RNG NEWS
Stay up to date with the latest stories, insights, and announcements.SCS Engineers and Page County Team Help Keep Virginia Beautiful
By PRWeb, via Benzinga.
Page County, Virginia, located in the Shenandoah Valley abuts the George Washington National Forest and is home to Shenandoah National Park. Page County's rivers, farmlands, and mountain views are as unspoiled now as they were when the County was founded in 1831.
Luray, VA (PRWEB) June 23, 2016
SCS Engineers, an environmental consulting and contracting firm, teamed up with Page County, Virginia, beginning in 2002 to maintain and improve the pristine environment of this beautiful region of the Commonwealth. Page County's Director of Solid Waste and Recycling, Lynda Minke, along with Amity N. Moler, Page County's Administrator, proactively plan for the health and welfare of the County's environment to protect its citizens and many visitors. Over the years the partnership between the County and SCS has grown and successfully continues to protect the environment with beneficial planning, construction, environmental monitoring and operations services. The primary focus is on proper landfill and solid waste management which protects the environment while also controlling costs.
Permission to Power: Orange County’s third landfil gas-to-energy facility began commercial operations this year, but not without meeting the region’s strict air quality standards.
By Katie Fletcher, Biomass Magazine.
The transition from vision to reality involves many challenges for renewable energy projects. Without a sufficient energy source, capital and consent, the transition is impossible to make. One might assume that in comparison to conventional energy projects, projects focused on reducing environmental impacts and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have an easier time obtaining permits and meeting regulatory requirements, but often, this isn’t the case. The same challenges in obtaining permits for conventional energy projects apply to renewable energy ventures, in addition to other unique requirements.
Pennsylvania-based Montauk Energy has experienced this reality firsthand.Through its Bowerman Power subsidiary, the company developed a 23-MW renewable energy project located within the South Coast Air Basin, a nonattainment basin. This means any incremental increase in air quality must meet strict requirements when undergoing the permitting process with the South Coast Air Quality Management District. The $60 million landfill gas-to-renewable-energy (LFGTE) facility, financed by Cat Financial Services Corp., is located on 2.6 acres of the 725-acre Frank R. Bowerman Landfill near Irvine, California. This project joins other large LFGTE projects in the area (Olinda in Brea and Prima Deshecha in San Juan Capistrano) with the aim of reducing GHG emissions. The Bowerman facility is estimated to reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 53,000 tons annually. The plant will generate roughly 160,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity, sufficient to serve the equivalent of 26,000 energy-efficient homes in Southern California, and sold to Anaheim Public Utilities under a 20-year power purchase agreement. Collectively, the three LFGTE operations produce approximately 380,000 MWh of electricity annually, enough to power some 56,000 Southern California homes.
House Republicans roll out new blueprint for tax reform
By Naomi Jagoda, The Hill.
House Republicans on Friday are unveiling a blueprint for reforming the tax code, providing the final plank of an election-year platform spearheaded by Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).
The proposal calls for lowering rates, moving the United States toward a consumption-based tax system and revamping the IRS. GOP lawmakers designed it to foster economic growth, make the tax code simpler and eliminate the reasons why companies would participate in offshore tax deals known as “inversions.”
“The approach reflected in this blueprint will be simple enough to fit on a postcard for most Americans,” the paper states.
The 35-page document provides some specifics, but leaves the details of legislation up to members of the House Ways and Means Committee.
Poll: Americans want environmental methane reduced
By Katie Porter, Boulder Weekly.
A poll conducted by the American Lung Association (ALA) reveals that people want oil and gas companies to better control the leakage of methane into the environment. Three out of five people say they approve of the restrictions the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) placed on the industry last month.
“We are very pro air-quality standards, so we exercise our authority under the Clean Air Act to advocate for things like pollution reduction,” says Dawn Mullally, director of Air Quality and Transportation at the ALA. “Any regulations that will improve health matters to us and we pay attention to and track those things.”
