New Mexico Biomass Blog

Says the ABQJournal:

If a tree falls near a planned Estancia biomass plant, the state Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department wants to know about it. Even if it won’t fall for two decades.

 

That’s the apparent message in the department’s rejection of Western Water and Power’s application for $2 million in annual renewable-energy tax credits for its $80 million biomass project. The plant would burn organic waste— from piñon and juniper cut from rangeland to agricultural waste— and generate electricity.

 

A letter from Energy Director Fernando R. Martinez says Western’s application didn’t include the amount of biomass or acreage available for thinning and removal on the area of land in each contract. Western co-owner David Cohen says state statute refers to “long-term potential” of “production capacity,” which he reads as the generator, not the fuel. That makes sense, considering the challenge in pinpointing the speed of gusts for a wind plant or number of sunny days for a solar plant in 2027.

 

Nevertheless, Cohen says Western provided copies of six of its eight five-to-10-year contracts with private landowners, a description of acreage it has under a 25-year contract with the State Land Office, an estimated tonnage of biomass available on the acreage based on satellite and on-the-ground surveys, and two studies showing 21 million tons of biomass within a 50-mile radius of the plant and 5.9 million tons in a 25-mile radius.

 

And on Sept. 25, he says, Western’s tax-credit application was rejected— because it didn’t show actual fuel supply for the 20-year life of the project.

 

That’s a tall order, considering fires, drought and bark beetles can mean a tree that’s here today is gone tomorrow. And it’s a dubious one, coming on the heels of Environment Secretary Ron Curry’s rejection of Western’s air-quality permit, which was subsequently overturned by the state Environmental Improvement Board.

 

Western has appealed the tax-credit decision to Energy Secretary Joanna Prukop. At the very least, Cohen wants a public hearing on the case.

 

At the very least, there should be a public airing. Gov. Bill Richardson has made biomass one of the planks in the state’s renewable energy platform. Cleaning up what’s on the ground, thinning what’s overgrown, eradicating non-native species and returning grasslands to their natural state— all while spurring economic development and providing an alternative to coal-fired electric plants— makes sense.

 

And the public should know if the company that’s stepped up to do just that can’t deliver, or if it’s just getting short-circuited in government bureaucracy with a hidden agenda.