May 1, 2015
BY Anna Simet
Policy, policy and regulation was an ongoing theme at the International Biomass Conference & Expo last week, and, coincidentally, we are just beginning work on our July issue, which is themed exactly that.
From what I gathered at the conference, here are the most pressing policy and regulation issues at the moment:
Power: The Clean Power Plan, and the U.S. EPA Scientific Advisory Board Biogenic Carbon Emissions Panel. The EPA’s framework is going to heavily influence how and if biomass plays a role in state compliance plans for the CPP. We’re going to be doing a last-minute story covering a May 29 SAB teleconference discussing the framework, so you can expect to get the latest info in the July issue.
Pellets: Global harmonization of sustainability standards (which, at IBCE, Seth Ginther mentioned the U.S. Industrial Pellet Association has been working hard at, a one-size-fits-all, if you will) and of course, the U.S. EPA New Source Performance Standards, which become law May 15. Our biannual supplement, Pellet Mill Magazine, recently published an in-depth article covering the NSPS, so we won’t be touching on those in July. Rather, you can expect a very interesting article on controlling and regulating pellet line VOCs.
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Advanced Biofuels: On April 10, EPA posted a notice to its website announcing that the volume requirements for the 2014, 2015 and 2016 renewable fuel standard (RFS), along with the 2017 volume requirement for biomass-based diesel, will be finalized by Nov. 30. EPA said that it will propose 2015 RFS volume requirements (yes, a key word here is “said”) by June 1, and finalize volume requirements for 2014 and 2015 by Nov. 30. You can bet we’re going to be on that story—hopefully they will deliver the proposed numbers by June 1, so we can deliver to you in July.
Biogas: The RFS 2 has opened the door for biogas (biogas-derived compressed natural gas and liquefied natural gas produced from landfills, municipal waste-water treatment facility digesters, agricultural digesters, and separated MSW digesters all now qualify under the RFS) and that was clearly evident by the content of and attendance at the biogas sessions at IBCE.
However, we’ve visited this topic before, so for July, we’re going to cover digester permitting hurdles in California. As Senior Editor Ron Kotrba put it, “With the nation’s largest dairy cattle population and a progressive renewable portfolio standard anaerobically digesting all that manure in the Golden State would appear to be a no-brainer, win-win solution. But historically speaking, AD has had a hard time getting off the ground in California, in large part due to the permitting and regulatory hurdles.”
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Thermal: BTU Act and state RPS programs. Most of you have probably heard of the BTU Act by now. It’s been introduced in both the House and Senate (H.R.1145 and S.727), and would add high-efficiency biomass thermal technologies to the list of renewable energy technologies that benefit from investment tax credits under section 25D (residential) and Section 48 (commercial/industrial) of the tax code.
We’re planning to wait until something happens with the BTU Act to cover it a print magazine feature, so In July, we’re going to take a look at thermal’s current, developing and potential role in state RPS programs. Lately, there have been numerous attacks on many different states’ RPS programs, most of which haven’t or will not go anywhere. Most states are working to tweak or better their RPS, and qualifying thermal—such as New Hampshire has done—would add a ton of opportunity. Some states are following suit, or contemplating, so we’re going to investigate what’s going on in that arena.
Sometimes policy and regulation can be a little stale, but I guarantee you what we have on deck for July is not.
Stay tuned.