Category: Blog entry

  • Commissioners Scrap Frederick, MD Incinerator Plan

    – Associated Press, November 21, 2014, Herald-Mail The Frederick County Commissioners are scrapping plans for a waste-to-energy incinerator after more than five years of debate. The Frederick News-Post reported that the board voted 3-2 Thursday night to cancel a contract with Wheelabrator Technologies Inc. for the $471 million project. The board unanimously voted in favor of hauling the county’s trash…

  • Tanker Truck Collapses, Spills Ethanol in Kenilworth, NJ

    – by Katie Lannan, November 19, 2014,  NJ.com Firefighters called to the scene of what was originally described to them as a “small spill” Wednesday afternoon instead found 500 gallons of ethanol that had leaked out of a collapsed tanker truck. The truck, carrying 7,000 gallons of ethanol, split as it was offloading its contents…

  • More Wood to be Burned for Energy in 2015

    – by Erin Voegele, November 14, 2014, Biomass Magazine The U.S. Energy Information Administration has released the November issue of its Short-Term Energy Outlook, which includes updated forecasts for the use of wood and biomass fuels in U.S. heat and power production. The EIA predicts that wood biomass will be use generate 118,000 MWh electricity per…

  • SOS! National Day of Action to Save Our Southern Forests

    -By Emily Zucchino, October 28, 2014, Dogwood Alliance Today’s biggest threat to Southern forests is the growing biomass industry. The wood pellet industry is expanding at a rate that is impossible for Southern forests to sustain. Our beautiful forests are being clear-cut, processed into pellets and then shipped to Europe to be burned for electricity. We…

  • Biofuel Company Files for Bankruptcy

    – by Katie Fehrenbacher, November 11, 2014, Gigaom.com Biofuel company KiOR, which has become a symbol of the difficulties of venture capitalists investing in clean technology startups, finally filed for bankruptcy this week, many months after shutting down its biofuel plant and operating on fumes, unable to pay its debts. Many, including myself, have been predicting this for awhile…

  • Indiana Ethanol Facility Fined $9,600 for Clean Air Act Violations

    – by Seth Slabaugh, November 11, 2014, The Star Press Cardinal Ethanol has paid a $9,600 fine to settle a complaint that it violated its Clean Air Act operating permit. The penalty is insignificant in light of the grassroots, investor-owned company’s profitability — $26.4 million net income for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2013. President…

  • Industry Take: How Will 2014 Elections Impact Biomass?

    – by Bob Cleaves, November 23, 2014, Biomass Magazine On Nov. 4, Americans voted. This election was a decisive victory for Republicans. Senate, House, gubernatorial and even state legislature races across the country saw conservatives prevail. These results were expected, surprising to political types only in the thoroughness of the wins across the board. What does…

  • Fracking Wastewater Treatment Facility Proposed in Pennsylvania

     – by Nicole Mulvaney, December 10, 2014, Times of Trenton An Israeli water recycling company is proposing a hazardous waste treatment facility about 6 miles southwest of Trenton across the Delaware River in the Keystone Industrial Port Complex. Elcon Recycling Center, which has an office in West Windsor, went before representatives of Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental…

  • Is Cellulosic Ethanol All it’s Cracked Up to Be?

    – by Edward Dodge, December 10, 2014, Breaking Energy The EPA has long promoted cellulosic ethanol as the future of biofuels, but technical challenges have kept production far below targets. A recent rule change allows RNG, renewable natural gas, to qualify as cellulosic biofuel even though RNG is not cellulosic, but this helps EPA appear to be meeting their…

  • Florida Waste Company Seeks to Close Incinerator, Transfer Trash

    – by Brittany Wallman, December 9, 2014, Sun Sentinel Neighbors of the “Mount Trashmore” landfill in northern Broward descended on County Hall Tuesday, worried about plans to close a trash-burning incinerator in the region. Hundreds piled into County Commission chambers, some having arrived on a bus from the Wynmoor Village senior condo coummunity in Coconut Creek.…