NW Natural Charts a Green-energy Path that Includes Renewable Natural Gas

By Steve Law, Portland Tribune.

At a time when President Donald Trump is forcing the federal government to disregard the threat from climate change, NW Natural is charting a strategy to achieve what it calls "aggressive greenhouse gas reductions." 

The Portland-based utility's plan lays out how a company that sells fossil fuel can do its part to avert dramatic global warming — largely caused by the burning of fossil fuels. 

In briefings last week, NW Natural unveiled a game plan to voluntarily slash carbon emissions from that sector 30 percent by 2035, compared to 2015 levels. 

"We believe there is a climate imperative," said Kim Heiting, NW Natural's chief marketing officer and vice president for communications, releasing what the utility calls its "low-carbon pathway." 

Beyond 2035, Heiting said, the company realizes it has to go much further down the road to "deep de-carbonization." 

The low-carbon pathway emerged from NW Natural's latest round of strategic planning completed in September, Heiting said. Though the strategy has the support of the corporation's board of directors, it only went public last week, when the utility briefed the Oregon Public Utility Commission, environment groups and other stakeholders. 

It's unclear what the plan would do to customer energy prices. But now they're at historically low levels thanks to efficiency gains achieved by fracking techniques to extract natural gas. Fracking causes earthquakes and soils the land and water, and so far those impacts aren't factored into the low price of the energy. 

Last week's announcement that NW Natural is working with Portland's Bureau of Environmental Services to produce usable gas as a byproduct from the city's sewage treatment plant is a sign of things to come.

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Trump's tax reform outline inspires opposition over climate, clean energy

By John Siciliano, Washington Examiner.

The debate about overhauling the tax code won't be immune from the fight over President Trump's environmental and climate change policies, activist groups said Wednesday.

The groups are preparing for a major protest this weekend against Trump's environmental policies, which now include the president's tax reform plan.

Billionaire climate change activist Tom Steyer blasted Trump's tax reform blueprint announced Wednesday as a dangerous proposal that he hopes will be dead on arrival on Capitol Hill.

"Trump's corporate tax giveaway would worsen the dangerous imbalance in an economy already rigged in favor of the wealthy and the powerful," Steyer said.

The tax principles, announced by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, don't mention climate change or renewable energy, which would be expected. But most environmental and activist groups in the last year have broadened their attacks on Trump to include advocating for the poor and middle class.

"Congress must reject Trump's corporate tax giveaway and fight for a fair tax reform designed to strengthen the middle class, spur innovation, and grow our economy," he said. "We need a tax code that puts the needs of struggling American families before the limitless appetites of business owners and employers."

However, the environmental group Friends of the Earth response to the tax reform proposal pointed out how it would benefit "big business cronies" at the expense of the environment as a "reverse Robin Hood" plan.

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GOP Lawmakers Praise Trump Tax Outline Despite Differences

By Tara Jeffries, Morning Consult.

President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday released the core tenets of the White House tax agenda, sketching a general outline that leaves room for many more details, but already shows deviation from the House Republican blueprint.

House and Senate GOP leaders and top tax-writers applauded the principles. They “will serve as critical guideposts for Congress and the administration as we work together to overhaul the American tax system,” according to a joint statement Wednesday from House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah).

Gaps between proposed rates on businesses and individuals still separate the White House principles from the House GOP blueprint. Trump’s agenda, unveiled in a White House briefing Wednesday afternoon, would lower the corporate tax from 35 percent to 15 percent and apply that rate to “pass-through” businesses, too. The House GOP plan would tax corporations at 20 percent, and pass-throughs — businesses taxed through their owners’ individual returns — at 25 percent.

Trump’s plan whittles the seven current tax brackets down to three, at rates of 35, 25, and 10 percent, while the House GOP plan would tax individuals at 33, 25, and 12 percent rates. The current top individual tax rate is 39.6 percent. The plan would include a “territorial” tax system, but eschews the border adjustment proposal, a key revenue raiser at the heart of the House GOP plan. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said earlier Wednesday that the administration is discussing potential revisions to that measure.

