Excerpt: "Biomass electricity generation, a heavily subsidized form of 'green' energy that relies primarily on the burning of wood, is more polluting and worse for the climate than coal."
(photo: file)
Biomass Electricity More Polluting Than Coal
04 April 14
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iomass electricity generation, a heavily subsidized form of �green� energy that relies primarily on the burning of wood, is more polluting and worse for the climate than coal, according to a new analysis of 88 pollution permits for biomass power plants in 25 states.
Trees, Trash, and Toxics: How Biomass Energy Has Become the New Coal, released this week and delivered to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by the Partnership for Policy Integrity (PFPI), concludes that biomass power plants across the country are permitted to emit more pollution than comparable coal plants or commercial waste incinerators, even as they are subsidized by state and federal renewable energy dollars. It contains detailed emissions and fuel specifications for a number of facilities, including plants in California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Washington.
�The biomass power industry portrays their facilities as �clean,�� said Mary Booth, director of PFPI and author of the report. �But we found that even the newest biomass plants are allowed to pollute more than modern coal- and gas-fired plants, and that pollution from bioenergy is increasingly unregulated.�
The report found that biomass power is given special treatment and held to lax pollution control standards, compared to fossil-fueled power plants.
Biomass plants are dirty because they are markedly inefficient. The report found that per megawatt-hour, a biomass power plant employing �best available control technology� emits more nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, particulate matter and carbon monoxide than a modern coal plant of the same size.
Almost half the facilities analyzed, however, avoided using BACT by claiming to be �minor� sources of pollution that skim under the triggering threshold for stricter pollution controls. Minor source permits are issued by the states and contain none of the protective measures required under federal air pollution permitting.
�The American Lung Association has opposed granting renewable energy subsidies for biomass combustion precisely because it is so polluting,� said Jeff Seyler, president and CEO of the American Lung Association of the Northeast. �Why we are using taxpayer dollars to subsidize power plants that are more polluting than coal?�
The analysis also found that although wood-burning power plants are often promoted as being good for the climate and carbon neutral, the low efficiency of plants means that they emit almost 50 percent more CO2 than coal per unit of energy produced. Current science shows that while emissions of CO2 from biomass burning can theoretically be offset over time by forest regrowth and other means, such offsets typically take several decades to fully compensate for the CO2 emitted during plant operation. None of the permits analyzed in the report required proof that carbon emissions would be offset.
EPA rules also allow biomass plants to emit more hazardous air pollutants than both coal plants and industrial waste incinerators, including heavy metals and dioxins. Even with these weak rules, most biomass plants avoid restrictions on the amount of toxic air pollution they can emit by claiming to be minor sources, and permits usually require little testing for proof of actual emissions. When regulated as a minor source, a facility is not required to meet any limitations on emissions of hazardous air pollutants.
The potential for biomass power plants to emit heavy metals and other air toxics is increasing, because new EPA rules allow burning more demolition debris and other contaminated wastes in biomass power plants, including, EPA says, materials that are as contaminated as coal. A majority of the facilities reviewed in the report allowed burning demolition debris and other waste wood.
�Lax regulations that allow contaminated wastes to be burned as biomass mean that communities need to protect themselves,� said Mary Booth. �They can�t count on the air permitting process to ensure that bioenergy pollution is minimized.�
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We can hope that some action can be taken to oust Clarence Thomas, and to select a Supreme Court Justice with some intelligence and integrity.
We need to fight back on all of the attempts being made to restrict voting rights and to gerrymander honesty and fairness out of so many states. That is a real danger.
Murdoch is a bit different in that he is in the business of hiring those guys and managing the distraction. He will always hire a new cast as necessary, probably sooner than later, but he may keep his name in the back row. I don't expect charges against him to amount to much because so much of the media plays the role, in part, that he fills. He is replaceable too, but I expect to see his company around for a while.
Up the 99% we have nothing left to loose, we are broke now.
Where is the accountability to the people?
"Teacher! Teacher!" he cries -- "the schoolhouse be on fire!"
Teacher glares at the little boy over her glasses. "Johnny," she says. "Go to your desk and write 500 times, 'The choolhouse IS on fire.'"
Oh nooooooo! RUN! There are grammar Nazis on board!
As for the "clumsy, jerky sentence structure, that is simply your opinion.
Finally, perhaps all the negative votes were given because all of the criticism was directed at the way the article was written and none of it was directed at the content of the article. I feel sure that those of us who gave negative votes did so on this basis.
Yes, proofreading is a valuable tool in journalism, especially if the errors get in the way of comprehension. As it turns out, the content of this piece is so riveting that I had no trouble following the gist of it...no proofreader necessary here. I'm glowing from Boehlert's conclusion that these court jesters have self-destructed . Don't want nobody to rain on my parade right now.
As for this piece, I had no trouble reading & understanding it.
I'm not sure why you and ejf3 below are getting all the negatives, coffeewriter. You didn't comment at all on the content of the article, just on how poorly it is written. And you're absolutely right -- the typos and poor writing grated on me as I read the piece.
But the content is still there, and I do celebrate the fact that these egomaniacs are beginning to reap what they have sown. The faster they all self-destruct, the better!
