Maryland considers bill to require study of organics processing infrastructure

By Cole Rosengren, Waste Dive. 

Dive Brief:

• A pair of bills have been introduced in Maryland's General Assembly that would require the state's Department of the Environment (MDE) to review the diversion of food and yard waste, including the availability of processing infrastructure, among other measures. The House bill, HB0171, is scheduled to have a hearing in the Environment & Transportation Committee on Feb. 8. The matching Senate bill, SB0099, had a committee hearing on Jan. 24.
• As written, the bill would require MDE to study existing organic waste diversion operations in the state, in consultation with other agencies and industry stakeholders. This would include looking at programs in other states, reviewing waste reduction strategies, considering a refuse fee to fund a grant program and considering processing options ranging from small-scale decentralized composting sites to large-scale facilities.
• If passed, this law would take effect on July 1, 2017. MDE would be expected to present an interim report by July 1, 2018 and a final report with recommendations by July 1, 2019.

Dive Insight:

Based on an executive order from former Governor Martin O'Malley, Maryland has a goal of diverting 60% if its organic waste by 2020. This is part of a larger goal of reaching 85% waste diversion and 80% recycling by 2040, which has been supported by current Governor Larry Hogan. According to a recent report, the state has an estimated 30 years of remaining landfill capacity and its per capita generation rate is higher than the national average. MDE could technically conduct this study at any time — and advised legislative staff that the proposed bill could be implemented using existing resources — but formally requiring it is seen as a necessary step.

"The goal of this current bill is to really shine a light on [the fact] that we still need to get people together to deal with specifically encouraging not only more diversion of yard waste and food residuals, but infrastructure," said Brenda Platt, co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR).

Read more...

Ontario Seeks Input On Renewable Fuel Standard Discussion Paper

By National Law Review.

On January 11, 2017, the Government of Ontario released a discussion paper titled “Developing a Modern Renewable Fuel Standard For Gasoline in Ontario,” which provides context for the new RFS requirements.  The discussion paper explains that Ontario aims to keep the following considerations in mind when designing the RFS policy:

• Ensure a level playing field for fuels, regardless of technology or origin;

Read more...

City of Phoenix and Ameresco host groundbreaking for wastewater treatment plant biogas project

By Francesca Brindle, Hydrocarbon Engineering.

Ameresco, Inc., a leading renewable energy and energy efficiency company, and the City of Phoenix have hosted a ceremonial groundbreaking event for the start of a multi-million dollar wastewater treatment biogas utilisation project at the 91st Ave wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). Once operational, it is expected to be the largest wastewater treatment biogas-to-renewable natural gas facility of its kind in the US. The attendees at the event heard from a variety of speakers including City leaders and Ameresco representatives.

Ameresco will design, build, own, operate and maintain (DBOOM) the wastewater biogas-to-energy facility. The WWTP is owned by the Sub-Regional Operating Group (SROG) made up of Phoenix, Glendale, Mesa, Scottsdale, and Tempe, and serves these cities. The WWTP is operated by the City of Phoenix. The 91st Ave biogas project, expected to be operational in late 2017, will process the raw biogas generated in the anaerobic digesters into renewable natural gas (RNG) that will be sold to the vehicle market through the nation’s natural gas pipeline grid. The biogas is a mixture of various gasses (mostly methane and carbon dioxide) produced through the anaerobic decomposition of organic matter delivered to the WWTP. With a project size of 3250 ft3/min. capacity, the project is expected to be the largest of its kind in the US.

Read more...

BioEnergy Hawaii to build a waste separation and anaerobic digestion facility

By Ken Silverstein, Environmental Leader.

Hawaii County Planning Department has approved a waste-to-energy plant that aims to reduce the amount of waste headed to landfills and instead to divert it to create energy. The Hawaii Tribune-Herald is reporting that BioEnergy Hawaii will lease about 15 acres to build a modern facility.

“The County of Hawaii Planning Department has reviewed the comments received during the 30-day comment period on the draft environmental assessment,” said Planning Director Michael Yee in a letter to the state, as reported by the paper. “We have determined that the project will not have significant environmental effects.”

Read more...

New Tennessee Valley Authority plant to add biogas to fuel mix

Tom Charlier, USA Today Network

After climbing to a platform some 40 feet above the busy, sprawling construction site he oversees, Dan Tibbs motions toward the east, to a point far beyond the boundaries of Tennessee Valley Authority's Allen Combined Cycle Plant in Southwest Memphis.

"The lagoons are over there," said Tibbs, manager of major construction projects for TVA.