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that can cause respiratory harm when inhaled. The ALA says emission pollution is especially detrimental to children, the elderly and those with conditions like asthma, emphysema or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The health risks are heightened closer to facilities that produce the gas.
California regulators voice support for cap and trade program
By Rory Carroll, Reuters.
Staff for California's air regulator on Thursday recommended the state extend its carbon cap and trade system beyond 2020, a move supported by utilities and some environmental groups but opposed by environmental activists representing low income communities.
The show of support comes after the state failed to sell any permits covering 2016 emissions at a recent state-run auction and market participants await the outcome of a lawsuit challenging the program.
Market regulators maintained that selling the permits, the proceeds of which fund low carbon programs like the state's bullet train, is not the primary point of the program – cutting carbon emissions is.
EPA Considering Petitions to Change Renewable Fuel Standard Obligation
By Jack Fitzpatrick, Morning Consult.
Environmental Protection Agency Acting Assistant Administrator Janet McCabe told lawmakers Wednesday the agency is considering how it enforces the Renewable Fuel Standard, which requires renewable fuels to be blended into gasoline.
McCabe said in a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing the EPA has received several petitions calling for the agency to switch the burden of compliance off of refiners, adding that the possibility of changing the obligation is “very much on our minds.” McCabe said she didn’t have a timeframe for responding to the petitions but called it an “important issue to look at.”
Refiners have petitioned the EPA to change the point of obligation to blenders, or “the entity that holds title to the gasoline or diesel fuel, immediately prior to the sale from the bulk transfer/terminal system … to a wholesaler, retailer or ultimate consumer.”
Environmental groups unite to oppose energy bill
By Devin Henry, The Hill.
Nearly two dozen environmental groups on Wednesday urged senators not to work with the House on an energy policy reform bill this session.
In a letter to senators, 23 groups said the House-passed bill “undermines the progress our nation needs” on energy policy. They said the Senate should not vote to go to conference with the House so long as policies they oppose are included in the bill.
“The House-passed amendment would undoubtedly take our country down the wrong track and contains so many controversial and problematic provisions it is impossible to see how agreement could be found,” wrote the groups, a collection that includes the Sierra Club, Greenpeace, the League of Conservation Voters and the Natural Resources Defense Council.
New Holland unveil new methane powered tractor
By MJ Doran, Agriland.
UK and Irish farmers got a first-hand look at New Holland’s new methane powered T6.180 tractor at Cereals 2016.
James Ashworth, Marketing Manager for New Holland Agriculture UK and ROI said that this 2nd generation prototype would offer fuel cost savings of up to 20% and emit 80% less polluting emissions than a standard diesel tractor, making it more environmentally friendly
Farmers that attended the Cereals 2016 event on 15-16 June in Chrishall Grange, Nr Duxford, Cambridgeshire, got a first-hand look at the tractor.
EPA chief tangles with GOP on regulations
By Devin Henry, The Hill.
The top Republican on the House Science Committee sparred with the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday, criticizing the EPA's scientific work and accusing it of being “an agency in pursuit of a purely political agenda."
Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) and EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy got into a heated discussion about the agency’s rulemaking agenda and the science it uses to justify those rules during a Wednesday hearing.
The two tangled on the findings of a year-old federal report that concludes energy prices might go up as coal-fired power plants close under the Clean Power Plan, the EPA’s landmark climate rule for power plants.
EPA proposes CPP state renewable energy incentives despite SCOTUS freeze
By Robert Walton, Utility Dive.
Dive Brief:
- Federal regulators last week proposed more detail for a voluntary incentive program that is a part of the Clean Power Plan, moving to assist states with renewables and low-income efficiency measures despite the Supreme Court's decision to stay the climate change rule, the Hill reports.
- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Energy Incentive Program is designed to credit states for early CPP compliance action, and because it is voluntary, the government believes issuing proposed rules is consistent with a delay in the law's implementation.
- The proposed incentive program rules include clarifications about project eligibility, including expanding eligibility to solar energy project in low-income communities, and provide states with the flexibility to choose one or more existing definitions of low-income communities.
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