Environmentalists will seek to free up state funds for
renewable energy resources by excluding “black liquor” from the list of
renewable energy sources eligible for state subsidies, after an effort to do so
failed this year.
House Bill 747, which failed in committee during this year’s
General Assembly, would have changed the state’s renewable energy portfolio
standard to no longer treat the burning of black liquor — a byproduct of the
papermaking process that can be burned to produce energy — as a renewable
energy source eligible for state funding.
Luke Mill in Western Maryland is the only in-state facility
that burns black liquor for energy, but it isn’t the only one that receives
funding through Maryland’s portfolio standard, said James McGarry, chief policy
analyst for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network.
Energy companies in other states on the same power grid as
Maryland — PJM Interconnection provides electricity to 13 states, including
Maryland and Washington, D.C. — are eligible for state subsidies. McGarry said
the Johnsonburg Mill in Pennsylvania is applying and he expects it to get
funding.
Rich Reis, energy committee chair for the Maryland chapter
of the Sierra Club, said he wants energy sources that involve the burning of
materials to be excluded from state subsidies through the portfolio standard.
By burning black liquor, greenhouse gases are released into
the air, although to a much less damaging extent than those emitted through the
burning of fossil fuels such as coal. McGarry said he would rather see the
portfolio standard money spent on other renewable energy sources, such as solar
and wind energy.
“It’s one of the top things that Maryland has to do to
achieve its greenhouse gas goals,” McGarry said. “As long as our energy law is
broken, we’ll try to fix it.”
Delegate John Olszewski (D-Baltimore County), sponsor of the
House bill, said that in 2011, 45 percent of renewable energy subsidies from
the state went to black liquor facilities, including Luke Mill.
But in 2013, McGarry said, that number dropped to 26 percent
as wind energy increased — from 14 percent in 2011 to 39 percent in 2013.
Mill byproducts such as black liquor will produce the same
emissions regardless of whether they are burned for energy, incinerated or left
to decay in a landfill or elsewhere, according to a 2011 Environmental
Protection Agency report.
Facilities such as Luke Mill aim to harness the black liquor
before it releases greenhouse gases without being used to generate energy, said
Jessica McFaul, press secretary for the American Forest & Paper
Association.
According to a National Council for Air and Stream
Improvement report released in October, the use of black liquor prevents a
significant amount of emissions of greenhouse gases that would occur if fossil
fuels were burned instead.
Maryland’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act Plan, released in
October, found that diverting portfolio standard funds from black liquor to
wind energy would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1.4 million metric tons.
McGarry said the jury’s out on exactly how the burning of black liquor for
energy production contributes to greenhouse gas emissions.
It makes sense for facilities such as Luke Mill to continue
using black liquor to generate energy, McGarry said, but it doesn’t make sense
to reward companies that have used black liquor for decades. There’s no issue
with burning black liquor for energy production, so state funds would be better
spent on other, newer renewable energy sources, he said.
McFaul wrote in an email that she could not comment on
whether Luke Mill would have had to cut jobs if it lost the funding it receives
from the portfolio standard.
The bill would have compensated Luke Mill for losing
portfolio standard funds, however, because it is an in-state facility,
Olszewski said.
The Sierra Club hasn’t decided how it will approach the
portfolio standard’s classification of black liquor next year, Reis said. There
should be a similar bill next session, Olszewski said, and he doesn’t expect
environmental groups to drop the issue. McGarry said the issue isn’t going
away.
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