Barely visible in the distance, the 30 acres of covered lagoons in the Frank C. Pidgeon Industrial Park are used in treating waste-activated sludge, primarily organic material filtered from sewage sent to the city of Memphis' T.E. Maxson South Wastewater Treatment Plant. It is there that the sludge undergoes a process called anaerobic digestion, in which microorganisms break down the solids, creating methane, carbon dioxide and other gases as byproducts.

But soon the lagoons will become something more than part of the waste-treatment process. With investments totaling up to $25 million, TVA and the city will turn them into sources of fuel for the $975 million electrical-generating facility that is slated for completion in June 2018 and will replace the coal-fired Allen Fossil Plant nearby.

The so-called biogas from the lagoons will be piped to the TVA plant and burned to generate an additional 5-6 megawatts of power, enough to serve 3,000-plus homes. Although that production might seem trifling compared to the overall 1,070-megawatt capacity of the plant, it will carry significant financial and environmental benefits, city and TVA officials say.

Read more...

Scott Pruitt Is Seen Cutting the E.P.A. With a Scalpel, Not a Cleaver

By Coral Davenport, The New York Times.

WASHINGTON — Scott Pruitt, President Trump’s pick to run the Environmental Protection Agency, is drawing up plans to move forward on the president’s campaign promise to “get rid of” the agency he hopes to head. He has a blueprint to repeal climate change rules, cut staffing levels, close regional offices and permanently weaken the agency’s regulatory authority.

But Mr. Pruitt, a lawyer who made a career suing the E.P.A., is not likely to start with the kind of shock and awe that Mr. Trump has used to disorient Washington. Instead, he will use the legal tools at his disposal to pare back the agency’s reach and power, and trim its budget selectively.

“Here’s my impression about Pruitt: I don’t think he’s going in there to blow up the agency,” said Jeffrey Holmstead, a senior E.P.A. official during the George W. Bush administration who has been mentioned as a possible deputy to Mr. Pruitt, and who has joined forces with him on lawsuits against the agency. “I think he’ll be very careful to make sure they’ve done everything legally to cross all the t’s and dot all the i’s.”

With a zeal that has shocked or thrilled much of the country, Mr. Trump has been making good on campaign promises that once seemed outlandish, and those pledges included a vow to dismantle the agency charged with protecting the nation’s air, water and public health “in almost every form.”

Myron Ebell, an internationally prominent climate-change denier who led Mr. Trump’s E.P.A. transition team, has recommended that the new administration slash the E.P.A.’s staff by two-thirds, to 5,000 from about 15,000. And the president has promised to “eliminate” former President Barack Obama’s major environmental regulations, including a global warming rule that was one of Mr. Obama’s proudest achievements and another major regulation to curb pollution in lakes, streams and rivers.

“Environmental protection, what they do is a disgrace,” Mr. Trump said after the election. “Every week they come out with new regulations.”

But in Mr. Pruitt, who is expected to be confirmed by the Senate this week, the president has tapped a surgeon, not a butcher, to fulfill those pledges. As much as anyone, Mr. Pruitt knows the legal intricacies of environmental regulation — and deregulation. As Oklahoma’s attorney general for the last six years, he has led or taken part in 14 lawsuits against the E.P.A.

Read more...

BC Liberals Leak NDP’s Climate Plan — A Plan Everyone Agrees Is Pretty Awesome

By Carol Linnett, Desmog Canada.

Leaked internal documents and theatrical political spin?

Nothing like a little intrigue to spice up your B.C. climate politics, amiright?

Just in case you weren’t aware, the race for political leadership in B.C. is on. With the May 9 election just three months away, it’s time for the mud-slinging to begin, I guess.

The BC Liberals aren’t wasting any time.

This morning the BC Liberals leaked internal NDP documents related to the official opposition’s climate plan — 90 minutes before NDP leader John Horgan was due to release the plan at a Vancouver press conference

Saucy.

(If you want to read Environment Minister Mary Polak’s bafflegab on the leaked documents, the Vancouver Sun gave her plenty of room here.)

But for those interested in the meat of the NDP’s actual plan to address climate change, there’s a lot in the documents that show the party is promising to take B.C. in a very different climate direction.

And in a rather hilarious twist, the very plan the BC Liberals leaked is now being praised by climate experts because it promises to actually reduce carbon pollution — something the current provincial government has consistently failed to do.

The NDP’s climate plan is also being praised precisely because it takes up the recommendations of Premier Christy Clark’s own Climate Leadership Team — a group of experts the premier hired to come up with a solid climate plan and then completely ignored.

