While a biomass operation was recently announced in Port Townsend, Wash., a new poll shows that public support for biomass plants in Washington state is high. According to Moore Information, 57 percent of likely voters in Washington support the generation of power from biomass gathered from sustainably managed forests.
The support goes all the way to 70 percent once voters are informed that two-thirds of all potentially available biomass renewable energy comes from forests, more than twice all agricultural and other sources of biomass combined.
The poll results show that the public is hungry for clean, renewable sources of energy as climate change and carbon control become predominant issues for our economy, environment and well being.
In other biomass news, industry leaders and supporters in Oregon are worried about the new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule that could lead to biomass not being considered carbon neutral, according to this Associated Press story.
Congressional supporters say the issue comes down to finding a clean energy source besides coal:
…(L)ast month U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., and more than 60 other members of Congress from biomass states sent a letter to the EPA demanding that the agency keep the carbon-neutral rating for biomass because of its potential as a renewable energy source, for creating jobs and paying for projects to thin forests.
“Do we or do we not move past the fossil fuel economy?” DeFazio said in an interview with The Associated Press. “Do we or do we not get free of imported fossil fuels and oil?”
It is good to see Peter DeFazio be so supportive of active forest management for once.
Douglas County Commissioner Joseph Laurance has gained national recognition as “Biomass Joe” for his efforts in Douglas County.
Last week he gave the following testimony in Washington DC:
http://westinstenv.org/sosf/2010/07/15/douglas-co-commissioner-joe-laurance-july-15-testimony/
It would be great to see Oregon’s Congressional leaders get behind Joe’s NACO proposal.