Legislative Opinion Piece Offers Reasons Biomass is Clean Solution

 

Yesterday (October 19) the Journal-Sentinel (Milwaukee, Wis., USA) published an article explaining how the U.S. Congress is about to make a decision that could have profound effects on the forest industry heavy states like Wisconsin and the future of American energy. They are considering if the U.S. should treat biomass energy generated from forests — one of the most renewable, recyclable and greenest resources on the planet —as a part of our clean energy solution.

For years, the answer was clear. According to Jeff Landin, president of the Wisconsin Paper Council who served as guest contributor to the newspaper for this piece, the U.S., like the rest of the world, had an energy policy that recognized the carbon benefits of forest biomass. Officials understood that much of it comes from wood and paper manufacturing byproducts that would have wasted away in landfills. And they realized that, unlike fossil fuels, strong markets for paper and wood products encourage continued forest management and replanting of trees that will capture and store carbon for generations to come.

Well, without public notice or scientific basis for a change, government policy shifted in 2010. The Environmental Protection Agency began to regulate greenhouse gases emitted from biomass the same as it did fossil fuels. The EPA committed to revising the policy by 2014, but has yet to do so.

Congress now is trying to break that gridlock and provide much needed clarity, introducing legislation based on well-established science and widely accepted data. In other words, Congress is doing its job.

But this effort faces obstacles from detractors who base their opposition on a flawed view of the way forests and the forest products industry interact.

 

More information can be found in the full article available online.