Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume III, Issue
39, September 30,
2013
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
Ahhhhh …
Fall. The weather starts to
stutter toward winter,
leaves shudder with each
new breeze, and Legislators
get ready to go home.
Governors are busy signing
and vetoing, signing and
vetoing. Bills survive,
bills Fall away. With this
flux, the whole flow of
waste management and
resource recovery changes,
yet everything tends to
stay the
same.
Out here
in the Golden State, we're
watching as two botched
scrambles of Waste
Conversion language work
their way toward Governor
Brown's desk. Senate Bill
804 Solid Waste: Energy,
and Assembly Bill 1126
Solid Waste: Engineered
Municipal Solid Waste
Conversion have now passed
the both Senate and
Assembly, after being
gutted and rebuild
repeatedly. The result? Bad
Sausage. So far, they have
not been shuffled under the
Gov's sharp pen.
What part
of "Technology Neutral"
escapes the bill authors?
If we have tools that can
convert crud to goods, do
it cleanly and within
existing laws, why start
all over slicing and dicing
buzz-words for processing
systems? California
legislators have a serious
tendency for layering new
jargon on old errors,
attempting to resolve
problems by
obfuscation.
Take
these definitions right out
of 804: "Biomass" means
nonrecyclable organic waste
materials as specified in
..." The point of Waste
Conversion is to complete
the Recycling and Resource
Recovery cycle, so … Here's
another one: "Biomass
conversion technology
facility” means a facility
that uses a conversion
technology capable of
converting biomass into
marketable products and
fuels through noncombustion
thermal, chemical, or
biological process.
“Biomass conversion
technology facility” does
not include composting or
biomass controlled
combustion." Last time I
hit the science books,
"combustion" was defined as
chopping one or more carbon
molecules off the end of a
long chain molecule,
releasing energy in the
process. Given that
scientific angle, what is
OK, and what is not?
Science? We don' need no
stinkin'
Science.
AB 1126
can't possibly be as
garbled, right? Let's just
take a peek: the bill would
define something called
Engineered Municipal Solid
Waste, and places that
do that would be
permitted (or not) as EMSW
Conversion Facilities.
Well, OK, I guess. But what
is this thing they
call EMSW, and how do you
concoct it? Right off the
bat the bill stumbles, and
badly: "The waste to be
converted, the resulting
ash, and any other products
of conversion do not meet
the criteria or guidelines
for the identification of a
hazardous waste..." Name
just ONE "engineered"
anything that
absolutely is forbidden
from generating hazardous
waste. Here's another one:
"The conversion is
efficient and maximizes the
net calorific value and
burn rate of the waste."
But, but - what if I just
wanna convert that waste
into Goods, and don't
intend to Burn
it?
Let us clasp our hands and
stand in awe of the mighty
machine that makes this
Legislative Sausage, year
after year, after year …
and trust the Governor to
trust in Science, or at the
very least, rely on good
old Common
Sense.
Hey
Rube!
Check out the CASA news item,
especially if you have an
interest in saving water,
energy and money. The
Association has helped release
a new report, and is asking for
public
input.
The
Week's Extra Reading
Presentations from
the California Bioresources
Alliance Symposium held earlier
this month are now
available online
.
This Week's Top Story
Solazyme
Provides 1st Commercial
Supply of
Tailored™
Algal Oil to
Unilever
California based Solazyme and
Unilever have announced
execution of a commercial
supply agreement for Tailored™
Algal Oil, resulting from the
two companies' collaboration
over five years on multiple
projects with increasing levels
of success.
09/26/2013
The
Week's News
NOTE:
If you are using IE10 and our
website isn't loading as
smoothly as you would like or
the page jumps when you click
on a link to go to a certain
news item, just change to
"compatibility view" and all
will be
fine.
Anaergia Plans
Organic Waste to Renewable
Energy Project in
Anaheim
Anaheim Energy
LLC, a
subsidiary of Canada based
Anaergia, Inc, in partnership
with waste management company
Republic Services, plans to
build an anaerobic digestion
(AD) facility in the City of
Anaheim, California.
09/18/2013
EERE
Schedules Webinar on
Bioenergy Knowledge
Discovery
Framework
The US Department of Energy,
Office of Energy Efficiency
& Renewable Energy (EERE)
will present a live webinar
sponsored by its Bioenergy
Technologies Office entitled
“Using the New Bioenergy KDF
for Data Discovery and
Research” on Thursday, October
3, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
EDT.
09/28/2013
Enerkem and
Greenfield Receive SDTC
Support for Cellulosic
Ethanol
Plant
The Government of Canada is
investing in VANERCO, the joint
venture partnership formed by
Enerkem and GreenField to build
and operate a cellulosic
ethanol facility that will be
integrated with GreenField’s
existing ethanol plant in
Varennes, Quebec.
09/28/2013
Concord
Energy and Cool Planet Will
Establish Asia Pacific Joint
Venture
Singapore headquartered Concord
Energy has announced that it
has signed an agreement with
California based Cool Planet
Energy Systems to establish a
joint venture (JV) in the Asia
Pacific Region to develop
commercial production
facilities for conversion of
non-food biomass into biofuels
and biochar.
09/26/2013
Global Clean
Energy Signs LOI with Seneca
BioEnergy for NY Renewable
Park
Texas based Global Clean
Energy, Inc (GCE) has announced
signing a comprehensive Letter
of Intent (LOI) with Seneca
BioEnergy LLC (SBE) for
development in a renewable
energy park at the former
Seneca Army Depot in New York.
09/26/2013
Idaho Offers
Residential Woodstove
Changeout Program to Improve
Air
Quality
The Idaho Department of
Environmental Quality (IDEQ)
has announced that residents of
Franklin County, the Greater
Pinehurst area, and the City of
Salmon can obtain a rebate and
discount on the purchase and
installation of a new,
EPA-certified woodstove,
insert, or natural gas or
propane unit.
09/24/2013
Forest
Service Authorizes Work on
Another 8,571 Acres Under
4RFI
Contract
The US Forest Service (USFS)
has issued five more task
orders totaling 8,571 acres to
the new Four Forest Restoration
Initiative (4FRI) contractor,
Good Earth Power AZ LLC.
09/24/2013
CleanWorld
Breaks Ground On Anaerobic
Digestion Plant at UCD
Landfill
California
based CleanWorld Partners has
announced that it has begun
construction on theUniversity
of California, Davis (UCD)
Renewable Energy Anaerobic
Digester facility located at
the former UCD landfill in
Davis, California.
09/24/2013
CASA Seeks
Public Comment to WEF Report
on Biogas Production at
POTWs
The California Association of
Sanitation Agencies (CASA) is
requesting public comment on
the Phase 1 data report
entitled Biogas Production and
Use at Water Resource Recovery
Facilities in the United
States.
09/23/2013
SEaB Energy
Secures US and UK Patents
for Mobile AD Power Plant
Solution
SEaB Energy has announced the
receipt of patents from the
United States (US) and the
United Kingdom (UK) for its
anaerobic digestion (AD)
portable power plants that use
microbial technology to turn
food and other bio-wastes into
energy.
09/23/2013
CalRecycle
to Consider Draft Compost
and AD Regulations for
Rulemaking
The California Department of
Resources Recycling and
Recovery (CalRecycle) has
released a final draft of
revisions to existing Title 14
and Title 27 regulations
addressing compostable
materials, transfer/processing,
the permit application form,
and permit exemptions.
09/23/2013
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