Hitachi Zosen to get biogas business underway in US

By EBR.

Hitachi Zosen (HZC) is set to construct an energy-from-waste facility in San Luis Obispo County, California, marking the start of its biogas business in the US. 

The project will be carried by out by HZC, along with its wholly-owned subsidiary Hitachi Zosen Inova (HZI), which is invovled in EPC and service business of energy from waste.

Project special purpose company (SPC), which was created by HZ group companies, will develop a Kompogas facility, which is expected to be cost around $22m.

The SPC will operate the plant to produce electricity, which will be sold to customers for 20 years.

In 2014, HZI purchased Kompogas EPC business from Axpo Kompogas Engineering ((Komeng). Later HZC group companies created Kompogas SLO to serve as Project SPC to manage the construction, operation and maintenance of the facility.

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Commentary: As Trump threatens historic climate protections, Midwest Republican governors embrace clean energy economy

By Dick Munson, Midwest Energy News.

Any day now, President Trump is expected to issue an executive order attacking key climate and air standards, including the Clean Power Plan — America’s first-ever nationwide standards to reduce carbon pollution from power plants. His EPA Administrator, Scott Pruitt, has also questioned the scientific consensus that such man-made pollution is disrupting our climate. But the new administration does not reflect all Republicans’ attitudes toward the environment and cleaner power — far from it.

Concern about pollution — and its impact on our children’s health — has long linked Republicans and Democrats. Republican President Theodore Roosevelt, for instance, launched the conservation movement early in the last century, and, responding to cough-inducing smog and rivers catching on fire, President Richard Nixon signed the landmark Clean Air and Clean Water Acts and established the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Contrary to what you might see in the headlines, this bipartisan approach has continued in the months since November’s election, with four Republican governors in the politically critical Midwest advancing clean-energy measures. Consider Bruce Rauner, the Republican governor of Illinois, who signed bipartisan legislation to double the state’s energy efficiency portfolio and spur some $15 billion of investment in new solar and wind projects to be built in the Prairie State. That legislation, known as the Future Energy Jobs Act, will help achieve a 56 percent reduction in greenhouse-gas pollution from the power sector, almost twice what is required for the state under the Clean Power Plan.

According to Rauner, “I refused to gamble on thousands of good-paying jobs, and I refused to gamble on the energy diversity options for the people of Illinois. That’s why I fought to make this bill happen.”

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Xebec announces a breakthrough in biogas upgrading to renewable natural gas

By Xebec Adsorption Inc., Biomass Magazine.

Xebec Adsorption Inc., a global provider of gas generation, purification, and filtration solutions for the industrial, energy and renewables marketplace, announced today that it has achieved a significant breakthrough in its fast-cycle pressure swing adsorption (PSA) technology for upgrading biogas to renewable natural gas (RNG). By optimizing the process design and combining it with a novel adsorption/desorption cycle, Xebec can now achieve recovery rates of up to 98.5 percent while operating at low pressure, allowing operators to maximize revenue, lower operating costs and, consequently, increase profitability.

Xebec has pioneered fast and rapid cycle adsorption technology, bringing its proprietary technology to the biogas upgrading market more than 15 years ago. Adsorption technology is now well-established for upgrading biogas to RNG and Xebec is a major player with 27 installations operating globally and a growing number of ongoing projects under planning, procurement and construction.

Biogas upgrading has historically been a challenge because gas compositions constantly vary, flow rates fluctuate, and temperatures change with seasonal and weather conditions. Operators need technology solutions that are flexible, reliable, and cost effective in order to maximize profits. Xebec has a sterling reputation for delivering product gas that meets all of these objectives at a quality that can be injected into the pipeline systems. In a collaborative demonstration with Southern California Gas in 2012, Xebec demonstrated that its technology can meet “Rule 30,” California’s very stringent gas quality standard, even under varying operating conditions.

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California commits to cleaner cars in break with Trump administration

By Patrick Reilly, Christian Science Monitor.

MARCH 25, 2017 —On Friday, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) voted to finalize new vehicle emissions rules for the model years 2022-2025.

