RNG NEWS
Stay up to date with the latest stories, insights, and announcements.Obama unveils new climate crackdown amid Trudeau visit
By Andrew Restuccia, Politico.
The Obama administration announced Thursday it would expand its regulation of the oil and gas industry, drawing cheers from environmentalists for the push to slash a potent greenhouse gas and condemnation from industry groups who said it would drive up energy costs.
EPA will begin writing rules to limit methane emissions from thousands of active oil and gas drilling sites around the country, but it will likely fall to Obama’s successor to complete the rules. A previously announced EPA regulation to limit methane from future drilling is on track to be completed this summer.
The announcement came during a visit to Washington by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who also committed to tackling existing sources of methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. When complete, the regulations will go a long way toward meeting a joint U.S.-Canada target of cutting oil-and-gas methane emissions by at least 40 percent below 2012 levels by 2025.
New York State Proposes Sweeping Revisions to Solid Waste Regulations
By E. Christopher Murray, via JD Supra.
Governor Cuomo has proposed a comprehensive revision to the regulations governing the disposal of solid waste. Under the proposed rule making the entire existing regulations for solid waste management facilities will be repealed, and a new regulatory structure will take its place.
Currently the regulations for all types of solid waste facilities are set forth in Part 360 of the New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Under the newly proposed regulations, different types of solid waste management facilities will be broken down and each given their individual regulatory part. Types of facilities covered by the new regulations would be material recovery facilities; combustion, thermal treatment, transfer and collection facilities; transfer collection stations; landfills; waste transporters; and biohazard waste management facilities.
Areas that will come under more scrutiny if the regulations are adopted include mulching locations which will now have restrictions on pile size and strict controls of odor. The new regulations will also impose stringent requirements on the owners of landfills, especially after those landfills have been closed. Post-closure activities dictated by the new regulations include leachate collection treatment, landfill cover maintenance and repair, and regular monitoring of landfill gas, groundwater and surface water.
Proposed Overhaul of Omaha's Waste Collection Would Send Yard Waste to Landfill Along with Trash
By Roseann Moring / World-Herald staff writer.
Separate curbside yard waste collection could go by the wayside in Omaha under a set of proposals to overhaul the city’s waste pickup.
Instead of becoming compost, yard waste would be collected along with trash and sent to the landfill.
In exchange for losing that service, Omahans could gain covered, 96-gallon carts for recycling and possibly a second large cart for trash collection.
MIT researchers are turning waste gases to liquid fuel to combat global warming
By Arlene Karidis, Waste Dive.
Dive Brief:
- The Proceedings of the National Academy of Science journal recently published research showing that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has demonstrated a way to convert emissions from landfills, power stations, and steel mills into liquid fuels using manipulated microbes. Its viability has been shown at a pilot plant in China and will now be tested on a larger scale with researchers hoping to confirm they have a cleaner, relatively cheap, and easy to mass-produce alternative to fossil fuel.
- The process uses bacteria to convert gases into vinegar, next turning them into an engineered yeast, and ultimately producing an oil. This fuel from renewable sources would likely come not only from garbage, but manure and other farm waste, which MIT Professor Gregory Stephanopoulos called promising, claiming, "The volumes are staggering."
- MIT owns the patent for the technology, which is licensed to GTL Biofuel Inc. The first pilot, successfully done at a plant near Shanghai, will now be followed by a 20-fold larger "semi-commercial" demonstration plant to assess cost and carbon footprint.
Ontario County EQ Committee to revisit landfill master plan
By David L. Shaw, Finger Lakes Times.
Five years ago, Ontario County began the process of devising a master plan to guide future development at its Routes 5&20 landfill.
However, the idea drifted into the background in 2013. That’s when the county and Casella Waste Systems, the company that operates the landfill, began working with Barton & Loguidice on an application to create a new, 43.5-acre deposit area within the property’s 389-acre footprint.
