ACTION DEADLINE: 10/16/2009
About this Action
On Thursday, September 24, 2009, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, and four cosponsors introduced the “Water Efficiency via Carbon Harvesting and Restoration (WECHAR) Act of 2009.” The bill establishes a loan guarantee program to develop biochar technology, initiates a program of biochar landscape restoration projects on public land, and authorizes a competitive grant program to fund research on biochar characteristics, impacts and economics.
In the face of climate change, drought is an ever growing problem in the Western US, exacerbated by water-sucking weeds like tamarisk (salt cedar), which can consume 200 gallons of water a day, per plant. These invasive weeds, along with other excess biomass in the form of beetle-killed trees, forests with dangerous fuel loading, and dense pinyon-juniper thickets that have invaded native sagebrush ecosystems, are ideal feedstocks for biochar.
Senator Reid’s office indicates that water savings achieved through the bill could be substantial: “The potential for millions of gallons in annual water savings from the elimination of water-robbing invasive tamarisk will be particularly meaningful in Nevada. Elimination of this scourge in our watersheds can offset a significant portion of our water needs.”
Why You Should Take Action
This bill promotes development of Biochar as a soil amendment that can sequester carbon in the soil,