Eight years from now, new cars and trucks sold in the Golden State will be required to have an average fuel economy of 54.5 miles per gallon. The CARB rules will also mean more “zero emission vehicles” powered by batteries and fuel cells, and tough new standards on particulate matter pollution.

The CARB didn’t come up with these guidelines on the spot. The Obama administration had sought to apply them nationally, but President Trump’s administration put them back under review. Now, environmentalists are looking to California to keep the higher emission standards from being tossed out.

“The public is bearing a huge cost” from vehicle emissions, said Bonnie Holmes-Gen of the American Lung Association of California at Friday’s meeting. “I urge California to keep us on track.”

If California succeeds, other states may follow. The sheer size of California’s market, and a unique waiver from the Clean Air Act, give it an outsize role in determining what comes out of your car's tailpipe. With this vote, it’s trying to raise those standards at the same moment when the feds and automakers want them eased.

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White House looks past conservatives on tax reform - to Democrats

By Lindsay Dunsmuir and Doina Chiacu, via WHTC News.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fresh off a defeat on U.S. healthcare legislation, the White House warned rebellious conservative lawmakers that they should get behind President Donald Trump's agenda or he may bypass them on future legislative fights, including tax reform.

The threat by White House chief of staff Reince Priebus to build a broad coalition on tax reform that could include moderate Democrats came as the Republican head of the tax-writing committee in the House of Representatives said he hoped to move a tax bill through his panel this spring.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady said his committee had been working on tax reform in parallel with the failed healthcare reform push.

"We've never stopped working," Brady told Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo." "We will continue to make improvements."

Brady said the committee planned to move on the bill in the spring. He said he wanted the House blueprint to be the basis for Trump's tax reform plan rather than have competing versions from Treasury and the White House.

Investors on Wall Street worry the healthcare bill's defeat bodes poorly for tax reform. Equities have rallied since Trump's election partly on expectations of tax cuts. Economic growth would be more modest without fiscal stimulus and U.S. equity index futures fell to a six-week low on Sunday.

Both Trump and Priebus have scolded hardline conservatives who rejected legislation backed by the White House to replace the 2010 Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare.

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House Ways and Means Chairman Aims to Move Tax Bill Through Committee in Spring

By Joel Schectman, Reuters.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representative Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady said he aims to move a tax reform bill through his committee this spring.

Brady told Fox News's "Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo" that his committee had been working on tax reform in parallel with the failed healthcare reform push.

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Washington & Oregon Governors Join Gov. Jerry Brown in Banding Together To Challenge Trump's Energy Plans

By Molly Solomon, KUOW News.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington are banding together in support of clean energy. They met Saturday in Seattle to discuss concerns over the Trump administration’s efforts to eliminate policies that combat climate change. 

“It doesn’t make sense for Oregon to do it alone; it makes sense when we do it in a regional basis,” Brown said, emphasizing that West Coast states need to work together. 

“We are only a small part of the global climate challenge, but we can be a large part of the solution,” she added. “Oregonians are committed to moving our state forward and, working with Washington and California, we can continue to move the entire country forward. Our citizens are demanding cleaner air and cleaner water — we are not willing to go backwards.” 

The governors recently joined California Gov. Jerry Brown and five West Coast mayors in a letter reaffirming support for the Clean Power Plan.

“We speak as a region of over 50 million people with a combined GDP of $2.8 trillion. There is no question that to act on climate is to act in our best economic interests. Through expanded climate policies, we have grown jobs and expanded our economies while cleaning our air,” the letter said.

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British Columbia seeks to increase the market for LNG and renewable natural gas

From BC Gov News.

The Government of British Columbia is taking action under the Climate Leadership Plan to support investments by natural gas utilities that will increase the use of LNG and renewable natural gas in the transportation, marine and other sectors and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

“We’re working with utilities to stimulate the use of LNG as a marine fuel in large, ocean-going ships, and to increase the supply and use of renewable natural gas,” said Energy and Mines Minister Bill Bennett. “Building the market for B.C.’s abundant supplies of natural gas offers the opportunity to achieve significant GHG emissions reductions and supports jobs and economic opportunities in British Columbia’s natural gas sector.”

