New Mexico Biomass Blog

The Albuquerque Journal: Couple Lose Almost Everything in Fire, but Still Have Hope. Fortunately, an evacuation order issued to area residents was lifted on Friday by Torrance County. However, not everyone is returning to what they left:
MOUNTAINAIR— Two terrified dogs roamed the blackened forest with their tails between their legs. Four cats mewed as they looked [...]

The Albuquerque Journal’s recent article “Biomass Study Not Impartial” unmasks the spin that the Forest Guardians have been promulgating to the public. Here’s the key passage:

An “independent” report aimed at proving that a planned biomass power plant south of Estancia fails to comply with state law and lacks enough biomass fuel to fulfill its contract was [...]

Answer:

The Governor of New Mexico
The Congresswoman who represents Torrance County
The Mayor of Estancia
The Estancia Valley Economic Development Association
The New Mexico Environmental Improvement Board
The New Mexico Land Commissioner
The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission
New Mexico’s largest newspaper, the Albuquerque Journal

On the side bar, to your right, we’ve added links that highlight the many leading figures in our state who support biomass development in [...]

Paul Davis, Bud Latven, Bill Fogleman, and Bryan Bird (of the Forest Guardians) have again submitted an anti-biomass disinformation report; this time to the State Energy Secretary. They are not rangeland scientists, and it soon shows in their confused arguments (herein called “FG Fuel-Wood Estimate”). Dr. Brent Racher, a rangeland scientist with a BA, MS and PhD in Range [...]

Dr. Brent Racher, a rangeland scientist with many years of field experience in New Mexico, has submitted an affidavit to the Energy Secretary, wherein he shows there is far more than enough biomass fuel available for the Estancia biomass project.
For ease of reading, below are excerpts of this important affidavit, organized around common questions that one often hears in the media which are then followed by [...]

Brian Bingham, Director of Commercial Resource Management Division and the Renewable Energy Program at the State Land Office (“SLO”), submitted an affidavit challenging the dubious position that the State Energy Department has taken towards the Estanica Biomass Project. Here are the money quotes from the affidavit: 
The SLO has determined  that the thinning and removal of biomass material from [...]

As is by now well-known, the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department is, contrary to applicable law and policy, attempting to deny the Estancia biomass project’s application for a Renewable Energy Production Tax Credit.
Without any support under the New Mexico statue establishing the renewable energy tax credit (NMSA 1978, 7-2A-19), and without any support from the Energy Department’s [...]

Thus reports the Mountain View Telegraph:
Bryan Bird, director for public lands for Forest Guardians, an environmental group that has opposed the construction of the [Estancia biomass] plant, said there are differences between the WWPP assessment of available biomass materials and a study done by “an independent group (of) citizen-scientists” that was also submitted to the [...]

1. It’s A Clean Energy Source. — Biomass energy is widely embraced in the United States and Europe as a clean alternative energy source, and is widely recognized by mainstream environmental organizations, such as the Sierra Club and the Union of Concerned Scientists, as a critical component in an overall renewable energy portfolio. It’s a [...]

Worth reading: An article in this week’s US News & World Report entitled “Power Revolution.” You can see from the graph above what an important role biomass plays in our national renewable energy portfolio, contributing more than geothermal, solar and wind combined. If it weren’t for biomass, the United States would enjoy virtually no renewable energy, and our country [...]

“Natural light floods the sales floor, earth mounds surround the building and almost nothing is wasted. It may sound more like a bronze-age village than a modern supermarket, but there is no doubt that the Sainsbury’s in Greenwich is truly a technological marvel.” — Cities of Science, London, about Britain’s Sainsbury’s in Greenwich. Pretty cool.