EPA Puts Maine’s Biomass Industry On Notice

Congress may have ended their session before they were able to pass job-killing energy regulations, but the EPA is taking up the slack, gearing up to begin enforcing it’s “tailoring rule” starting in January, the EPA will begin issuing “permits” designed to “allow” carbon emitters like power plants. In return for receiving this gift from the EPA, “emitters” will be forced to comply with a host of ridiculous regulations, a burden which will, of course, in turn be passed on to consumers through higher energy prices, or worse, job cuts.

As the Daily Caller pointed out a week ago, Maine’s biomass industry is on the hit list:

A troubling example of the potential job loss likely to result from these regulations is the woody biomass industry. In many states throughout the country, biomass is the only domestic renewable energy source available to provide any meaningful supply of baseload power. Many of these states even count this sustainable power source as a clean and sustainable energy source that helps them comply with their own renewable energy mandates. But as part of their effort to “tailor” their regulations, the EPA has arbitrarily determined that these sources will also be lumped in with their carbon regulations.

That’s right: the EPA placed Maine’s most prominent source of power – and one of only a handful of large-scale, environmentally-conscious energy projects in the country – on its list of carbon-causing industries in need of reform. And although the EPA issued this list back in May, they still haven’t carved out any exemptions for biomass or biogenic sources of energy, leaving them to be treated exactly the same as any other producer of greenhouse gasses – even ones who operate exclusively in a carbon neutral manner. Obviously, this comes as a bit of a shock to the biomass industry, who are afraid that biomass producers will just turn right back to fossil fuels.

This would not only mean the potential end of what the industry claims is a clean and renewable form of energy production, refusing to allow this exemption could be disastrous to Maine.  Senator Susan Collins noted that Maine’s biomass plans, paper mills and industry facilities could face closures, leading to major job losses and a disastrous economic impact. She noted in June that at least 14 facilities in Maine alone would be on the chopping block, to say nothing for the national impact.

It seems particularly counter-intuitive for a country in dire economic straits to not only put an industry out of business, but one that seems to represent the future of renewable energy production.