Earlier this year, the EPA proposed new rules that threatened the way waste biomass could be used to generate alternative energy. The rules are part of broader regulations that focus on boiler control technologies (additional detail here) and emissions limits for incinerators. A few months after the rules were signed, the EPA published a notice delaying the effective date pending the completion of reconsideration or judicial review, whichever is earlier.
These rules received significant attention from those within the the biomass power industry as they defined biomass as a fuel subject to its boiler air toxics rule. More specifically, this meant that the boilers using clean wood waste to generate power would be subject to strict regulations under the commercial and industrial solid waste incinerators (CISWI) rule. Regulating biomass fuel under the CIWSI rules poses significant burdens for those using biomass power, and threatens the future of the industry. BusinessWeek recently reported that recognizing the challenges these rules posed, EPA’s Lisa Jackson sent a letter to Maine’s Senator Olympia Snowe “saying the agency will issue a ‘clarification’ on biomass as a fuel in boilers and heating units.” The Waste Business Journal summarized the conclusions of Jackson’s letter saying the EPA ”will revise its rule defining which non-hazardous secondary materials are considered solid waste when burned in combustion units to define biomass as fuel, as part of broader revisions to its stayed boiler maximum achievable control technology (MACT) air toxics rule and strict emissions limits for commercial and industrial solid waste incinerators (CISWI).”
We look forward to reading the EPA’s clarification of biomass and we are eager to see increased certainty surrounding the regulation of biomass as a fuel for the production of alternative energy.
