nation that can
afford investment in research and development of new technologies. For agriculture, this investment will likely
have the added benefits of increased agricultural production, improved soil quality, and increased soil carbon
sequestration.
CCSP Carbon Cycle Research and Soil Carbon Sequestration Decision makers searching for options to stabilize
or mitigate concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are faced with two broad approaches for
affecting atmospheric carbon concentrations: 1) reduction of carbon emissions at their source; and/or 2)
enhanced sequestration of carbon-either through enhancement of biospheric carbon storage or through
engineering solutions to capture carbon and store it in repositories. Enhancing carbon sequestration is of current
interest as a near-term policy option to slow the rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and provide more
time to develop a new generation of low-GHG emitting technologies.
Successful carbon management strategies will require solid scientific information about the basic processes of
the carbon cycle and an understanding of its long-term interactions with other components of the Earth system.
Such strategies also will require an ability to account for all carbon stocks, fluxes, and changes and to distinguish
the effects of human actions from those of natural system variability. Breakthrough advances in techniques to
observe and model the atmospheric, terrestrial, and oceanic components of the carbon cycle have readied the
scientific community for a concerted research effort to identify, characterize, quantify, and project the major
regional carbon sources and sinks.
The overall goal for the CCSP carbon cycle research is to provide critical scientific information on the fate of
carbon in the environment and how cycling of carbon might change in the future. Current research on the global
carbon cycle is focusing on two overarching questions: - How large and variable are the dynamic reservoirs and
fluxes of carbon within the Earth system, and how might carbon cycling be managed in the future? - What are
our options for managing carbon sources and sinks to achieve an appropriate balance of risk, cost, and benefit
to society?
Substantial current interest in carbon sequestration centers on land management practices that enhance the
storage of carbon in soils and biomass. An example of research at the forefront of this field can be found within
the Consortium for Agricultural Soils Mitigation of Greenhouse Gases (CASMGS), led by Dr. Charles Rice at
Kansas State University. CASMGS is a multi-year, collaborative effort funded by the Department of Agriculture
to improve the scientific basis of using land management practices to increase soil carbon sequestration, reduce
GHG emissions, and provide the tools needed for policy assessment, quantification, and verification. More than
50 research and outreach projects among 10 institutions are underway focused on: - Improving the
understanding of basic processes and mechanisms controlling soil carbon sequestration and GHG emissions;
Developing best management practices for carbon sequestration; - Using models and databases to improve
prediction and assessment of carbon sequestration and GHG emissions; - Using measurements to evaluate the
impact of management practices on soil C storage, total GHG radiative forcing, and soil NO3 leaching.