Editor,
In response to the Aug. 21 letter by Ray Manley, who asked, “What’s going on with Biomass Plants?” Manley and many Northern California residents, particularly in Shasta County, will undoubtedly be pleased with the passage of SB 859, a bill that deals with the expenditure of cap-and-trade proceeds. A provision requires electricity retailers to enter into five-year contracts to purchase 125 megawatts of biomass power that “generate electricity from forest materials removed from specific high fire hazard zones, as designated by CAL FIRE.” This provision should keep the doors open at Burney Power, which employs about 25 workers, and companies it works with, like Shasta Green, with over 100 workers.
North State Assemblyman Brian Dahle, who has been working with the Shasta County Board of Supervisors to keep the Burney Power operating, supported this bill that is necessary for Burney and other biomass plants to continue selling their power to PG&E.
However, Dahle opposed landmark environmental legislation that passed on Aug. 24 that requires the state to continue cutting greenhouse gas emissions beyond 2020, when the current emissions reduction legislation ends, which will help ensure a sustainable future for biomass, a renewable power source. Ditto for SB 350 last year, a bill that increased the renewable power requirement for California utilities.
Readers may know that nationally, biomass power is ailing. But due to the state’s powerful environmental ethos, biomass facilities in California have been thrown a lifeline in the form of these three bills. Strong environmental bills like SB 859, SB 32 and SB 350 are key to the state’s renewable industries flourishing, and along with them, their local economies, be they in Silicon Valley or Shasta County.
Sincerely,
Irvin Dawid
Burlingame, CA
PS: I am a news correspondent for Planetizen.com and I’m preparing a ‘post’ on biomass and environmental legislation [See my prior post on the deal that SB 859 is based on]. However, this letter is strictly my own and does not reflect Planetizen.
