Energy Justice Network Pushes for Clean Air in Allentown, PA

June 18, 2013. Source: Colin McEvoy, The Express Times 

A clean air bill proposed by opponents of the planned Allentown waste-to-energy plant may be at odds with state law. The city released a copy of a letter today from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection arguing that any such ordinance is pre-empted by state law.

Tree plantations and bioenergy with carbon capture: far from “safe” geoengineering J

June 11, 2013. Source: Almuth Ernsting, Hands Off Mother Earth.

 Amongst geoengineering methods, ‘afforestation’, Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) and biochar are commonly promoted as ‘safe’, benign’ or ‘soft’ options – unlike, say, shooting sulphur particles into the stratosphere.

Trafford, UK Council Plans Biomass Incinerator Appeal

May 31, 2013. Source: BBC News

A government inquiry was held into Peel Energy's plans for a £70m plant in Davyhulme after Trafford Council and hundreds of residents objected.

An inspector said health fears were outweighed by the plant's benefits. Councillors said they believed they had reasonable grounds for a judicial review of the government's decision.

Council deputy leader Sean Anstee said: "It's something we're going to continue to fight every step of the way. "Right in the middle of a residential area is not an appropriate place for a plant of this nature."

Huge Biomass Incinerator Gets Go-ahead in Scotland

June 3, 2013. Source: The Herald Scotland

Scotland's largest combined heat and power biomass plant has been given the go-ahead by the Scottish Government.

Planning consent was granted for the £465 million development which, when finished, should have the capacity to continuously heat the equivalent of 1,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools. The wood-fuelled plant is being developed by Forth Energy, a joint venture between Forth Ports and SSE.

EU: Oil, Biofuel Companies May Have Colluded on Price Distortion

May 14, 2013. Source: Frances Robinson, Wall Street Journal

BRUSSELS--The European Union's antitrust authorities raided the offices of oil and biofuel companies in two EU member states and Norway on suspicion of distorting prices, the EU Commission said Tuesday.

"On 14 May 2013, Commission officials carried out unannounced inspections at the premises of several companies active in and providing services to the crude oil, refined oil products and biofuels sectors," it said in a statement. "The Commission has concerns that the companies may have colluded in reporting distorted prices to a Price Reporting Agency to manipulate the published prices for a number of oil and biofuel products."

A Biomassacre Down Under 

- by Josh Schlossberg, The Biomass Monitor

A new report out of Australia, Biomassacre: How Logging Australia’s Native Forests for Bioenergy Harms the Climate, Wildlife and People, by Markets for Change, highlights the harm to forests, climate, wildlife and human health from logging native forests for industrial-scale bioenergy.

Electricity Generation from Biomass: Installed Capacity Forecasts for Dedicated, Co-Fired, Anaerobic Digestion, and Biorefinery Facilities

May 27, 2013. Source: PR Newswire 

Accounting for 3% of global electricity generation capacity, biomass power generation ("biopower") offers reliable baseload power to the grid and is expected to play a cornerstone role in meeting renewable energy targets worldwide. Capacity expansion is likely in this decade across a range of conversion platforms, including dedicated greenfield facilities that burn biomass exclusively, brownfield biomass and coal co-fired plants, anaerobic digesters producing biogas, and industrial biorefineries utilizing cogeneration.

Project withdrawn after federal funding source issues

June 14, 2013. Source: Andrew Creasey, Herald and News

A proposed and controversial biomass plant off Highway 66 will not be built due to complications with its federal funding source.

Klamath Falls Bioenergy withdrew its application for a site certification Tuesday. The certification process had been mired in delays with the Energy Facility Siting Council, the state body that oversees the regulation of large electric generating plants.

Facing climate change: Vermont’s biggest polluters

May 29, 2013. Source: Audrey Clark, VT Digger

Vermont’s reputation as a green state was upheld this year when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released an interactive map of the biggest point sources of greenhouse gases in the country. In spite of, or thanks to, these facilities, Vermont has the lowest emissions in the nation.