EPA's 'Tailoring Rule' and the Biomass Industry

Last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued is final statement for its “tailoring rule” that outlines how the agency will regulate greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) under the Clean Air Act.  The “tailoring rule” determines which polluters will be required to account of their greenhouse gas emissions when the EPA begins to formally regulate the gases beginning in January 2011. The ruling did not exempt biomass-fueled power producers from GHG permitting requirements, which came as a surprise to many in the biomass industry.  The reasoning behind exempting biomass from these requirements is because the combustion of biomass is widely considered “carbon neutral,” in regulation and policy in the United States and abroad.  For example, when wood waste is combusted for energy, it releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which the trees had already adsorbed from the atmosphere when the trees grew.  The assumption is that this released carbon dioxide will be reabsorbed by new trees as they grow naturally.  This carbon neutral consideration is why biomass power plants assume net CO₂ emissions of zero.

Read more here.