CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Today, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, announced a $209,000 grant awarded to West Virginia University (WVU) through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). This funding will support a study of the trade-offs of carbon sequestration by forests versus carbon credit programs to strike a balance between landowners aiming to sell timber and the natural ability of forests to naturally capture carbon from the air.
“West Virginia has the perfect ecosystem to research the ability of our Appalachian forests to capture carbon and the best minds to figure out the right economic balance of how this affects our climate at WVU.” Senator Capito said. “Carbon sequestration is an area I have worked on extensively through my role as Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and I look forward to seeing our students and professionals contribute to the solutions we need in this field.”
# # #