The Golden Landfill State: California Democrats continue to block use of waste for biofuels

In California, Jim Stewart, Chairman of the Board, BioEnergy Producers Association reports: “Democrats on California’s environmental committees, for more than six years, have blocked corrective legislation that would enable the state to make constructive use of its organic wastes as a feedstock for the sustainable production of advanced non-food derived biofuels and electricity.

During this time, the state has placed in landfills approximately 200 million tons of post-recycled solid waste, materials that theoretically contained enough recyclable carbon to have produced 1.6 billion gallons of ethanol and 1250 MW of green power each year.

Last year CalRecycle issued a finding that Plasco Energy of Canada, winner of an RFP to build a waste-to-clean energy facility for the Salinas Valley Solid Waste Authority, could meet the intent of the existing definition of gasification, a major step forward toward bringing California into the world of waste-to-clean energy production. However, the office of the Senate’s President Pro Tem recently wrote to the Natural Resources Agency and the Governor’s Office demanding a rescission of this ruling.

David Roberti, a Democrat who served 13 years as President Pro Tem of the State Senate, has written to Senator Darrell Steinberg to express his concern with that action, here.    Meanwhile, the California Air Resources Board, the California Energy Commission and CalRecycle also expressed support for AB 222, corrective legislation that was blocked by the Senate Environmental Quality Committee last year, here.