Volume I, Issue
1
-
March 1,
2011
Teru Talk
by Michael Theroux
(pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash
Talk
Welcome to
Teru Talk’s about-weekly
wrap-up! The idea here is
to quickly dish about a
week’s worth of News in an
easily chewable form. Scan
the highlights, to see if
there is something you need
to dig into: each tid-bit
is linked to the website,
where you’ll find all the
rest of the story (and the
hyper-links that go to
Source). The Teru Talk
website is the waste and
biomass conversion filter
that selects and serves up
a couple dozen Hot Items a
week, from the Global
Farmer’s Market of news.
This is like the revolving
dessert tray: you get a
peek, and pick only what
you want to bite
into.
In the Circus, if there is
trouble, somebody yells,
“Hey, Rube!” and all the
Carnies come a-runnin.
Consider the TeruTalk
newsletter as our
industry’s bull-horn, a way
to point to the one or two
Happenings you really need
to see, a way we too can
call for back-up when
something REALLY important
needs broad attention and a
quick response. Hey, the
folks that bash our efforts
certainly use those
tactics: six loud voices
can change the course of
the Body Politick; we’ve
all seen it happen. Set
down your pie-fork, stand
and be
counted.
Nine
California agencies got
together (amazing in
itself) and developed the
2011 Bioenergy Action Plan
… about a hundred pages of
What We Need to Do, to turn
biomass liabilities into
clean green energy, fuels
and JOBS. Objective One,
across the board: Keep our
existing large-scale
BioPower facilities alive.
Hope you read it, and
commented; we did
here.
Someone should have
mailed a copy to the San
Joaquin Valley Air
Quality Management
District.
On
February 18, SJVAQMD and
the EPA filed “Consent
Decrees” against two of our
remaining biopower plants.
If the Courts so deem, the
Air District and the EPA
will split more than $800K
in fines extracted from the
plant’s owners for AQ
violations. Yeah, they
probably were bad, and
should take their licks,
like maybe have to spend
that same money on
upgrades. But if those
plants close, the ag wastes
and woody construction
debris they normally turn
into energy will (a) get
burnt in the open, (b) get
buried in a landfill, or
(c) get trucked half-way
around the Great Central
Valley to some Other
biopower plant. Those
Decrees are open for Public
Comment. If you like what
happened, don't bother to
respond. If you have
something to say, check out
the News
Item. Comment period
closes
03/21/2011.
UBC
Breaks Ground on Biomass
Gasification to CHP
Demonstration
Project
The University of British
Columbia (UBC) has
announced that construction
has begun on campus of a
demonstration and teaching
biomass to combined heat
and power (CHP)
plant.
Alltech
Algae Facility Opens in
Kentucky
After a $14MM acquisition
and around $200MM in
renovations, the nutrition
company Alltech held a
ribbon-cutting ceremony
to
announce
the
opening of Alltech Algae in
Winchester, Kentucky, now
Alltech’s largest
production
facility.
W2
Energy Starts
Construction on
Biobutanol
Reactor
Canadian
multi-tech company
W2
Energy (W2E)
has announced
that they have started
construction on a new
version of their SunFilter
bioreactor, this time to
grow bacteria and produce
Biobutanol.
USDA
Expands Study of Crop
Insurance Program to
Include Biofuel
Feedstocks
Department
of Agriculture (USDA)
Secretary Tom
Vilsack
announced
last week that USDA
will expand the scope of
their on-going feasibility
study of providing crop
insurance.
EPA
Releases Summary of EJ
Impacts of CISWI, NHSM
and Boiler
Rules
Environmental
Justice (EJ) concerns
lie at the heart of
Rulemakings finalized
this month by the US
Environmental Protection
Agency
(EPA).
EPA
Establishes Clean Air
Act Standards, Initiates
Reconsideration
Process
Responding
to a court order denying
another time extension,
the US Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA)
has issued
four inter-related final
Rules that
establish final Clean
Air Act standards for
boilers and certain
types of
incinerators.
EPA
Releases Final NHSM Rule
Impacting Direct
Combustion
The US
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) has
released
the Final Rulemaking
for identification of
Non-Hazardous Secondary
Materials (NHSM) that are
solid
waste.
UK
Advances AD Projects,
Studies Uses of
Digestate
Anaerobic
Digestion (AD) projects in
the United Kingdom have
received policy and
financial support recently
from the Environmental
Transformation Fund,
and the Lincolnshire
produce company Staples
Vegetables is the first to
receive
funding.
Novozyme’s Lars
Hansen Nominated Chair
of
EBTP
Novozymes
President for Europe, Lars
Christian Hansen, has been
selected this month as
Chair of the Steering
Committee for the European
Biofuels Technology
Platform (
EBTP).
Cereplast Meets
Financier’s Goals and
Gets 2nd Round $2.5
MM
According
to terms of their December
2010 debt financing
agreement with Horizon
Technology Finance
Corporation, the
California-based
bioplastics company
Cereplast, Inc had to meet
or exceed certain market
targets during January and
February for further
investment.
USDA
Requests Renewable
Energy Funds in FY 2012
Budget
The US
Department of Agriculture’s
(USDA) proposed
budget for fiscal
year (FY) 2012 has been cut
to $23.9 billion from the
$27 billion level in FY
2011, but will still invest
$6.5 billion to support
renewable and clean
energy.
Due
03/25/2011: Comments on
CEC Draft 2011-2012
Investment
Plan
The
California Energy
Commission (CEC) has
released
their
2011-2012
Draft Investment
Plan
for the Alternative and
Renewable Fuels and Vehicle
Technologies (AB 118)
Program. AB 118 provides
about $100 million annually
to the CEC to support the
development and deployment
of alternative and
renewable fuels and
advanced transportation
technologies.
Due
06/01/2011 (2nd
extension): Wildfire
Prevention Grant
Applications
Removal of biomass
form the Wildland /
Urban Interface has been
supported at the
community level by
grants coordinated
through the California
Fire Safe Council
(CFSC), who started
accepting applications
on January 5, 2011 for
the 2012 program
wildfire prevention
grant funds through the
U.S. Forest Service, the
Bureau of Land
Management, the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife
Service and the National
Parks
Service.