Amendments to the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Regulation (GGRR) under the Clean Energy Act will enable utilities to increase incentives provided to shipping companies for the conversion of vessels to run on LNG, invest in LNG bunkering (marine fuelling) infrastructure, and increase the supply and use of renewable natural gas (RNG).

Programs under the GGRR are funded by the utility, not the Province. The amendments are enabling only, and set the parameters for potential utility programs and investments that will reduce GHG emissions.

“We are creating market opportunities for British Columbia’s natural gas sector, offering utilities flexibility to create new incentive programs so we can continue to build a strong economy and a cleaner future,” said Deputy Premier and Minister of Natural Gas Development Rich Coleman.

Converting just one ocean-going tanker, cruise ship, or container ship to run on LNG instead of heavy fuel oil will reduce GHG emissions by about 93,500 tonnes per year, equivalent to taking over 19,800 vehicles off the road. Utility investments in LNG fuelling infrastructure will help establish B.C. as a marine bunkering centre on the west coast capable of providing LNG to an increasing number of LNG vessels and leading to global reductions in GHG emissions.

RNG is derived from biogas created when organic waste decomposes at landfills, agricultural and forestry waste sites and wastewater treatment facilities. Although conventional natural gas has 25% less carbon than diesel fuel and 25-39% less than typical marine fuels, RNG is considered carbon neutral unless forestry biomass is used. In this case, if waste or dead biomass is used, RNG has lower lifecycle emissions than conventional natural gas. Increased use of RNG could result in up to 450,000 tonnes of GHG reductions per year in B.C., and will also help build the market for biogas, providing economic opportunities for local governments and farming and forestry operations.

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LA & Long Beach Port Fleets Now Include Zero-Emissions Natural Gas Engine

By HDT Trucking Info.

Total Transportation Services, Inc. (TTSI), a drayage trucking company in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif., has begun using one of the first Cummins Westport (CWI) ISX12 G low-NOx natural gas engines for its trucking operations.

Available for order later this year, the 12.0L engine’s emissions will be certified by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to produce 90% less NOx than the current EPA standard for heavy-duty engines, and are equivalent to that of a truck powered by electricity from the electrical grid.

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Over Three Dozen Senators Call for Reversal of Proposed EPA Cuts

From the office of Senator Jeff Merkley.

Senators: Trump’s pledge for clean air and water is “meaningless” when followed by proposal for drastic cuts that would undercut EPA’s core mission

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley led a group of 37 Senators in opposing President Trump’s proposal to inflict a more than 30 percent cut to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) budget.

Expressing “extreme concern” over the cuts, the Senators wrote to appropriations leaders, “During the President’s February 28, 2017 address to Congress, he pledged to ‘promote clean air and water.’ Such a pledge is meaningless when the President follows it by proposing a 31 percent cut to the EPA’s budget and a 20 percent reduction in its staff. If enacted, this funding cut would effectively eliminate the EPA’s ability to execute its core mission to protect public health and ensure citizens have clean air, clean water, and are protected from hazardous waste and contaminants.”

The Senators highlighted many areas of concern where the proposed cuts would significantly harm communities across America—from reducing clean air and clean water grants and cutting enforcement against polluters, to cutting funding for Superfund sites by 30 percent, to entirely eliminating efforts to combat climate change and clean up major regional bodies of water, like the Great Lakes and the Columbia River Basin. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has insisted that states should be the primary protectors of the environment. However, this proposed budget would drastically cut grants that are crucial for states to protect their clean water and clean air, monitor health impacts of pollution, and reclaim toxic-contaminated sites throughout the country.

“We urge you to oppose these drastic and dangerous cuts, and support continued funding for the EPA,” the Senators concluded. 

In addition to Merkley, the letter was signed by Environment and Public Works Committee Ranking Member Tom Carper (D-DE), and Senators Tom Udall (D-NM), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Chris Coons (D-DE), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Al Franken (D-MN), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Mark Warner (D-VA), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Patty Murray (D-WA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Gary Peters (D-MI), Bob Casey (D-PA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), and Bob Menendez (D-NJ).

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