Assembly Joint Resolution
No. 4
CHAPTER 76
Relative to energy produced by biomass-to-energy facilities.
[
Filed with
Secretary of State
July 05, 2001.
]
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AJR 4, Leslie.
Biomass power facilities.
This measure would memorialize the United States Forest Service, the Congress, and the President of the United States to promote a reliable and adequate biomass waste fuel supply. The measure would memorialize the United States Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, and Environmental Protection Agency to recognize environmental benefits including improved air quality, decreased global-warming gases, and reduced threat of catastrophic forest fires that energy production from biomass waste can provide, and to encourage the continued operation of the existing biomass-to-energy industry by taking the reasonable measures necessary, including tax incentives, to increase the availability and reduce the cost of biomass wastes diverted to powerplants for use as renewable energy or fuels. The measure would also memorialize the United States Forest Service to utilize an appropriate mix of fire suppression activities and forest management methodologies on lands in the Sierra Nevada national forests of California.
Digest Key
WHEREAS, California is suffering an energy crisis during the winter of 2001 that threatens to adversely affect the health and safety of Californians through the summer of 2001; and
WHEREAS, Each year in California about 80 million tons of biomass waste are generated from municipal, industrial, agricultural, forestry, and government operations. Most of these materials are currently disposed of via landfills or open-air burning instead of being used for clean energy production; and
WHEREAS, California’s biomass-to-energy industry provides a safe and environmentally sound means of converting organic wastes to green energy in a renewable cycle; and
WHEREAS, At least 14 of California’s 29 biomass-to-energy facilities depend on wood waste derived from fire hazard reduction, thinning, and forest product manufacturing activities for their fuel supply; and
WHEREAS, Combined, these facilities represent a generating capacity exceeding 260 megawatts, which is enough electricity to serve the needs of more than 300,000 households; and
WHEREAS, It is in the general interest of the state to encourage the continued conversion of biomass-to-energy power generation; and
WHEREAS, Approximately 37 percent of California is comprised of public and private forest lands with 54 percent of those forest lands owned by the federal government; and
WHEREAS, The long-term viability of green biomass-to-energy power generation is dependent on a reliable and adequate biomass waste fuel supply; and
WHEREAS, The unanimous passage of Assembly Joint Resolution No. 69 by the California State Legislature in 2000, called for the establishment of a cohesive strategy to reduce the overabundance of forest fuels and high risk of catastrophic wildfire; now, therefore, be it
Resolved, by the Assembly and Senate of the State of California, jointly, That in the interest of ensuring the long-term viability of green biomass-to-energy power generation in our state, the Legislature of the State of California hereby respectfully memorializes the United States Forest Service, the Congress, and the President of the United States to recognize the importance of the biomass industry in California, and to undertake discrete experiments and pilot projects that will reduce fuel loading in the Sierra Nevada and elsewhere in California while at the same time exploring a variety of new generation and fuel transport techniques that are ecologically sound and that are, or will become, cost-effective both for the generation of electricity and the reduction of fire risk ; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature of the State of California hereby respectfully memorializes the United States Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, and Environmental Protection Agency to recognize environmental benefits including improved air quality, decreased global-warming gases, and reduced threat of catastrophic forest fires that energy production from biomass waste can provide; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature of the State of California, in the interest of public health and safety, hereby respectfully memorializes the Congress to encourage the continued operation of the existing biomass-to-energy industry by taking the reasonable measures necessary, including the consideration of tax incentives, to increase the availability and reduce the cost of biomass wastes diverted to powerplants for use as renewable energy or fuels; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature of the State of California hereby respectfully memorializes the United States Forest Service to utilize an appropriate mix of fire suppression activities and forest management methodologies, including selective thinning, selective harvesting, grazing, the removal of excessive ground fuels, and small-scale prescribed burns, including increased private, local, and state contracts for prefire treatments on lands in the Sierra Nevada national forests of California; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States, the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Chief of the United States Forest Service, the Director of the National Park Service, the Director of the Bureau of Land Management, and each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States.