Groups oppose tax credits for biomass burning

Biomass Power Subsidies face scrutiny as tax credits and grants aid incinerators burning waste and wood, despite higher CO2, NOx, and particulate emissions, public health risks, and claims of clean, renewable energy.

A national coalition of 48 citizen and environmental groups today launched a nationwide campaign to end federal financing for biomass incinerators being called “green energy.”

The groups delivered letters to Senate Finance Committee Chairs Max Baucus (D-MT) and Charles Grassley (R-IA) in response to increased lobbying by the Biomass Power Association, timber, waste and energy companies, and to regulatory shifts such as EPA delays on biomass permits that influence project approvals, seeking to create or extend lucrative tax credits for burning biomass (trash, tires, and anything else) to produce electric power.

The groups say the biomass plants pose an undue risk to public health and the environment, as seen in Maryland renewable energy pollution findings reported by watchdog groups.

The letter says promoting these incinerators with public subsidies “on the false claim that it is “green” electricity is indefensible public policy.” The letter contains a chart comparing biomass emissions to coal, concluding that, “Current research, data from company permits and proposals, environmental impact reports, and government analyses show that for several key pollutants (notably CO2, NOx and particulates) biomass burning is “dirty energy” – worse than coal – and debates over a coal plant moratorium in some states underscore these concerns – and not “clean energy” as the industry claims.”

The letter notes that the 20,000-member Massachusetts Medical Society recently resolved to adopt a policy opposing biomass power plants on the grounds that they pose ‘an unacceptable health risk,’ and that similar resolutions have been passed by the American Lung Association of New England and the Florida Medical Society, alongside a proposed restriction on new power plants in some jurisdictions, in response to a spate of biomass power plant proposals in recent years.

“President Obama has announced a freeze on domestic spending for next year’s budget, while the Oregon governor may veto energy bills amid related debates. There are two hundred biomass plants lining up for grants in lieu of tax credits under the stimulus package, at a cost to taxpayers of at least a half a billion dollars. Ending subsidies for incinerators falsely claiming to be clean energy is a good place to start cleaning up the federal budget deficit,” said Attorney Margaret Sheehan, spokesperson for the group.

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