Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume V, Issue 43,
November 2,
2015
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
On one side we've got orders to
keep all Organics (you know:
plant and animal left-overs)
out of the landfills, by such
and such a date. Now on the
other side, California's
Governor has ordered all
agencies to remove the Fuel
Loading (mostly dead and dying
trees) to cut forest fire risk.
Hey, isn't that bound to
generate Mountains of Biomass?
Agreed: food waste and
landscape trimmings have no
business being buried in dumps.
And doubly agreed: something
has to change, to curb these
catastrophic Western Woodlands
infernos. But what really can
be done with all this stuff,
and how in the world did we get
ourselves into this Bio-Mess in
the first
place?
Governor Brown called out some
immediate solutions to the
wildfire threat in last
Friday's Emergency
Proclamation. But then he went
a lot further and put his
gubernatorial finger on some of
the underlying log-jams (pun
intended) that have stymied
large scale forest fire fuel
loading reduction for decades.
Surprise: California's own
check-and-balance regulatory
structure is largely to blame.
There are now so many Checks on
science-based land management
that everything is Out of
Balance. Why? Because we
asked for
it.
In a nation where Do No Harm
has become Don't Offend Anyone,
where a few loud-mouths can
legally push a lop-sided
Enviro-Agenda right down the
communal throat of the
Invisible Majority, California
has out-done herself. This
year, all the agency money
California set aside for
maintaining its precious
forests, woodlands, and
grasslands was spent on
fighting fires; the state
'burnt through' all of
that
fund well before the fire
season ended. It's all about
Excess Organic Resources, but
this Forest Fire biomass
problem is quite different from
why we put food waste in dumps.
For Dumped Organics, at least
we can claim we were aiming at
Basic Sanitation. When it comes
to our forests, we've been …
"protecting" them and the
wildlife in them from harm.
How's that enviro-political
approach been working for us?
The Governor says, not so
well.
On to the
next
problem: we can keep the
quick-rotting stuff out of the
landfills, and we can remove
and store the quick-burning
stuff from the forests. This
seems a lot like diverting a
river into a tea-cup. Very
quickly now, we must figure out
what to do with all the excess
biomass resources. Once again,
The Governor points to the
basic problem, the underlying
regulatory blockade we all have
allowed to be constructed. Now
with one Proclamation, issued
histrionically just one day
before All Hallow's Eve,
Governor Brown has essentially
done away with the nonsense.
His stated legal position: we
are now at extreme risk to
human life and
property.
It's a double whammy. We have a
Drought Emergency and this has
exacerbated a Wildfire
Emergency. For those of you who
question that, dead trees burn
much hotter and faster
than live trees. Both
problems come in part from
Nature, part from man's actions
and inactions. We may not be
able to lay down the law for
Mother Nature, but we can
change our own habits. Knowing
people are not fond of the
inconvenience of Change,
Governor Brown has once again
clarified the state's course,
and ordered the necessary
Bio-Mess
Management.
Hey Rube!
Quick! Book a
jet, pay your registration
on-line and come to Rancho
Cordova this Wednesday and
Thursday for the 10th Annual
California Bioresources
Alliance Symposium.
Mulch samples! Compost
samples! Biochar samples!
Great venue, with doors and
tables and everything! Two
days just jam-packed with
details about what to do
with all the organics we’re
going to be diverting from
our landfills, and removing
from our over-burdened
forests! Don’t miss lots of
Smart People talking about
Building Healthy Soils! Oh,
yeah – and Teru will be
there too
…
This Week's Top Story
Construction
Begins on Advanced 21.5 MWe
Ince Biomass Plant at
Protos
CoGen Limited (CoGen) has
announced completion of project
financing and the onset of
construction of Ince Bio Power,
the 21.5MWe Waste Biomass
facility at Protos, formerly
known as Ince Park, in
Cheshire, United Kingdom.
10/30/2015
The Week's News
California
Governor Proclaims Tree
Mortality State of
Emergency
Recognizing a four-year record
drought, California Governor
Jerry Brown has proclaimed a
State of Emergency that
broadens his 2014 drought
emergency proclamation.
10/30/2015
Wheelabrator
is Issued Environmental
Permit for Deeside EfW
Facility
Natural Resources Wales (NRW)
has issued an environmental
permit to Wheelabrator
Technologies Inc for an energy
from waste (EfW) facility in
Deeside, Flintshire.
10/30/2015
Ferrybridge
Multifuel 2 Power Station
Project Receives Planning
Consent
Multifuel Energy Ltd (MEL) has
announced the Secretary of
State for the Department of
Climate Change's decision to
grant planning consent for the
Ferrybridge Multifuel 2 (FM2)
project in West Yorkshire.
10/29/2015
IB2Market
Project Launched to Bring
New Biobased Products to the
Market
Belgian organization Bio Base
Europe (BBE) has announced its
partnership in the launch of
IB2Market, a public project
funded by the 7th Framework
Program of the European Union.
10/29/2015
BDI –
BioEnergy and Heineken Open
World's First Major Green
Brewery
BDI – BioEnergy International
AG has announced that the last
milestone towards carbon
neutrality as part of
Heineken's sustainability
initiative "Brewing a better
World" was laid yesterday with
the formal opening of the
brewery Göss' spent-grain
fermentation plant.
10/29/2015
Webinar
Scheduled on EPA's Proposed
Landfill Methane
Regulations
A free webinar scheduled for
November 10, 2015 entitled
Landfill Methane: Capture for
Cash, Compliance & Clean
Air is being sponsored by the
International Biomass
Conference and Expo and hosted
by BBI International's Biomass
Magazine.
10/28/2015
PHGE
Schedules Groundbreaking for
Tennessee Renewable Energy
Facility
PHG Energy (PHGE) has scheduled
a November 12, 2015
groundbreaking ceremony for the
Lebanon, Tennessee
waste-to-energy gasification
facility on the grounds of the
Lebanon Wastewater Treatment
Plant.
10/28/2015
Stora Enso
Builds Biomaterials
Demonstration Plant and US
HQ in
Louisiana
Finnish pulp, paper and
biomaterials company Stora Enso
has announced construction of
its new US headquarters and
biomaterials demonstration and
market development plant in
Raceland, Louisiana.
10/27/2015
BMW South
Africa Plant Is Now Powered
with Manure and Organic
Waste
BMW South Africa has announced
that it received the first
green energy at its Rosslyn
plant in Pretoria on October
10, 2015.
10/27/2015
RSB Certifies
1st Smallholder Biomass
Supply Project in Southeast
Asia
The Roundtable on Sustainable
Biomaterials has announced
certification of the first
Smallholder Project in
Southeast Asia. Biomass
Supplies Ltd, a subsidiary of
the Biomass Group, coordinates
collection of biomass residuals
in Sri Lanka.
10/26/2015
USDA Funds
Over 1,100 Renewable Energy
and Energy Efficiency
Projects
The US Department of
Agriculture (USDA) is awarding
loans and grants to help more
than 1,100 rural small
businesses and agricultural
producers reduce energy usage
and costs in their operations.
10/26/2015
The Week's Action
Items
Due
11/23/2015: Proposals to CEC
for Technical Services for
EPIC
Program
The California Energy
Commission (CEC) has released
Solicitation #RFP-15-318 -
Technical Assistance for the
Energy Research and Development
Division EPIC Program.
10/27/2015
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