Rachel Smolker, Co-Managing Editor

The disasters in Japan dominate our attention while people around the world rightly reconsider nuclear power. So if you don't support nukes, coal, or biomass power, then what do you support?

First of all, let's accept that burning every single tree on the continent--not recommended!--could only provide a small fraction of our energy use anyway. Even the industry knows this: Enviva wood pellet manufacturer CEO John Keppler pointed out in a March 18 article in Biomass Magazine: "Even a one percent displacement of coal would require around 17 million metric tons of wood per year." Non-smokestack alternatives like solar, wind, and energy efficiency are the winners here.

Don't let the big polluters divide us: our clean energy future doesn't have to be a choice between smokestacks and nukes.

Shelton, WA Stops Biomass Incinerator
(source: Dodge, John. The Olympian. Mar. 15, 2011)

March 14, 2011  ADAGE--a joint venture with nuclear power producer Areva and Duke Energy--canceled plans for a 55-megawatt biomass power incinerator for the Port of Shelton, Washington, according to ADAGE spokesperson, Tom DePonty.

"This is a victory for the citizens of Mason County," said Beth McBain, spokesperson for the Concerned Citizens of Mason County, which has organized rallies, hosted public forums, and educated elected officials over the past year on the impacts of biomass incineration.

Photo: Shawna Whelan

Two CA Biomass Incinerators Fined

February 15, 2011  Two biomass power incinerators in Chowchilla and El Nido, California were penalized a combined $835,000 for Clean Air Act violations, according to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency release.

Biomass Opposition Mounts in Rothschild, WI

Residents of Rothschild, Wisconsin are calling on Governor Scott Walker to oppose a 50-megawatt biomass power incinerator proposed by WE Energies and Domtar Paper, claiming a permit issued by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources would put thousands of schoolchildren at risk from toxic air pollution and do so on the backs of taxpayers. The proposed facility would be constructed within 1,200 feet of an elementary school.

Biomass Fight in Port St. Joe, FL

March 15, 2011  Gulf Citizens for Clean Renewable Energy is mobilizing to stop a 65-megawatt biomass power incinerator proposed for this historic Gulf Coast community, kicking off their campaign with a public education forum on the negative public health, economic, and environmental impacts of the project.

Northwest Florida Renewable Energy Center hopes to plant monocrops of an invasive weed, Arrundo donax (Giant Cane), to burn in the incinerator, threatening public health and sensitive wetland ecosystems.

Feb. 17, 2011 A report by the Cary Institute, "Forest Biomass and Bioenergy: Opportunities and Constraints in the Northeastern United States," suggests that past studies have overestimated the amount of forest available for energy incineration in the northeast, citing 63% of net forest growth already being logged annually.

One estimate disputed by the report is a 2010 study (Volk et al.) claiming available biomass wood supplies in New York to be 4.8 million metric tons per year, while the report suggests only 0.7 to 1 million metric tons are available.

The report claims that even a substantial expansion of biomass incineration could only replace 1.4% of the region's fossil fuels use.

Clearcutting the Climate
by Mark Robinowitz, ForestClimate.org

Deforestation causes climate change. ForestClimate.org is a new website that highlights the climatic impacts of deforestation, including from forest biofuels.

This author was a co-organizer of "Clearcutting the Climate," a conference in January 2008 that brought together forestry scientists and climate experts. ForestClimate.org hosts videos of the conference presentations.

Biofuel production plans threaten to worsen the climate crisis. Deforestation disrupts rainfall patterns that are a key factor in the greenhouse effect. Large scale biomass proposals would require enormous amounts of forests to be consumed.

The timber industry is promoting forest biofuels as a replacement for their business losses from the burst of the housing bubble. Electrical utilities like burning trees because they see them as "baseload" power that can augment intermittent renewable sources. Privately, some of the utilities probably know that the fuel sources for the power grid are near or at their "peaks." Natural gas in the US is past peak, despite exaggerated claims for "shale gas" extracted through "fracking." Coal is near its peak, globally, and supplies are similarly exaggerated. Even uranium is approaching its peak.

Solutions to protect forests include:

-- selective forestry that maintains canopies, which provides more board feet in the long run
-- cooperatives instead of limited liability corporations to manage and restore tree farms
-- demand reduction for wood and paper products
-- shifting away from endless growth models toward steady state economics, which is appropriate for a round, finite planet
-- mycoremediation: don?t burn slash piles, use mushrooms to convert brush piles to soil.

A study published in the Lancet medical journal finds that exposure to air pollutants, including particulate matter, can increase the risk of heart attacks.

"Air pollution is really a huge problem for communities," said Andrea Baccarelli, MD, associate professor at Harvard School of Public Health, who wrote a commentary that accompanied the study.

The study corroborates a scientific statement from the American Heart Association concluding that every 10 micrograms per cubic meter increase in particulate concentration contributed to the death of one person per 5 million residents.

"Our work stands as a warning against overlooking the public health relevance of ubiquitous risk factors with moderate or weak strength that have high frequency in the community," said study researcher Tim S. Nawrot, University of Belgium.

"The relevance of air pollution as a trigger in populations is of the same magnitude of risk than many other clinically appreciated or recognized triggers" for heart attacks, said Nawrot.