Chevrolet Buying Carbon Credits In North Dakota

Has anyone else noticed a subtle change in marketing for the environmentalists? We seldom seem to hear of “environmental groups” any more. The new buzzword is “conservation groups.” Maybe the term “environmentalists” has been tainted over the years by the zealots who operate under its banner.

Anyway, this story about a deal brokered by Ducks Unlimited to have Chevrolet buying up carbon credits in the form of lands in North Dakota is interesting in that it seems to be emblematic of what the environmentalist movement has become.

Basically a protection racket where you purchase indulgences for emissions as long as you pay the vig.

In this groundbreaking deal, Chevrolet has purchased nearly 40,000 carbon credit reduction tons on working grasslands in the Prairie Pothole region of the state known as the Missouri Coteau, according to an announcement made today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. …

The program allows private companies to buy carbon credits while private landowners are compensated for agreeing to not till grasslands.

When ground is tilled, underground carbon reserves are released into the atmosphere.

The land involved in the deal is located in Sheridan, Burleigh, Kidder, Emmons, McHenry and McIntosh counties, according to Billy Gascoigne, a Colorado economist and market specialist with Ducks Unlimited, which launched the project with the help of a $161,000 grant from USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. …

Bonnie said the Conservation Innovation Grant was a modest investment that helped DU develop a way to quantify carbon stored in soil, which, in turn, provides companies such as Chevrolet with solid, scientific data.

“Corporations want to make sure (carbon credits) are real and measurable,” Bonnie said. “That makes them more valuable.”

Corporations also don’t want environmental groups on their left flank braying about what poor corporate citizens they are. So they funnel some money to groups like Ducks Unlimited and then get to claim in their marketing that they’re “green” because they stopped some land from being farmed in North Dakota.

So, basically, a shakedown.

Does this stuff actually reduce pollution? Not really. But it sure is profitable to groups like Ducks Unlimited. They get more money to lock up land away from farming and energy development while companies like Chevrolet get to buy their way out of criticism over emissions.