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Teru Talk News

Teru Talk Newsletter

Volume II, Issue 31, July 30, 2012 
Teru Talk by Michael Theroux (pronounced "Terú")  

Teru's Trash Talk

Cap & Trade will kill our Business! Cap & Trade will save our Business! People are all over the map on California's proposed Cap & Trade program. What IS this thing, of which we speak? Well, it was set up to clear the air, not to save the economy, very "Californian" if you ask me. This law sets limits on greenhouse gas emissions from big Industry sources, establishing a Cap on those emissions beyond which it's gonna cost Big Time. But as usual, if you've got enough money … you can Trade (read: Buy) credits so you can go right on spewing forth toxic emissions. The whole game relies on a swarm of data on emissions required to be submitted annually to the state from major sources, and the Unit of Measure is One Ton of Carbon Dioxide. You see, in the Old Days, Gold was the standard, something you paid to hoard. Now, Carbon is the key, and the Global Economy is shifting so we pay to get rid of it. Pretty nifty new monetary system, eh? 

And as usual, California wants to be the first horse out of the national gate to trade Carbon Credits. The Cap & Trade program appears to have been enacted to set the bar for global Climate Control or at least regional, rather than as anything the state may want or need. But wait: what happens if you are NOT a coal plant, or a diesel-burner? Below that established Cap, within whatever emissions "allowances" you've been graced, you can count carbon you don't emit, and you can sell them. Those are the Credits! If you are a renewable electricity generation station, you get WAY more credits. OK: I get it - Same song, different verse: fossil energy bad, renewable energy good.

But remember, this Carbon Trading thing is happening globally, so shame on you if you just go someplace else to spew. That's where this thing called "Leakage" comes into play that everyone will be learning more about at today's Air Board workshop. I think the basic idea is pretty cool, but then it IS a California regulation, and therefore quite subject to Overkill. The concept of greenhouse gas emissions Leakage goes like this: you don't get Brownie Points for avoiding emissions in California by simply relying on others to do the things that spit out the Carbon, outside of the state. See?

Hey! I bet this same Emissions Leakage concept could be applied to shipping the stuff segregated from the waste stream to Mexico and China to get it processed as the last step in Recycling! Is it really possible that a California regulation is intentionally set up to favor in-state business over long-distance commerce? How unlike the Golden State.

Hey Rube!

Once again, the California state agency programs are trying to run over each other, protecting us from ourselves. The Public Utilities Commission and the Energy Commission, CalRecycle and the Air Board all have a piece of this AB 32 instigated Climate Change thing, and they aren't necessarily keeping a good eye on whether or how the jumbled regulatory actions fit together. The Renewable Portfolio Standard's guidelines are being revised, CalRecycle's got Mandatory Commercial Recycling to implement, and the Air Board is concocting both the Low Carbon Fuel Standard AND this Cap & Trade program. No wonder we Public Citizens don't really understand … but then, we only have to try to make a living.

The Week's News

SoCal Waste Management Forum Annual Conference & Exhibit, Nov 7, 2012

The Southern California Waste Management Forum (SCWMF or "The Forum") will hold its Annual Conference & Exhibit on Wednesday, November 7, 2012, at the Sheraton Fairplex Hotel and Conference Center in Pomona, California. 07/29/2012

Inerjys Partners with Hydro-Québec’s Research Institute IREQ

The Montreal, Canada based clean tech growth-equity fund Inerjys has announced a strategic partnership with the regional Canadian utility Hydro-Québec’s research institute, IREQ. 07/28/2012

Ontario's Atikokan Generating Station Converts from Coal to Biomass

The Ontario, Canada government has announced an agreement to convert the coal-fired Atikokan Generating Station to a 200 megawatt biomass fueled power generation facility. 07/28/2012

JBI Receives NYSDEC Approval to Double Plastic2Oil Processing Rate

Canadian-based JBI, Inc. has announced that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) has approved a modification to the company's Solid Waste Management Permit for operating its Plastic2Oil®, or "P2O" technology. 07/28/2012