“We are moving as quickly as we can” on moving legislation forward, Mnuchin said at the White House briefing Wednesday.

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Plan Proceeds to Develop Landfill Gas Facility at Mexico City's Largest Former Landfill

By Mexico News Daily.

A plan to build a biogas plant on the site of Bordo Poniente, formerly Mexico City’s largest landfill site, is set to go ahead, says city Mayor Miguel Ángel Mancera.

The dump was closed in late 2011 in an effort to make the city’s waste management system greener and a concession for methane plant was granted in November 2012.

However, the project was delayed for several reasons, including project modifications, economic uncertainty, devaluation of the peso and the range of permissions that needed to be obtained.

Mancera stated that the project was “put at risk” because “investment became more complicated and more difficult to structure.”

These obstacles have now been overcome.

The plant will harvest methane gas produced by 70 million tonnes of trash, generating 508 gigawatts of energy per year. The electricity will be used to power the capital’s 517,000 streetlights and 1,700 public buildings.

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Five bioenergy projects awarded funds from DOE pilot program

By Anna Simet, Biomass Magazine.

The U.S. DOE has awarded funding to 38 projects for which small businesses will team up with national lab researchers through the DOE’s Small Business Vouchers pilot program.

The intent of the SBV program is to facilitate access to DOE national labs for American small businesses, enabling them to tap into the intellectual and technical resources needed to overcome critical technology challenges for their advanced energy products, and gain a global competitive advantage, according to the DOE.

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San Francisco Accelerates Clean Energy Goal to 50% by 2020

By Lizzie Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle

Mayor Ed Lee on Thursday set a new goal for San Francisco — that at least 50 percent of the city’s electricity come from renewable sources by 2020. That’s 10 years ahead of the target the state has set for itself. 

“At a time when the federal government is rolling back environmental regulations, we are pushing forward in San Francisco, setting one of the most ambitious clean energy targets of any major city in the U.S.,” Lee said. 

San Francisco now funnels electricity through four services: Pacific Gas and Electric Co., CleanPowerSF, Hetch Hetchy Power and direct access providers, where large buildings buy energy from third parties. A total of 44 percent comes from renewable sources, so the city needs an increase of six percentage points to meet its goal.

The city will receive the bulk of that energy through CleanPowerSF, the city-run green energy program that began in May after years of political gridlock and resistance from PG&E. About 40 percent of the electricity provided by the program already comes from renewable sources and will continue to increase. The current mix is 5 percent higher than the original goal of 35 percent, and 10 percent more renewable than energy provided by PG&E. By 2019, CleanPowerSF is projected to provide 400 megawatts of power — enough electricity to power 320,000 homes and businesses.

The program works much like a buyers club for energy. The city purchases electricity for residents, while PG&E delivers that energy on its electrical grid. CleanPowerSF is operating at 60 megawatts and provides electricity to 75,000 residents and businesses. More San Francisco neighborhoods will be auto-enrolled over the next three years.

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DC Circuit Court of Appeals Hears Arguments on 2014-2016 RVO Challenge

By Brian Dabbs, Bloomberg BNA.

The scaling back of advanced biofuel blending requirements between 2013 and 2014 may be an abuse of the EPA’s authority, a federal appeals court judge said April 24 during oral arguments in a lawsuit challenging an aspect of the agency’s renewable fuels regulation. 

A Justice Department attorney representing the Environmental Protection Agency argued the agency action would ensure the most biofuel possible actually reached consumers, but Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, dismissed that stance as agency overreach. 

“I don’t see this statute as necessarily that kind of grand authority for EPA,” Kavanaugh said. “If things are totally screwed up, then Congress should fix it.”

