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Court Rejects EPA Rule that Deferred Carbon Standards for Biomass Industry

Court Rejects EPA Rule that Deferred Carbon Standards for Biomass Industry

- by Jeremy P. Jacobs and Jean Chemnick, July 12, 2013. Source: Environment and Energy Daily

A three-judge panel scrapped a U.S. EPA rule today that had given biomass-burning facilities a pass on compliance with federal greenhouse gas emission standards.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit panel found EPA failed to justify its 2011 decision that provided a three-year exemption to its greenhouse gas rules for facilities that burn materials ranging from wood and algae to scrap tires.

In exempting biomass, EPA said it needed more time to study the overall impact of the industry's carbon dioxide emissions. Industry has contended that in some instances -- wood burning, for example -- biomass facilities have a net neutral CO2 impact because trees absorb the heat-trapping gas before they are cut down.

Biomass Opponents Take on Congress

Biomass Opponents Take on Congress

Eighty-five organizations from twenty-six states (and counting) have signed on to a letter to U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, insisting that the Senator protect Americans from harmful air pollution by ending his support for biomass incineration.

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