Piping Up

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from biomass should not be regulated in the same way as GHG emissions from fossil fuel use are, the National Solid Wastes Management Association (NSWMA) said in comments that it submitted to the EPA.

NSWMA submitted the comments in response to the EPA’s proposed Prevention of Significant Deterioration and Title V Greenhouse Gas Tailoring Rule.

“NSWMA believes that if the Tailoring Rule includes the carbon dioxide produced by biomass, it will overly burden local government and private entities that have invested resources into the development of renewable energy and organics management infrastructure,” said Bruce Parker, president and CEO of NSWMA, in a press release.

NSWMA isn’t the only waste association to have recently submitted comments to EPA. The Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) has informed the agency that it supports several proposed changes to the Mandatory Reporting of Greenhouse Gases Rule.

SWANA supports a proposed change that would allow waste-to-energy facilities processing no more than 600 tons of material a day to use the Tier 2 reporting method. The organization also endorses removing municipal solid waste (MSW) from the rule’s definition of fossil fuel.

In the letter, SWANA also outlines its opposition to some of the proposed changes, such as one that would require waste-to-energy facilities to report aggregate carbon dioxide emissions instead of separating biogenic and anthropogenic emissions.