ERP Environmental Fund

The primary objective of ERP Compliant Fuels, LLC("ERP") is to reduce the rate of growth of atmospheric Carbon Dioxide (CO2) through global reforestation and by incentivizing the coal users to accelerate the reduction of CO2 pollution. ERP intends to sell "Compliant Fuels," which would bundle carbon credits with coal sales to produce a "compliance instrument" effectively reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Coal is the most carbon intensive fossil fuel representing one-third of fossil fuels' share of world total primary energy supply. Coal alone is responsible for 43 percent of carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel use. For every ton of coal burned, approximately 2.86 tons of CO2 emissions are produced. ERP and its partner C2I, LLC ("C2I") have advanced the concept of compliant fuel which bundles reforestation carbon credits with fossil fuels, through a legal compliance instrument. To date C2I has planted over 36 million trees on over 100,000 acres of land in the Mississippi Alluvial Delta sequestering over 12 million Metric Tons of carbon dioxide. C2I accounts for over 90 percent of the reforestation carbon credits registered to date by the American Carbon Registry. ERP anticipates that the compliant fuel market is expected to increase under the recent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emission standards required by the Clean Power Plan. ERP is working to support a pioneering initiative in the United States to reduce deforestation, promote sustainable local development and protect valuable ecosystems. Through offsetting, ERP will be able to help fund projects that deliver equivalent CO2 savings. Some projects will also deliver social benefits, which can range from promoting sustainable livelihoods to improving community health. On October 27, 2015 ERP completed its $400+ million acquisition of 149 mining permits from bankrupt Patriot Coal Corporation (Patriot), for the purpose of undertaking large scale land reclamation through reforestation and improving water quality. ERP and its partners continue to operate the Federal Underground Mining Complex in Morgantown, West Virginia, which was acquired from Patriot to promote the sale of Compliant Fuel. ERP will reclaim land and improve water quality in the states of West Virginia, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Indiana. ERP has also purchased thousands of acres of former mined lands from Patriot and plans to plant millions of trees as carbon offsets to be sold along with future coal production. The plan would also jump-start remediation and reclamation on dozens of old mine sites throughout the East while keeping hundreds of coal miners employed in the distressed Appalachian region. ERP is committed to the forest reclamation approach creating economic opportunities for Appalachian communities. As part of the acquisition, ERP continues to maintain 683 jobs in West Virginia through the operation of the Federal Mining Complex and its forest reclamation activities. In the long run, ERP also plans to implement carbon insetting, a mechanism for realizing the benefits of internalizing some of the true costs of carbon. It will be a self-imposed internal carbon tax, and the proceeds will go to fund emissions reduction projects. It will provide a viable financing strategy in terms of internal emissions reduction opportunities that have a higher marginal cost per ton of CO2 emissions. No front page content has been created yet.