More Garbage from the CA Senate EQC

The Puente Hills Landfill is the largest operating sanitary landfill in the United States (and probably the world). It is scheduled to close in 2013.Now that AB 222 has finally "passed" through the Senate Environmental Quality Committee (EQC), the question is, does the legislation meet the vision of what has passed through the full Assembly (54-13) and the Senate Utilities Committee (6-1) last

California's top energy, air quality, & recycling agencies support AB222

Environmentalists must stop letting the perfect become the enemy of the possible.- Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger For three years I have been writing about the frustrated attempts to get legislation passed through Sacramento that would enable the state's municipalities and utilities to permit diversion of municipal solid waste post-recyclables to conversion technologies that would recover energy,

California's price for a failure to launch

Chalk one up for the fossil energy status quo. Last Thursday, as a result of obstructive votes of five members of the California Senate Environmental Quality Committee (SEQ), a crucial piece of renewable energy legislation titled "Assembly Bill 222" has been delayed yet another year. Call it a failure to launch.If approved, this legislation would have responsibly (and with articulated recycling

California's showdown over waste feedstocks

A showdown is looming in the California State Senate this summer over an issue that is at the heart of the nationwide drive to develop and deploy bioenergy conversion technologies.In a state that prides itself on its landmark achievements in outlining Global Warming Solutions (AB 32), Bioenergy Action plans, and Low Carbon Fuel Standards, access to some of the most sustainable feedstocks for

California's Renewable Energy Disconnect

Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of VictoryCalifornia is a study of trends and counter-trends. On one hand we have an "Action" governor who commissions and signs executive orders like the California Bioenergy Action Plan that calls for collaboration between the State government, academia, NGOs, and private industry to tackle our energy deficit problem using bioenergy. The State also has a

Bioenergy Producers comment on California's Climate Change Scoping Plan

California Senator David Roberti (ret.) is a public servant of the first magnitude for California. I have met Sen. Roberti several times and hold him in highest esteem for his intelligence, his leadership, his respect for the lawmaking process, and socially sensitive policymaking. During his 28 years of service in the California legislature and 13 years of service as President Pro Tem of the

CA Draft Scoping Plan comment: Recycling and Waste

This is one of a series of comments submitted to the California Air Resources Board for their draft version of the California Climate Change Draft Scoping Plan. Other BIOenergy BlogRing comments are linked here: • Challenge the Status Quo • Recycling and Waste • Sustainable Forests----------------The Draft Scoping Plan correctly identifies recycling and waste management as a focus area