Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume II, Issue
10, March 5,
2012
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
What a novel
idea: get everybody who lives
in a region to sit down, talk
out and decide on how the lands
around them are to be managed.
Unimaginable? That is exactly
what has been working for
forest resource planning, and
is now about to become the Law
of the Land at least for our
National Forests. The entire
concept of national forest
management is shifting, with
the impending certification of
a new Forest Planning Rule, and
this re-make is happening
concurrent with close to 10
million acres of already-funded
Collaborative Forest Landscape
Restoration projects. Last year
saw the first ten efforts start
restoration thinning and
watershed improvement efforts,
funded and overseen by the USDA
Forest Service, and another
ten-plus new projects received
funding, and the first ten got
more bucks to stay on track.
This work is cutting the risk
of catastrophic fire, creating
jobs in our rural areas, and …
extracting a Whole Lot of
Biomass from landscapes in and
around the National Forest
core. Much of that woody
residue being pulled from the
forests in this first stage of
restoration work has already
spoken for, as
critically-needed timber for
struggling lumber mills,
reliable feedstock for
bioenergy and pellet fuel
plants and fodder for
composting, mulch supplies and
assorted beneficial
uses.
Much has NOT
been ear-marked. In fact, some
of the larger efforts are
depending on a premise of "cut
it, and they will come", hoping
that once projects start
producing tonnages of chip,
Business will step up with the
tools to do something with it.
With the primary focus on
Restoration, little attention
has apparently been given to
coordinating the National
Biomass Supply Chain. Each
Collaborative has its own idea
of how much extra biomass can
and will be removed, and a few
know where it will be going,
but most don't have enough
confidence in our government to
sustain the long-term change
and see the efforts as the
front-end of the supply chain.
After all, the Forest Service
MUST ensure environmental
integrity and longevity of our
forest lands, but can only
GUIDE the socio-economic
activities.
Now, common
sense (another rare resource)
says that if we keep filling
the Biomass Supply pipeline at
the front and don't make sure
it has somewhere to go,
everything is likely to stop,
once that pipe is full. This
grand new scheme needs Market
Demand, to be
sustainable.
Hey
Rube!
This week
marks the end of the review
process for the new Forest
Planning Rule and its
accompanying Programmatic
Environmental Impact Study
(PEIS). Next, the Forest
Service will decide to formally
certify the PEIS and accept a
version of the Planning Rule,
or nix the game and head back
to the drawing boards. On the
assumption that it will pass,
Teru is serving up a Roadmap
through the process. See the
article under "this week's
extra reading."
The
Week's Extra Reading
The new
Forest Planning Rule is
about to go into effect.
See Teru's new article
describing the
New Forest
Planning Rule and Access to
Woody
Biomass.
The
Week's News
CalRecycle
Schedules Forum on Digesting
Urban Organic
Residuals
California's
Department of Resources
Recycling and Recovery
(CalRecycle) has scheduled a
full-day forum on May 30, 2012
to explore the technologies,
case studies, economics,
policies, and regulations of
anaerobic digestion used to
convert urban-sourced organic
waste into renewable energy,
fuels, and other commodities.
03/02/2012
Nine
Minnesota Projects Receive
Funding for Biofuels
Development
The Minnesota
Department of Agriculture has
announced the award of $2.4
million in grants to nine
renewable energy projects,
following release of the
request for proposals (RFP)
last September.
03/02/2012
Genomatica,
Mitsubishi Enter Asian
Market for BDO
Development
California
based Genomatica announced
signing a limited exclusive
agreement with Mitsubishi
Chemical Corporation for Asian
regional joint commercial
development of production
capacity for bio-sourced
industrial chemical,
1,4-butanediol (BDO).
03/02/2012
GETH, ACG to
form JV for Conversion of
Waste Plastics to Fuels and
Resins
Green
EnviroTech Holdings Corp.
(GETH) has signed a non-binding
letter of intent (LOI) to form
a joint venture (JV) to
structure and fund waste
plastic conversion facilities
with ACG Consulting, LLC, a
division of the investment
management group ACG Companies.
03/01/2012
Skanska Will
Build Biomass Combined Heat
and Power Plant in
Sweden
Global
construction firm Skanska has
secured a contract to build a
biomass fueled combined heat
and power plant in Lund,
Sweden, for the municipal-owned
Lunds Energi Group (Lunds
Energikoncernen AB).
