Group: biomass plants neither ‘clean’ nor ‘green’

The proposed North Springfield Sustainable Energy Project is neither clean nor green nor economical, according to a report by a Massachusetts-based group that studies biomass plants.
http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20120918/NEWS02/709189888

Published September 18, 2012 in the Rutland Herald Group: biomass plants neither ‘clean’ nor ‘green’ By SUSAN SMALLHEER Staff Writer NORTH SPRINGFIELD — The proposed North Springfield Sustainable Energy Project is neither clean nor green nor economical, according to a report by a Massachusetts-based group that studies biomass plants. The Partnership for Policy Integrity said in an analysis submitted to the Agency of Natural Resources, that earlier reports and analyses done for the North Springfield project were flawed and contradictory. Mary Booth, director of Partnership for Policy Integrity, said the biomass industry was “hanging by a thread,” and it was heavily dependent on taxpayer and ratepayer subsidies. And, she said in submissions to the state, which is reviewing the North Springfield’s project, that it would pollute just as much, if not more, than a coal-fired power plant. “It’s a pernicious myth,” said Booth, who said in a telephone interview Monday that she has reviewed more than 70 different applications for various biomass plants all over the country. People think biomass plants are clean and green, she said, but nothing could be further from the truth. The Partnership for Policy Integrity’s report on both the wood availability to serve the North Springfield and Fair Haven proposed wood-fired plants was based on several false premises, one being that there was adequate wood to keep the new power plants in business. The proposed Fair Haven plant would use 550,000 tons of wood a year, and the North Springfield plant 440,000 tons, she said. The North Springfield plant would generate between 25 to 35 megawatts of electricity, as well as producing steam for an industrial and residential heating district near the plant. “If built, these and other biomass energy plants in Vermont will put significant new demands on the state’s forests, as well as dramatically increasing greenhouse gas emissions from Vermont’s power sector,” Booth wrote in her critique. Dan Ingold, senior technical director for Weston Solutions, one of the partners in the North Springfield project, didn’t return messages on Monday. The other partner is Winstanley Enterprises, which owns the site. The project has applied for a certificate of public good from the Public Service Board. Technical hearings on the project, which has been significantly revised since first proposed late last year, have yet to be scheduled. The Partnership for Policy Integrity is an arm of the Civil Society Institute, said Booth, although she said her group was a “stand alone organization.” Booth said that the wood study done by the Innovative Natural Resource Solutions for both the Fair Haven and North Springfield facilities “overestimated biomass fuel availability,” and did not take into account that large areas of land are not legally harvestable, and that the assumption that 50 percent of forestry residues were available for use in power plants was “unrealistic.” Biomass harvesting relies on timber harvesting, she said, and there is no expectation that the lumber industry is anticipating increased growth, which in turn would support the wood-fired plants. On the issue of air emissions, Booth said there were “a lot of loopholes in the Clean Air Act” that favor biomass plants, allowing them to pollute 2 1/2 times more than other polluters before being required to have strict emission controls. Both said even the proposed stack height of the plant was inadequate. The stack should be 290 feet, based on regular analysis. But because the plant is near the Hartness State Airport, the height of the stack has been reduced significantly, to 140 feet. The North Springfield project has applied for a air pollution control permit. A public hearing on the draft permit was held in Springfield two weeks ago. At that hearing only one person spoke in favor of the biomass project, with dozens of North Springfield residents voicing concern about the air pollution coming from the plant and the trucks delivering wood chips. Steven Snook, a staff scientist with the Agency of Natural Resources, couldn’t be reached for comment Monday about the status of the state’s review of the project.