Following the Duke Energy/C2I press conference, Delta Farm Press had several follow-up questions regarding the GreenTrees program. The answers were provided by Page Gravely, senior director of C2I, LLC.

DFP: Could you please elaborate on exactly why the price paid for the 1,700 acres wasn't announced?

Gravely: “The total investment by Duke into GreenTrees for their share of the carbon offsets produced from the cottonwood/hardwood planting on the initial 1,700 acres (estimated at 250,000 metric tons) is a privately held number. It is not disclosed for a host of reasons including, from our vantage point, because it could used by other companies to help design a competitive program to GreenTrees. I may be mistaking how you are defining the ‘price paid for the 1,700 acres,’ but for clarity, Duke has not purchased the acres. GreenTrees is a lease with the landowners to plant these trees; the landowner still owns the land asset and the rights to use accordingly.”

DFP: Is there a reason the location of the acreage wasn't more specific? Is it in one big block or broken up into patches? Can you tell us what county it's in?

Gravely: “The locations are public knowledge — approximately 2,500 acres total were enrolled in eastern Arkansas during our inaugural year last year, from about 20 landowners across 10 counties. The property sizes ranged from 50 acres to 400 acres (I have just enrolled a 1,200-acre property from a family in eastern Louisiana). Of these 2,500 enrolled acres, wet winter weather only enabled about 1,700 acres to be actually planted. The remaining 800 acres will be planted this winter in addition to other properties we enroll this year.”