PFPI-BiomassIsTheNewCoal-April-2-2014

What can be done to reduce the threat of pollution from biomass power? Our analysis identifiedseven loopholes in clean air laws and their enforcement; here, we suggest how these loopholes canbe closed.Loophole 1: Biomass plants can emit more pollution before triggering federal permittingThe Clean Air Act requires a coal plant to go through federal Prevention of SignificantDeterioration permitting, including a best available control technology analysis and air qualitymodeling, if a facility emits 100 tons of a criteria pollutant per year. Biomass plants get to emittwo and a half times as much of each pollutant – 250 tons per year – before PSD permitting applies.The fix: Burning biomass for electricity produces as much or more of key pollutants as coal – sobiomass should be regulated like coal. EPA has the authority to require that biomass plants beadded to the list of pollution sources where PSD permitting is triggered at 100 tons. Biomasspower plants are big, polluting facilities that emit hundreds to thousands of tons of pollution eachyear. They should be regulated accordingly.Loophole 2: EPA’s free pass for bioenergy CO 2 lets large power plants avoid regulationThe EPA’s decision to not regulate bioenergy CO 2 under the Clean Air Act was deemed unlawfulby the U.S. Court of Appeals in 2013. The exemption has allowed a large number of plants toescape PSD permitting, thus doubling allowable pollution from this industry.The fix: EPA should regulate bioenergy CO 2 now. Once in the PSD program, facilities candiscuss how to reduce their net emissions of CO 2 during the consideration of best available controltechnology.Loophole 3: State regulators help biomass power plants avoid more protective permittingRegulators routinely accept even far-fetched permit limits for biomass facilities that claim they canmeet “synthetic minor” permit limits of 250 tons of each criteria pollutant per year. Avoiding PSDdoubles the pollution a plant is allowed to emit, and avoids air quality modeling that coulddetermine whether a facility will cause EPA health standards to be exceeded.The fix: If Loophole 1 were fixed, and PSD permitting was triggered at 100 tons of emissions,most biomass plants would have to go through PSD. Likewise, if EPA implemented the Court’sdecision and regulated bioenergy CO 2 , most plants emit more than 100,000 tons of CO 2 , alsotriggering PSD. Beyond those fixes, EPA should subject every power plant permit to federaloversight – especially those from states like Georgia, where regulators routinely issue syntheticminor source permits with the most minimal of conditions. It is going to take meaningful federaloversight to ensure these facilities set emissions limits that are federally enforceable, as the CleanAir Act requires.67