PUCO must end the deadlock over FirstEnergy biomass plan

As the winds of change blow ever more swiftly toward renewable energy sources in our nation, it is ironic to witness the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio stonewall a plan to use green energy to power nearly 200,000 homes in the state.

Specifically, FirstEnergy, parent of Ohio Edison, has proposed a $200 million biomass conversion to its R.E. Burger coal-burning plant in Belmont County. The company wants to convert the aging power plant to biomass fuel and has applied to the PUCO for certification of the plant as a “renewable energy resource facility” and for RES credits. Biomass fuels include wood, food products, manure and food wastes.

But a controversy has brought the Akron-based utility’s application to a dead stop at the PUCO, thereby stalling the promising project.

OBJECTIONS OF OPPONENTS

Environmentalists and consumer advocates are in a snit over several aspects of the plan.

First, they argue that the biomass plant to be fueled largely with wooden pellets would mean the virtual destruction of Ohio’s forests.

FirstEnergy counters that the critics’ numbers are inflated and the naysayers ignore the fact that some fast-growing tree species are highly renewable resources.

Critics, too, argue that the downfall of more trees could increase carbon dioxide and greenhouse-gas emissions, and they fear a focus on biomass will scuttle efforts to use wind and solar energy as power-producing alternatives.

The verdict is not completely in on the impact of biomass fuels on CO2 emissions, but under certain criteria, emissions have been significantly reduced, according to a study on biomass power industry in Massachusetts. As for solar and wind power, many authorities argue that heavy clouds and still air in our region could thwart the effective widespread use of those renewable resources.

Nonetheless, biomass should not be considered the only green-energy solution to meet the state’s mandate of obtaining at least 12.5 percent of its power from clean-energy sources by 2025. But in its mandate, the state includes biomass as one of several viable options.

Indeed the PUCO, in its very own report titled “Biomass Energy and its Benefits,” listed these attributes of biomass-fuel energy:

Biomass fuels produce virtually no sulfur emissions and help mitigate acid rain.

Biomass fuels “recycle” atmospheric carbon, minimizing global warming impacts since zero “net” carbon dioxide is emitted during biomass combustion.

The recycling of biomass wastes lessens the need to create new landfills and extends the life of current landfills.

Biomass combustion produces less ash than coal, and reduces ash disposal costs. The biomass ash also can be used as a soil fertilizer in farm land.

NO TIME TO WASTE

Clearly, the time for delay must end. At the very least, the PUCO should launch an impartial third-party study of FirstEnergy’s Burger proposal and its ability to achieve the state’s clean-energy objectives.

It could start by looking at the environmental impact of biomass projects in more than 20 states across the country.

But resolution must come quickly, as FirstEnergy is under Justice Department orders to end its coal-fired operations at the Burger plant by 2012.

The sooner the FE proposal — or an alternative green-energy plan — gets unstuck from the muck, the sooner Ohio will embrace more fully the noble goals of energy diversification and pollution reduction.