One of the most striking aspects of the climate plan is its promise to unfreeze the provincial carbon tax, thereby addressing one of the most highly criticized climate moves of the B.C. government under Christy Clark.

“We are absolutely encouraged by this plan,” Josha MacNab, B.C. director of the Pembina Institute, told DeSmog Canada.

“It’s refreshing to see a commitment to reduce B.C.’s emissions and it’s encouraging to see the NDP take up the Climate Leadership Team’s recommendations because we know those recommendations offer a blueprint to actually meeting those emission reductions.”

The B.C. NDP plan is anchored in five guiding principles: reducing carbon pollution, increasing the carbon tax, keeping those increases affordable, investing in clean energy and regulating emissions on a sector by sector basis.

Read more...

Maryland Senate overrides Gov. Hogan's veto of energy bill, raising renewables goal

By Robert Walton, Utility Dive.

Dive Brief:

• Lawmakers in the Maryland Senate voted 32-13 to expand the state's renewable energy target, overriding Gov. Larry Hogan (R)'s veto of the measure in May of last year.
• The Senate's vote followed on a similar move in the House of Delegates earlier this week. The Baltimore Sun points out that the Democratic majority legislature has overridden a veto on several issues, ranging from felons' rights to how hotel taxes are collected.
• The law will raise Maryland's renewable portfolio standard from 20% to 25% by 2020, a decision environmentalists immediately cheered. 

Dive Insight:

Largely along party lines, Maryland lawmakers looked past increased electric bills and voted to boost the amount of carbon-free energy utilities in the state provide customers. In response, Hogan took to Facebook and posted a list of Senators who voted in favor, urging constituents to complain.

"It will be an additional charge on your energy bill each month to pay for overly expensive solar and wind energy credits, the majority of which are created by companies outside of Maryland," he wrote.

Last year, Maryland electric suppliers needed renewable energy credits for 15.9% of their supply, with a goal of 20% by 2022. Now, utilities must reach 25% by 2020. The bill also raises the solar carve-out to 2.5% by 2020, creating incentives for roughly 1,300 MW of new clean energy.

Read more...

Heartland Biogas, Weld County file competing injunctions

By Tyler Silvy, Greeley Tribune.

A legal battle between Weld County and a renewable energy company continues to work its way through U.S. District Court, with both sides asking the judge to use force in their favor. 

Heartland Biogas, which breaks down various waste materials to create natural gas, has been under fire for more than a year, with dozens of neighbors filing about 400 odor-related complaints. 

When the Board of Weld County Commissioners on Dec. 28 suspended Heartland’s special use permit for a variety of alleged violations, including odor, the company sued. Heartland continued to operate on Weld County Road 49 near LaSalle in violation of the commissioners’ order. Late Thursday, company officials said in an email, they had stopped operating.

In Heartland’s lawsuit, filed the same day as the resolution, the company’s lawyers paint a dramatic picture of commissioners hostile to Heartland and its “constitutional rights,” and irrationally bent on destroying the company. 

A judge rejected the company’s request for a temporary restraining order, and now the judge must decide on a preliminary injunction. In both cases, Heartland is asking the judge to allow the company to stay open until the case works its way through the legal system. It says shutting down will cost it millions of dollars and millions more each month it doesn’t operate.

Read more...

California Air Resources Board Forges Ahead With 2030 Scoping Plan

By Tara Kaushik, Holland & Knight, via Mondaq.com.

On Jan. 20, 2017, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) released an updated Scoping Plan to reduce state greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). Under the state's climate change law known as Assembly Bill (AB) 32, CARB is required to produce a scoping plan every five years. The proposed plan has the potential to impact the state's cap and trade program and carbon markets for the long term.

The proposed plan outlines options to meet California's aggressive goals to reduce GHGs by 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030. The State codified the 40 percent goal in legislation enacted last year (Senate Bill 32). The proposed plan would extend the state's cap-and-trade program — in which CARB auctions off emissions allowances to refiners, utilities and other GHG sources as the emissions cap gradually declines — to cover the years 2020 to 2030. The proposed plan would extend the cap-and-trade program and newly require oil refineries to reduce their GHGs by 20 percent.

The proposed plan also incorporates the state's updated Renewable Portfolio Standard requiring utilities to procure 50 percent of their electricity from renewable energy sources by 2030. It also raises the state's Low Carbon Fuel Standard, and aims to reduce emissions of methane and hydrofluorocarbons by 40 percent from 2013 levels by 2030 and emissions of black carbon by 50 percent from 2013 levels.

Read more...