Category: Blog entry
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California Lawsuit Seeks Pollution Cuts From Massive Tree-burning Power Plant
– by Kevin Bundy, August 22, 2014, Center for Biological Diversity The Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit today challenging a Clean Air Act permit issued by the Environmental Protection Agency for a massive, 31-megawatt biomass power plant proposed by Sierra Pacific Industries in Anderson, Calif. The challenge, filed directly in the 9th Circuit U.S.…
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Berlin, NH Biomass Incinerator Operational, But At What Cost To Ratepayers?
– by Chris Jensen, August 21, 2014, New Hampshire Public Radio A new biomass plant in Berlin is finally producing electricity for Public Service of New Hampshire under a controversial 20-year contract that a report says will cost PSNH ratepayers $125 million more than if the electricity was purchased on the open market… That estimate came…
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Oregon Group Files Civil Rights Complaint Over Biomass Air Pollution
– by Lisa Arkin, August 6, 2014, Beyond Toxics On August 6, Beyond Toxics filed a civil rights and environmental justice complaint with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) challenging the Lane County Regional Air Protection Agency’s decision to allow a power plant to increase its discharges of hazardous particulate matter. The complaint alleges that allowing…
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Energy Justice Summer: Standing With Communities in the Shalefields
– by Energy Justice Summer This summer youth have gathered in the shale gas region of Northeastern Pennsylvania to facilitate trainings, compile reports, and to fight for the safety of landowners, workers, and the environment. Energy Justice Summer is based in Susquehanna County in order to directly connect with the community members impacted by shale gas…
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More Logging and Biomass Burning Won’t Solve Job Woes
– by Rob Handy, July 6, 2014, Register Guard During my tenure as a Lane County commissioner, I watched Lane County’s timber harvest rise from 337 million board feet in 2009 to 590 million board feet in 2012, reported concisely by the state Department of Forestry. In spite of this huge surge, a 75 percent increase,…
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Springfield, MA Biomass Incinerator Permit Reinstated
– by Suzanne McLaughlin, August 20, 2014, MassLive Massachusetts Land Court has granted Palmer Renewable Energy’s request to reinstate its building permit for a biomass wood-burning plant in East Springfield, undoing the Springfield Zoning Board of Appeals’ decision that the building permit was invalid. The decision states that no special permit is needed and the building…
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Beetle-Kill Fuels Bioenergy
– by Kelly Hatton, July 17, 2014, Western Confluence On a morning in early March, I ride with Cody Neff, owner of West Range Reclamation (WRR), in his truck from Frisco, Colorado, to the company’s nearby worksite in the White River National Forest. Light is just starting to reach over the high snow-covered slopes surrounding Frisco, but Neff…
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From Beetle Kill to Biomass
[More industry propaganda than a news article, but it demonstrates the biomass industry’s lust for National Forests to feed their dirty incinerators. -Ed.] – by Ruth Heide, July 22, 2014, Valley Courier There’s a different kind of “gold” in “them thar hills.” It’s in the trees themselves. Correctly harvested, the beetle kill timber that exists on…
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Covanta Incineration Deal Discourages Rival Recycling Programs
– Kathleen McLaughlin, August 4, 2014, Indianapolis Business Journal The city of Indianapolis faces financial penalties if it launches alternative recycling programs, under a pending deal with incinerator operator Covanta. The Indianapolis Board of Public Works will vote Wednesday on an agreement that’s worth more than $112 million in revenue to Covanta, which would become the…