Volume , No. covering the 1st Session of the 117th Congress (2021 - 2022) was published by the Congressional Record.
The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“BIOMASS &” mentioning the Environmental Protection Agency was published in the in the Extensions of Remarks section section on pages E1206-E1207 on Nov. 5.
More than half of the Agency's employees are engineers, scientists and protection specialists. The Climate Reality Project, a global climate activist organization, accused Agency leadership in the last five years of undermining its main mission.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
BIOMASS & BIOGAS FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLES ACT
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HON. JOHN GARAMENDI
of california
in the house of representatives
Friday, November 5, 2021
Mr. GARAMENDI. Madam Speaker, today I introduce the ``Biomass and Biogas for Electric Vehicles Act.''
In passing the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (Public Law 110-140), Congress made electricity from renewable biomass--
including biogas and waste-to-energy from feedstocks such as separated yard or food waste--eligible under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). Despite years of Congressional urging, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has yet to approve a single biomass facility under the program. Some applications for biomass electricity--known as
``pathway petitions'' under the RFS program--have been pending now for more than 7 years.
I have long supported a utility-scale subsidy for biomass electricity to create a market for byproducts of proper forest management and hazardous fuels reduction in fire-prone states like California. This legislation fulfills that objective by working within the framework of the existing Renewable Fuel Standard, which already includes electricity generated from eligible feedstocks used as a transportation fuel.
Under current law and USEPA regulations, ``renewable biomass'' is already defined to include biogas, namely methane captured from livestock and agricultural byproducts, food waste, or residential yard waste. As such, my ``Biomass and Biogas for Electric Vehicles Act'' would complement the significant investments California is making under the State's successful Dairy Digester Research and Development Program.
Currently, the USEPA requires facilities to prove with near-perfect traceability that the electricity generated is used as a transportation fuel to participate in the RFS program. Most renewable biomass facilities are selling electricity into the grid and, therefore, cannot prove definitively that each electron generated is used exclusively by electric vehicles.
The ``Biomass and Biogas for Electric Vehicles Act'' would enable biomass facilities generating renewable electricity to finally participate in the RFS program. Instead of requiring that biomass facilities meet the impossible task of proving that the electricity generated and sold into the grid is used directly as a transportation fuel, my legislation directs the USEPA to extrapolate the percentage of total U.S. electricity generation used for charging electric vehicles. The USEPA would then set a quarterly quota for each biomass facility registered under the RFS program, limited by each facility's maximum design capacity and the amount of electricity generated.
I recognize that some biomass and biogas facilities, specifically those with on-site electric vehicle charging stations, can meet the USEPA's current traceability requirement. That is why my legislation would grandfather any facilities with a written contract or affidavit accepted by USEPA demonstrating that the electricity generated is used as transportation fuel.
My legislation would also authorize USEPA to collect a reasonable fee from industry to cover the costs of reviewing any applications (pathway petitions or facility registration requests) for renewable electricity submitted under the RFS program. In a 2016 ``advance notice of proposed rulemaking,'' the USEPA cited inadequate agency resources as a major impediment to approval of renewable electricity under the RFS program. The USEPA could waive these application fees for municipally owned biomass or biogas facilities under my bill. This fee-for-service model is based on the USEPA's regulatory regime under the Pesticide Registration Improvement Act of 2003 (title V of Public Law 108-199), which is widely regarded as successful and enjoys broad-based support in Congress.
Lastly, my legislation would make biomass removed from federal forestlands eligible under the RFS. Current law only allows biomass collected from non-federal lands, including privately owned land, state or locally owned public lands, and tribal land held in trust by the federal government, to qualify as renewable biomass under the RFS. This restriction is arbitrary and hampers market-driven incentives to reduce the overload of hazardous fuels for wildfires on our National Forests and other federal forestlands. However, I want to be clear that my legislation would not open federal forestland to timber harvests or commercial hazardous fuels removal where such activities are prohibited currently.
Madam Speaker, I urge all members to cosponsor the ``Biomass and Biogas for Electric Vehicles Act.'' As California and other western states face increasingly severe and year-round fire seasons due to global climate change, we simply must create a market for forest byproducts to incentivize much-needed hazardous fuels reduction. Renewable electricity from biomass and biogas also helps to reduce our nation's greenhouse gas emissions and to transition to a clean energy economy. While these measures alone will not solve the climate crisis or prevent all catastrophic wildfires, they are undoubtedly part of the solution.
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SOURCE: BIOGAS FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLES ACT
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