KiOR's Blendstock 5 Receives EPA Renewable Gasoline Part 79 Registration

Texas based biofuel company KiOR has announced that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved federal registration of the company's Blendstock 5 Renewable Gasoline product under Title 40 of the Code of Federal regulations, Part 79 (40 CFR Part 79). 07/27/2012

7th Annual California Bioresources Alliance Symposium, Sept 11-12, 2012

Co-sponsors University of California (UC) Davis Extension and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have jointly announced that on-line registration has opened for the California Bioresources Alliance (CBA) Symposium. This year's timely topic is "Renewable Energy from Organic Residuals." 07/27/2012

US DOE Webinars Scheduled on Biomass and Biofuels Development

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has announced a series of free webinars, two of which address biomass and biofuels development. 07/26/2012

Idaho National Lab Orders Two Algae Harvester Systems from OriginOil

Los Angeles Based OriginOil has announced receipt of two purchase orders from the US Department of Energy's (DOE) Idaho National Laboratories (INL). 07/26/2012

300kW Liquid Waste to MagneGas Refinery To Be Installed in Mexico

Florida based MagneGas has announced that Clear Sky Energy S.A. de C.V. (CES) has agreed to purchase a 300 kilowatt (kW) liquid waste to fuel gas refinery system for installation in its facilities in Monterrey, Mexico at a cost of $2.7 million. 07/26/2012

Viridor Signs Contract for Glasgow Recycling and Renewable Energy Centre

The United Kingdom's waste management giant Viridor announced signing a 25 year residual waste contract with the city council of Glasgow, Scotland. 07/26/2012

SynGest and MATHESON Partner for BioAmmonia and BioUrea Plants

MATHESON and SynGest Inc have announced that the two companies intend to enter into a strategic agreement in which MATHESON will exclusively supply 100% of the oxygen and nitrogen for SynGest’s worldwide BioAmmonia and BioUrea projects. 07/25/2012

BioAmber & Evonik Partner for Sustainable Chemicals from Bio-Succinic Acid

Minnesota based bio-sourced chemical company BioAmber, Inc has announced a long-term partnership with the German firm Evonik Industries for the cooperative development and manufacture of catalysts. 07/25/2012

Nexterra Biomass Gasification Plant at ORNL Starts Full Commercial Operation

Canadian gasification firm Nexterra has announced that its biomass gasification system at the Department of Energy's (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has been tested and declared ready for full commercial operation. 07/25/2012

DataONE Launches Database Portal for Earth Science Data Exploration

Data Observation for Network Earth (DataONE), has announced the launch of its database portal with release of the inaugural environmental data search engine interface ONEMercury. ONEMercury is a data query technology "capable of providing researchers access to globally distributed networked data from a single point of discovery." 07/24/2012

City of Palo Alto Seeks Interest in Proposed Organic Waste Conversion Facility

The City of Palo Alto, California (City) has released a survey requesting information from waste conversion companies for development of an Energy / Compost facility to utilize food waste, green waste and / or biosolids. 07/24/2012

ARB Schedules Cap-and-Trade Technical Workshop on Emissions Leakage

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) has released Notice of a technical workshop scheduled for July 30, 2012 to address emissions leakage research and a proposal to monitor for emissions leakage related to the Cap-and-Trade Program. 07/24/2012

The Week's Action Items

Due 08/15/2012: Proposals to WAPA for REC Sale and Transfer

The Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) has released a Request for Proposals (RFP) seeking to purchase renewable energy credits (REC), on behalf of a number of federal agencies. 07/28/2012

Due 08/17/2012: Comments to CEC on Electric Program Investment Charge

The California Energy Commission (CEC) has posted notices of two two-day staff workshops to seek input from experts, stakeholders, and the general public on the first triennial investment plan for the Electric Program Investment Charge (Docket #12-EPIC-01). 07/25/2012

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Sacramento, California
September 11-12, 2012

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SCWMF Annual
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Pomona, California
November 7, 2012

SEE YOUR EVENT HERE!
 

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