In my opinion EPA has it right and Vilsack has it wrong.

Charlie Winterwood


----- Forwarded Message ----
From: David Orr <[log in to unmask]>
To: Biomass list <[log in to unmask]>; [log in to unmask]; Air Mail list <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Mon, May 17, 2010 4:29:57 PM
Subject: [air-mail] Biomass industry sees 'chilling message' in EPA emissions rule

  
CLIMATE: Biomass industry sees 'chilling message' in EPA emissions rule (05/14/2010)
Robin Bravender, E&E reporter
U.S. EPA's final rule determining which sources will be subject to 
greenhouse gas permitting requirements does not exempt biomass power, a 
decision that has raised concern in the biomass industry.
Issued yesterday, EPA's final "tailoring" rule determines which 
polluters will be required to account for their greenhouse gas emissions in Clean Air Act permits when the agency begins to formally regulate 
the heat-trapping gases next January (Greenwire, May 13).
Emissions from biomass or biogenic sources are treated the same as 
other sources of greenhouse gases in the final rule, EPA spokeswoman 
Cathy Milbourn said. "We have not finalized any exemptions from 
applicability or different applicability thresholds for such sources at 
this time."
That decision "came as a bit of a surprise to us," said David Tenny, president and CEO of the National Alliance of Forest Owners.
Tenny's organization and other forestry groups had urged EPA to 
exclude biomass combustion from the requirements, arguing that the 
process is "carbon neutral."
Paul Noe, vice president for public policy at the American Forest 
& Paper Association, was one of several representatives from his 
organization who met last month with White House and EPA officials to 
push for a biomass exemption in the rule.
"When biomass such as wood is combusted for energy, it releases back into the atmosphere carbon dioxide that the trees had absorbed from the atmosphere during their growth," Noe said. "That is why CO2 emissions 
from biomass combustion are assigned an emissions factor of zero."
Without an exemption from the tailoring rule, Tenny said, "what you 
have is an incentive for biomass producers to turn back to fossil 
fuels," because they offer a more concentrated energy source.
"The question is, what is EPA going to do from here?" Tenny said. 
"This sends a bit of a chilling message to biomass producers."
EPA also received comments expressing concern that not all biomass 
combustion should be considered carbon-neutral.
Franz Matzner, climate legislative director for the Natural 
Resources Defense Council, said EPA's rule must distinguish between 
biomass that creates carbon pollution and biomass that does not.
"The science around biomass continues to make clear that not all 
biomass is good from a carbon footprint perspective," Matzner said. 
"Some sources of biomass can theoretically be carbon-beneficial: for 
example, taking waste streams from agricultural crops and burning that 
is most likely going to give you reductions in greenhouse gases compared to fossil fuels.
"On the other side of the fence, chopping down a swath of forest 
that then gets turned into a parking lot and burning it puts carbon in 
the atmosphere that's not going to regrow."
While EPA said it lacked sufficient basis to exclude carbon dioxide 
emissions from biogenic sources in determining permitting applicability 
at this time, it also said treating biomass combustion differently 
warrants further exploration.
There is flexibility to apply pollution control requirements to 
biomass sources in ways that "recognize the inherently lower-emitting 
characteristics of biomass," Milbourn said, and the agency will take 
that into account when it issues guidance later this year about what 
constitutes "best available control technology," or BACT, for specific 
sources.
EPA said it also plans to seek further comment on addressing 
biogenic emissions and could take further regulatory action in the 
future.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack yesterday welcomed EPA's plans to 
seek comment on how to address biomass under the Clean Air Act.
"As this process moves forward, USDA is committed to working with 
EPA to ensure that rules designed to reduce the buildup of greenhouse 
gases in the atmosphere also encourage the development and utilization 
of biomass energy resources and avoid unnecessary regulatory impediments and permitting requirements," Vilsack said in a statement.
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