Industry Provides Input to SAB Biogenic Carbon Emissions Panel

by Erin Voegele (Ethanol Producer Magazine) In late March, the U.S. EPA’s Science Advisory Board Biogenic Carbon Emissions Panel held a public face-to-face meeting to review the agency’s Framework for Assessing Biogenic CO2 Emissions from Stationary Sources. A public teleconference of the panel is scheduled for May.

The U.S. EPA released the second draft of its biogenic emissions framework in November. At that time, the EPA indicated the draft framework would undergo additional review and published a memo outlining how the updated framework would impact the Clean Power Plan and Prevention of Significant Deterioration Program.

As part of the meeting, members of the public were able to submit comments to the SAB regarding the biogenic emissions framework. Robert Cleaves, president of the Biomass Power Association, was among those to submit comments. In his testimony, Cleaves described the primary feedstocks used in bioenergy production, noting that the industry primarily uses waste feedstocks.

“Energy has and always will be the least attractive market for biomass,” Cleaves wrote. “So long as power prices remain low relative to the value of sawlogs, pulpwood or, if necessary, the conversion of forest land for development, the economics of our industry limit our fuels to what others might call ‘wastes.’ Though derived from various sources, almost all of the fuels used by our industry share certain fundamental characteristics: they (1) are not grown and harvested specifically for energy; (2) do not cause direct or indirect landscape changes; (3) if not used for energy would likely decompose, be landfilled, be openly burned, or exacerbate fire and disease risks in the nation’s overgrown forests.”

The Biotechnology Industry Organization also submitted comments. Referencing the memo issued by Acting Administrator Janet McCabe in November that outlined the EPA’s current thinking pertaining to biogenic CO2 emissions in the context of the CPP and PSD program, BIO said it believes all renewable biomass is sustainable and should be exempt from carbon accounting.

DuPont Industrial Biosciences addressed its cellulosic ethanol plant in Nevada, Iowa, which takes in corn stover as feedstock. The company pointed out that corn and other agricultural feedstocks are annual crops, which means the amount harvested and any burned is balanced by the amount that grows during the year. DuPont also noted that corn stover left on the field degrades, resulting in methane emission and that using that since bioenergy is generated locally, it results in minimal transportation emissions. READ MORE