Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Adam Schiff, D-Calif., on May 21 introduced legislation to create a tax credit incentivizing biomass carbon removal and storage (BiCRS) technologies, including biochar production.&nbsp;The bill, S. 1842, known as the Wildfire Reduction and Carbon Removal Act, aims to establish a tax credit for durable carbon storage using forest residues from wildfire hazard reduction or ecological restoration activities. Under the legislation, BiCRS technologies are defined to include bio-liquids, engineered biomass burial and biochar production.&nbsp;The proposed credit would amount to $180 per metric tons of net carbon dioxide equivalent disposed of with 1,000-plus year durability of carbon removal and $60 per ton disposed of with 100-plus year durability when certain labor and prevailing wage standards are met.&nbsp;Language included in the bill prohibits the stacking of multiple carbon removal or clean energy credits. It also includes inflation adjustments for credit values and allows for direct pay and transferability.&nbsp;To implement the credit, the bill directs the U.S. Treasury Department to work with other relevant agencies to define sustainability standards limiting credit eligibility to forestry residues sourced from firesheds with high wildfire potential and vegetation removal needs, using practices with minimal direct and indirect negative environmental impacts; define project level life-cycle analysis (LCA) and monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) requirements to ensure traceability of biomass feedstocks and determine carbon removals net of direct and indirect emissions from biomass production and processing; and establish standards for geological storage of bio-liquids or bio-solids to insure 1,000-plus year durability of carbon storage.&nbsp;“Removing the fuel for devastating wildfires while eliminating carbon pollution is a win-win for our communities and for future generations,” Schiff said. “This bill provides the ‘carrot’ to incentivize responsible management of our forests in ways that will keep harmful pollution out of our air in the short term and help prevent even more harmful polluting events like the wildfires that Californians survived earlier this year. This tax credit would be an important tool in our efforts to curb the worst impacts of the climate crisis and protect our communities from harm.”&nbsp;“Climate change is making wildfires more intense and more destructive, increasingly putting lives, communities, and our entire economy at risk,” Whitehouse said.&nbsp;“Carbon removal is a key tool in our arsenal to mitigate these disasters, protect families’ health, and address the economy-wide harms from the climate crisis.”&nbsp;

2025-06-03 - Bill aims to create tax credit to support biomass carbon removal and storage  (Biomass Magazine)

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Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Adam Schiff, D-Calif., on May 21 introduced legislation to create a tax credit incentivizing biomass carbon removal and storage (BiCRS) technologies, including biochar production. 

Bill aims to create tax credit to support biomass carbon removal and storage

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