03/01/2012
REG Launches
Biodiesel Policy Action
Center
Website
Iowa-based
Renewable Energy Group, Inc.
(REG) announced the launch of
an advocacy web
service designed to consolidate
the industrial voice of its
constituents for biodiesel
policy.
03/01/2012
EERC Awarded $906K to
Demonstrate Gasification to
Biofuels to US
Military
University of
North Dakota's Energy &
Environmental Research Center
(EERC) has announced receipt of
a $906,000 award from
the Connecticut
Center for Advanced Technology,
Inc. (CCAT), to develop
gasification-based alternative
liquid fuels under CCAT's
program for the US Military's
Defense Logistics Agency (US
DLA). 03/01/2012
California State/Federal
Support Available for EU Trade
Show
Participation
The California State Trade and
Export Promotion program (STEP)
has announced availability of
funds and on-the-ground support
to companies
participating in Hanover Messe,
running April 23-27, 2012 in
Hanover Germany.
02/29/2012
BioNitrogen
Plans to Build Inaugural
Biomass-to-Urea Plant in
Texas
Florida-based
BioNitrogen Corporation
announced that it is purchasing
a 49 acre site in Lubbock,
Texas, pending completion of an
Environmental Site Assessment
in mid March 2012.
02/28/2012
North
Carolina Biofuels Center
Launches Biofuels Company
Accelerator
The Biofuels
Center of North Carolina (NC)
has announced the launch of its
Biofuels Accelerator to promote
the state's development of a
biofuels industry in the state
through support of related
technology projects, research,
and businesses.
02/28/2012
Shell's New
Biofuels Pilot Facility in
Houston Uses Virent's
BioForming
Platform
Royal Dutch
Shell plc has announced a new
pilot facility built within its
Westhollow Technology Center in
Houston, Texas to explore
thermal catalysis of biomass to
drop-in biofuel using a
technology platform based on
its license with Virent Energy
Systems. 02/28/2012
JBI Brings 2nd Plastic2Oil
Processor On-Line in New York
Facility
Canadian waste
conversion specialist JBI, Inc.
has completed its second
plastic to oil (P2O) processing
train in its Niagara Falls, New
York facility and it is now
on-line. 02/28/2012
ICF Completes CHP Report for
CEC, Receives $6M Clean Energy
Contract from
EPA
The California
Energy Comission (CEC) has
released a report prepared by
Virginia-based ICF
International, entitled
"Combined Heat and Power:
Policy Analysis and 2011-2030
Market Assessment.”
02/28/2012
Ontario Backs Green Chemistry
Breakthrough for Recycling
Unrecyclables
The Federal
Economic Development Agency for
Southern Ontario (FedDev
Ontario), Canada, has awarded
a $5.48
million grant to support
commercialization of a new
method to recycle materials
such as polystyrene and
contaminated plastic by
separation of oily materials
from surfaces.
02/27/2012
Dalkia Plans 300 MW Biomass CHP
Plant for Lithuania's
Capital
The Ukrainian
Biofuel Portal reports that
Dalkia France intends to build
a biofuel combined heat and
power (CHP) plant in Vilnius,
the capital city of Lithuania,
at a cost of 500 million litas.
02/27/2012
MagneGas Supplies Liquid
Waste-Sourced Syngas to
OneSteel
Ltd
Florida-based
waste-to-syngas specialist
MagneGas Corporation has
announced receipt of the first
purchase order from its new
customer, the global steel
company OneSteel Ltd.
02/27/2012
The Week's Action
Items
Due
03/12/2012: Proposals to
CPUC for Renewable DG
Technical
Analysis
The California
Public Utilities Commission
(CPUC) released a request for
proposals (RFP #11PS5003)
seeking technical analytical
expertise on renewable
distributed energy generation
(DG). 03/02/2012
Due
03/23/2012: Comments on Army
Corps of Engineers Draft $7
Billion
RFP
The US Army
Engineering and Support Center
in Huntsville, Alabama has
announced the release of a
draft request for proposals
(RFP) and seeks public comment,
toward the purchase of up to $7
billion over a ten-year period,
for renewable energy shared
capacity contracts up to 30
years in duration.
02/28/2012
Due
05/01/2012: Statement of
Interest to SMUD for Biogas
to Pipeline
Capabilities
The
Sacramento Municipal Utility
District (SMUD) has released
a request for statements of
interest (SOI# 120063.OS) in
the development of biogas to
pipeline projects within
California and the western
states.
03/02/2012
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