Stakeholders Urge EPA To Act On Biogenic Carbon

On August 28, 2013, the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) and the National Solid Wastes Management Association (NSWMA) sent a letter to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy urging EPA to (1) issue quickly a final rule clarifying how biogenic carbon emissions will be treated under Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) and Title V permitting requirements and (2) determine that biogenic carbon emissions from municipal solid waste (MSW) should be categorically excluded from the new PSD and Title V greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting requirements. A copy of the letter is available online. In July, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia vacated EPA's rule temporarily exempting bioenergy and other biogenic sources of GHG emissions from the new GHG permitting requirements, which has created uncertainty for the industry going forward. BRAG's report on this decision is available online.

In their joint letter, SWANA and NSWMA argue that emissions from the biogenic portions of MSW should be permanently exempted from the new GHG reporting requirements in part based on EPA's recent calculation of the lifecycle GHG analysis of landfill gas as a renewable fuel feedstock. Under this analysis, EPA "assumed that the biogenic portions of MSW (which produce the biogas) pose no land use-related GHG emissions associated with its production and use as a fuel feedstock." In addition, the groups state subjecting the biogenic emissions to the new reporting requirements could deter renewable fuel production and progress on projects designed to promote the beneficial use of landfill gas and energy.
 

On August 1, 2013, over 100 groups sent a similar letter to EPA urging the Agency to find that bioenergy and other biogenic sources of GHG emissions are carbon neutral for purposes of new GHG permitting requirements under EPA's Tailoring Rule. More information on this letter is available online.