The oral arguments before the D.C. Circuit are part of a biofuel industry challenge to the EPA’s renewable fuel standard (RFS) volume requirements for 2014-2016 ( Ams. for Clean Energy v. EPA, et al, D.C. Cir., No. 16-1005, argued 4/24/17 ). 

The RFS program, which includes annually increasing biofuel blending mandates set by Congress in 2007, aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and give the U.S. more energy independence.

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Former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue confirmed as US ag secretary

By Anna Simet, Biomass Magazine.

In an 87-11 vote, on April 24, the U.S. Senate confirmed Sonny Perdue as the 31stU.S. secretary of agriculture.

Perdue brings to the USDA a farming background and lengthy career of public service, ranging from Captain in the U.S. Airforce, to 11 years as a Georgia state Senator, to a two-term governor. As governor of Georgia, according to his USDA biography, Perdue was credited with transforming a budget deficit into a surplus, dramatically increasing student performance in public schools, and fostering an economic environment that allowed employers to flourish and manufacturers and agricultural producers to achieve record levels of exports.

Perdue followed these accomplishments with a successful career in agribusiness, where he focused on commodities and transportation in enterprises that have spanned the southeastern U.S, according to the USDA.

After taking his oath of office on April 25, Perdue addressed USDA employees with a speech highlighting his planned policies as USDA secretary, and accompanying principles that will guide them, which include maximizing the ability of the agriculture and agribusiness sectors to create jobs;  prioritizing customer service for American taxpayers and consumers by conducting business efficiently and effectively; continuing to serve in the critical role of ensuring the food meets strict safety standards; and  practicing sound land stewardship. 

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NYC zero waste progress report gives updates on local AD

By Cole Rosengren, Waste Dive. 

Dive Brief:

• Two years after setting a goal of "zero waste" by 2030, New York is reporting incremental progress and a new effort to "rethink garbage in groundbreaking ways that treat it as a resource for creating products, energy, and a greener city." According to its annual OneNYC update, the city achieved a 10.9% reduction (from a 2005 baseline) in residential refuse generation last year with a 16.9% diversion rate. The goal is to reach 90% reduction by 2030.
• Switching to single-stream recycling by 2020 is seen as one way to reach that goal. The city reports that while progress is slightly behind schedule, a consultant's study is slated for completion this summer and they aim to begin capital improvements at the Sims Municipal Recycling facility by the end of the year.
• Diverting organic waste collected from both commercial and residential sources is another key priority, though progress has been slower than expected on local processing infrastructure. Some vendors that were selected for long-term processing contracts are still making the necessary facility upgrades and the city's co-digestion project at the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant is not yet fully operational. The city aims to be handling at least 100 tons of material per day at the digester - eventually scaling up to 250 tons - and start construction on a gas-to-grid project by the end of the year.

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Supermarkets and Distribution Centers Gear Up to Divert Organic Waste

By Arlene Karidis, Waste360. 

Large commercial generators of wasted food are facing some of the tallest tasks to move forward. These two businesses are partnering with waste companies and food donation organizations and looking for economically and environmentally sound food waste prevention and reduction strategies.

Commercial waste generators face barriers like limited storage space for organics awaiting recycling and little infrastructure to move food fast and see that it is put to beneficial uses.

Meanwhile, large supermarkets will likely have an easier time than the smaller businesses. They will have lower costs to comply with the program. They can leverage their distribution centers and freight to backhaul organics to a central depot and then realize lower pickup and tip fees, says Steve Sutta CEO of environmental consulting company Green Planet 21.

Sutta will speak at a WasteExpo session called: Food Waste Reduction, Recovery, and Organics Recycling for Supermarkets, and Distribution Centers Tuesday May 9 at 5:00 PM in New Orleans.

“Single stores and small market chains will struggle with higher costs and spottier service [for collections and processing],” Sutta says. “There will be squawking from them. But they will have limited options.” He adds that they lack the economic power to get lawmakers to hear them out and to affect a call to action.

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