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Principles for Biomass Energy in the South
Wednesday, October 31, 2001
Introduction
REPP is pleased to announce the release of Principles for Biomass Energy in the South. They provide guidance to the biomass industry on the perspectives of the Southern environmental community. Just as important, REPP hopes that this effort serves as a resource for other environmentalists attempting to understand what is perhaps the most complex energy source available.
Principles for Biomass Energy in the South
The following principles on biomass are intended to communicate the views of those environmentalists who participated in their formulation on key issues that must be meaningfully addressed by those establishing biomass energy projects, drafting biomass energy policy, and/or creating and implementing biomass energy programs in the South. The principles are not intended to be formal guidelines established by the participating organizations as a whole for policy and green pricing programs, nor are they intended to serve as automatic endorsements from the participants as a whole for any or all biomass energy projects in the South.
It is up to each environmentalist who participated in the process to apply the principles as their organization deems appropriate.
Representatives from the following organizations participated in this process:
Alabama Environmental Council
American Lands Alliance
Appalachian Voices
Arkansas Renewable Energy Association
Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League
Eco-Action, Inc.
Georgia Air Keepers
Georgians for Clean Energy
Kentuckians for the Commonwealth
League of Women Voters of Tennessee
Sierra Club: Florida Chapter
Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
Tennessee Conservation League
Tennessee Environmental Council
I. BROAD PRINCIPLES
1. Biopower materials and processes must always have net environmental benefits compared with other available methods of power generation.
2. Priority should be given to energy conservation and efficiency and/or cleaner alternate energy sources, such as wind and solar before investing in biomass. Investment in biomass should be before coal and nuclear.
3. Biomass should not support nor serve to extend unsustainable technologies.
4. Biomass energy shall never be sourced from forests.
II. SUBSIDIARY, CROSS-CUTTING PRINCIPLES
1. Biomass needs to go to the Best Highest Environmental Use. Direct burning is the lowest value for biomass.
2. Biomass projects should be carefully monitored to ensure that they meet environmental guidelines and to look for unforeseen problems and issues that might arise. Decisions should always err on the side of sustainability. When creating models for determining the environmental implications of a biomass process, conclusions should be made cautiously rather than being based on ideal projections.
3. Biopower plants should not be bigger than what could possibly be expected in feedstock from surrounding areas.
4. No genetically modified organisms should be grown for biomass.
5. The principles of Environmental Justice are fundamental to the principles of good biomass energy. No community should be considered as a location for a biomass facility without its advice and consent.
6. Impacts of biomass transportation must be minimized.
7. Public education programs should be undertaken to ensure that the public, environmentalists, and industry officials understand fully the implications of biomass.
III. PRINCIPLES FOR INCENTIVES AND SUBSIDIES
1. Tax incentives and subsidies should go to efficiency, solar energy, and wind power first. They should not go to nuclear or coal power. Incentives and subsidies should be tied to net environmental benefits.
2. A proposed biomass facility or process must have full disclosure, while still in the planning phase, of sustainable fuel sourcing, impacts, and alternatives.
3. The siting of biomass facilities must involve public participation in the process, with full compliance with the purpose and intent of NEPA and other federal and state public laws and statutes.
4. Incentives should be tied to environmental benefits and eliminated for environmentally unfriendly technologies.
IV. PRINCIPLES SPECIFIC TO TECHNOLOGIES AND FEEDSTOCKS
A. CO-FIRING
(a) Co-firing should not extend the life of a facility that for other reasons should not be
operating, particularly coal plants without best available control technologies for
pollution control.
(b) Co-firing must reduce emissions from coal-fired power plants on a power output
basis.
(c) Feedstock collection for co-firing should adhere to feedstock-specific principles in
this document.
B. FUELS
1. Forest Biomass
(a) Biomass should never be sourced from forests including state and national forests,
nor from current native or natural forest ecosystems which includes old growth as well
as regenerated succession forest.
(b) Forests and native ecosystems must not be degraded by biomass operations.
(c) No biomass fuel shall be sourced from current native or natural forest ecosystems; this includes old growth as well as regenerated succession forest.
2. Urban Wood Waste
(a) Treated or otherwise toxic urban wood wastes must be segregated.
(b) The toxic materials generated by the burning of wood must be managed.
(c) Non-toxic urban wood waste is a preferable feedstock to other non-urban sources. Furniture waste containing glues, solvents, finishes or other toxic additives is unacceptable for use as biomass.
(d) Furniture and sawmill residues are acceptable, provided they meet the above criteria.
3. Energy Crops
(a) Energy crops must be sustainably grown and must not require unsustainable water use.
(b) Energy crops should be grown on ecologically marginal lands, including those susceptible to urbanization.
(c) Energy crop production must not displace natural ecosystems.
(d) Native species are more appropriate than alien species. Exotic species should not be planted if they will cause ecological harm. It is not appropriate to use genetically modified crops for energy production.
(e) Herbicides should never be used on biomass crops unless the crops would not otherwise grow. The use of fertilizers and pesticides should be used only as a last resort and on a short-term basis.
(f) Energy crops should enhance wildlife habitat and should be managed carefully to preserve habitat.
(g) Energy crops should not be imported from overseas due to the environmental impacts of transportation and invasive species.
4. Ag Residues
(a) Production residues at a milling or processing site are preferred for biomass as opposed to field residues. Producing bioenergy on site is preferable to landfilling of field residues.
(b) In most cases, field residue should remain on site, but in some cases these residues exceed the fieldâs use capacity. In all cases, use of field residue must be sustainable, leaving adequate residue for soil health and removing residue only when it will not be environmentally detrimental.
(c) No toxics should be used in the production of crop residues for burning. The use of crop residues should not lead to the increased use of fertilizers, herbicides, or pesticides.
5. Biogas/Wastewater Treatment
(a) Emissions from biogas/wastewater operations must not include toxics.
(b) The use of wastewater materials for biogas should not preclude or inhibit the use of new and better technologies for wastewater treatment.
6. Animal waste digesters
(a) Animal waste digesters do not signify an endorsement of, nor should they encourage, the facilitation of new confined animal feed operations (CAFOs).
(b) Animal waste digesters should not extend the life of existing CAFOs.
(c) The use of animal waste for biofuel should not reduce pressures on other issues regarding CAFOs.
(d) Animal waste, if converted to fuel, should be processed with best available technology with the least environmental impact.
(e) The use of animal waste as biomass should decrease air and water pollution.
(f) Biomass from manure should not increase the dispersion of CAFO emission/effluent pollution problems.
7. Landfill Gas
(a) Toxics in landfills should not be exposed by construction or operation of a biogas facility.
(b) Waste should be afforded its higher better uses before being landfilled.
(c) Landfills must be monitored to ensure that toxic problems donât emerge.
(d) The use of landfill gases should not discourage alternatives to landfilling.
(f) The use of landfill gases should not encourage the construction or operation of new landfills.
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