Critizing grammar and spelling is beside the point. whether or not you agree is.If you can make out what someone says, then I wish that you don't be so quick to point out every little error.
As far as on the topic, these guys only have themselves to blame.
And it's Fluke (pronounced Flook).
You can say that you don't support Limbaugh but your post tells me differently.
And as to activism, what on earth is wrong with being an activist?
Ms. Fluke's age in all I have read has been 30. Thanks for this clarification.
It will take far longer, however, for the damaged wrought by decades of attacks on civil society carried out by these entities to heal. With a significant segment of the populace now believing they can ignore any idea by accusing its possessor of "drinking the Kool-Aid", mocking his/her name, or saying the likes of "only a stupid person would think that....", some serious changes are in order. What we need now more than anything else is a short course in proper behavior. After all, if we can't talk to each other, we will never get far as a nation. And if our nation is to be represented by the sort of thinking one commonly finds offered from a barstool, well....that hasn't taken us far either, has it?
There have always been those who see no need to mature beyond the level of the playground. But just now, it's time for them to go back there and let grown-ups be in charge.
Then he went national. At first I thought "good for him," but the first time I heard his national broadcast I realized something had changed. Maybe it was me.
Limbaugh was no longer the occasionally-am using "showman," but had become increasingly vitriolic in his commentary. I've never listened to him since.
That was approximately 1988 or '89. Long time fad.
What does Holder say about Limbaugh, etc.? Should not Limbaugh be watching the skies? (Should not we all?)
We got slopes so slippery here it's to even stand up.
What do you mean by "a long history of activism?" I thought we were always encouraged to participate in the political process. Please don't use this as a code word to indicate that someone is doing evil. Anyone who attempts to have influence in the political process is an activist, including Rush Limbaugh and Chris Hedges.
bullshit always eventually walks.
You must mean the band, Rush.
"At that point in my life I was blissfully ignorant of the existence of Mr. Limbaugh.
The greatest what? liar, blowhard, fake, misogynist, fool, slave to the rightwing extremists?
Greatest asshole, I'd say.
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/don-imus-on-rush-limbaugh-hes-a-fat-gutless-pill-popping-loser/
I think Don Imus came away from his crisis a better man. If he is not at peace with himself, he should be. I think the opposite is true for Limbaugh.
p.s. Jabba the Fuck. Very good!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/05/don-imus-rush-limbaugh-sandra-fluke_n_1321016.html
There is much worse writing around.
What is most interesting is that they think Beck tells the truth. Beck, of course, repeats this all the time; so they are programmed to hear his nonsense and believe that it's true.
The war against lies and smears will not end any time soon, if ever. It's going to require that liberals and progressives remain vigilant about these right-wing blowhards and, when necessary (in church, online, on the street, etc.) take a stand. Fight back against these liars. I recently called out an old man in a restaurant for spewing Beckerisms about Obama at his table (next to mine).
Their followers suffer from the same pathology of self-loathing and hatred for any person or organization that stands for human decency, common sense and compassionate empathy for others.
From what has been heard from those who support these men, it is clear that most of them are beyond any attempt to save them from themselves. They are just as self-destructiv e as their icons. All folks of good will and sane impulses can do is try to limit the damage to society these people are capable of. How is that done? By remaining sober and constant examples of honesty, decency and justice and by exposing fully the sound and fury that signifies nothing but lunacy on the loose.
This is part of a tidal shift in political thinking. These same guys would have, and did, get away with other displays of poor taste or criminal behavior before, that were at least as bad. The difference is that the public levels of tolerance for their garbage has gone down hill in the past few years.
They didn't suddenly step over an imaginary line. They're just starting to realize the affects of the demographic tide that's going against them. This is only the beginning. In 10 years right-wing hate media will be taken about as seriously as the National Enquirer is today, and probably less seriously than the Onion.
In the meantime, you can expect the repug party to become less conservative or go the way of the Whigs.
Rush is not his own worst enemy while people like me are around.. LOL
They entertain the least common denominator.The y know their audience like no one else. These extremists are well aware of the risks they take with the truth (when did accuracy ever matter to them or their listeners?)
The right wing populists are esentially apolitical.Apol itical because their beliefs and philosophies are not a result of reality, therefore, making them mere followers of a cult of media personality.
Rush is a fool but he is nobody's fool with regards to his political power and ability to make a ton of cash. Never count this fellow (and his like) out. They will all rebound-too many admirers of this "fast food" media empire. Non-thinkers rejoice!
Zen koan
The whole basis of conservative philosophy, if you can call it a philosphy, is a belief that human beings are essentially nasty, selfish rotters who will usually do the wrong thing, if left to their own devices. There are certainly enough people like that to make it possible to sell the conservative line. Interesting thing is that many of the nastiest and most indecent folks among us are the same characters selling that way of thinking. No concidence there, I guess.
Their solution to most problems is to fall back on what they consider stern srength in the form of tough talking militarists and fiscal Scrooges. Any resemblance between such individuals and the Old Testament Jehovah--who is almost always pissed at his human creation--is completely UN-coincidental .
So, Limbaugh is not stupid at all. He knows how to massage the minds of those mired in negativity and loss of faith in human nature. Hey, pandering pays!