By: g
September 01, 2016
Earlier this year, Oregon enacted one of the most sweeping new energy laws in the history of the state. In the next 25 years, Oregon’s largest utilities — Portland General Electric (PGE) and PacifiCorp — have agreed to eliminate coal generation from Oregon’s electricity supply, to be replaced with renewable sources, including wind, solar and biomass. It’s the kind of forward-leaning environmental policy Oregonians embrace — collaborative solutions that combat a global crisis such as climate change while sustainably using natural resources here at home.
In order to achieve this green energy future in Oregon, however, the U.S. Congress will have to provide the right policies to spur investment in renewable energy sources. With biomass, in particular, Congress needs to follow Oregon’s leadership in recognizing the environmental benefits of responsibly sourced and tracked biomass in order to realize our full green energy potential.
In the Pacific Northwest, residuals from timber harvest, forest management and from the manufacturing of paper and wood products in mills are used to generate biomass energy. In Oregon, 61 percent of pulp and paper mills’ on-site fuel needs are met using biomass as part of a highly efficient combined heat and power process. If not used for energy, this leftover wood material is likely to be landfilled or burned — in a forest wildfire or a slash pile. The better alternative is to put Oregonians to work to collect this leftover material and generate biomass energy.
The benefits of generating heat and electricity using the residuals of forest management and wood products manufacturing are clear and well-established. Biomass energy reduces dependence on fossil fuels, produces baseload domestic energy, supports the forest products sector and complements forest health treatments. Furthermore, it allows for the disposal of these feed stocks in contained facilities with modern pollution controls that must meet or exceed air quality regulations. It’s why the state of Oregon, the European Commission, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and scientists around the world have all recognized biomass as a vital renewable energy source.
With biomass, Congress needs to follow Oregon’s leadership …
But the inaction of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is holding up further investment in biomass energy. More than six years after beginning a process to review whether the carbon-capture-and-release cycle unique to biomass differentiates it from fossil fuels, the agency has yet to clarify its policy.
To end this uncertainty and provide states like Oregon clarity to move forward, bipartisan members of Congress are proposing to make permanent the long-standing U.S. policy recognizing the carbon benefits of many forms of biomass. This is long overdue. Responsibly derived and monitored biomass can help alleviate our reliance on fossil fuels, but we need policy to support that goal. Without stable policy, investment in maintaining and expanding biomass energy in Oregon simply won’t occur.
Oregon’s congressional delegation understands that we can create both renewable energy and jobs through biomass. That’s why they’ve been great champions of this solution. We urge them to support legislation that recognizes the carbon benefits of many forms of biomass and urge the rest of their colleagues in Congress to end the uncertainty about the future of biomass once and for all. Doing so is vital to Oregon’s green energy future.
Dylan Kruse is policy director for Sustainable Northwest, a Portland-based conservation group. Bill Kluting is legislative representative for the Carpenters Industrial Council, a union of primarily forestry and wood products workers.