Now that the expansion has been approved, the board’s Environmental Quality Committee is reviving its hopes of finishing a master plan.
No debate in the Senate as pipeline bill flies; energy bill looks set for next week
By Mark Drajem, Bloomberg Government.
While you were prepping for Trump v Kelly last evening, the Senate fast-tracked a measure to stiffen pipeline safety, approving by unanimous consent legislation that would establish the first nationwide standards for underground gas storage facilities. We had heard the measure could get through last week, but it hit a roadblock over a provision that would have pipeline response plans sent to select lawmakers. A new provision was added that protects oil response plans from unauthorized public disclosure. The House is working on a companion bill, and could move quickly as well. (The Republican presidential debate had a wide array of personal insults, and the refusal by Donald Trump to release a recording of his off-the-record conversation with the New York Times, but little discussion of energy outside of pledges by Ted Cruz to “pull back” the EPA in order to bring manufacturing back to Detroit.)
The Senate energy bill may be up next.
Review: The 2016 California Biodiesel Conference in Sacramento
By The California Biodiesel Alliance.
The 2016 California Biodiesel Conference, held Feb. 24 in Sacramento, presented a range of detailed policy and technical information that was first put into context in a powerful opening address by Jennifer Case, chair of the California Biodiesel Alliance. Case, who is also president of New Leaf Biofuel, a small biodiesel producer in San Diego that has survived tough times in the California market, ended her talk with a David vs. Goliath analogy, predicting that renewable energy will prevail against opposition from the industry with the fuel so old it’s called “fossil,” because renewable is where the innovation, jobs, opportunity and passion are.
Case discussed biodiesel’s policy successes leading toward regulatory stability—including the two-year renewal of the federal tax incentive and healthy renewable fuel standard (RFS) volumes and CBA’s legislative successes, especially solving a long-standing biodiesel tax problem in the state. She then set the stage in a strong way for the first panel, the keynote presentation, and discussions throughout the day when she expressed the concern that of the approximately 275 million gallons of diesel alternatives consumed in California in 2015, only 12 percent came from in-state producers. “We are enjoying the environmental benefits of the low carbon fuel standard (LCFS), but the vast majority of the economic benefit is being enjoyed by South America, Asia, and other parts of the United States,” she said.
Utilities Cut Coal Use Amid Clean Power Plan Fight
By Bobby Magill, Climate Central.
Critics of the Obama administration’s most sweeping climate policy hailed the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in February to temporarily block it, saying the ruling on the Clean Power Plan could breathe new life into the flagging coal industry.
But even as those critics await further rulings on whether the plan is constitutional, utilities are already looking far beyond coal — the nation’s largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions driving climate change — and pressing ahead with investments in cleaner forms of energy, including renewable, natural gas and even nuclear power.
Enbridge looking to invest in natural gas, renewable energy projects: CEO
By Shawn McCarthy, Global Energy Reporter, The Globe and Mail.
Enbridge Inc. chief executive Al Monaco says his company is aiming to invest $1-billion a year in natural gas and renewable energy projects, as it looks to rebalance its earnings away from oil over the longer term and take advantage of the global push to a lower-carbon economy.
Mr. Monaco – whose company is vilified by activists over its oil-sands pipeline projects – will take centre stage this week at the GLOBE conference on sustainable business in Vancouver where Enbridge will promote its investments in natural gas, energy efficiency and wind power. The CEO provoked headlines a week ago when he told analysts that company will shift its growth emphasis away from the oil sands.
One man's trash is another's job and money
By Daniel Tyson, The Register-Herald.
While still in the application phase of development, the Raleigh County Solid Waste Authority and a Georgia-based environmental company have big plans for trash. Sort of
The project will utilize the "landfill gas" generated by decomposing trash. Landfill gas is approximately half methane. The remaining chemicals are carbon dioxide and a few other trace elements. It is that methane that's the key, because it is the primary ingredient in natural gas, said James Allen, executive director of the Solid Waste Authority.
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