MEMORANDUM 

UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460 

NOV 1 9 2014 OFFICE OF 

AIR AND RADIATION 

SUBJECT: Addressing Biogenic Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Stationary Sources 

C:> CZc..-

FROM : Janet G. McCaoe, Acting Assistant Administrator 

Office of Air and Radiation 

TO: Air Division Directors, Regions 1-l 0 

The President's Climate Action Plan (2013) highlights the critical role that America's 

forests play in addressing carbon pollution in the United States by removing nearly 12 percent of 

total U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions each year from the atmosphere. Conservation and 

sustainable management can help to ensure our forests and other lands continue to remove 

carbon from the atmosphere while also improving soil and water quality, reducing wildfire risk, 

and otherwise managing forests to be more resilient in the face of climate change. In many cases, 

the generation of sustainably sourced bioenergy products can be an integral part of regimes that 

promote conservation and sustainable forest management. The Environmental Protection 

Agency's (EPA) work on assessing biogenic carbon dioxide (C02) emissions from stationary 

sources is part of this broad climate strategy. 

Accordingly, the Agency is taking the next step in the development of ongoing technical 

work it has been doing in support of this assessment. To continue advancing our understanding 

of the role biomass can play in reducing overall greenhouse gas emissions, the EPA has 

developed a second draft ofthe Framework/or Assessing Biogenic C02 Emissions from 

Stationary Sources, and is preparing to release it for further review. As you know, the EPA also 

anticipates near-term decision-making pertaining to biogenic C02 emissions in the context of 

both the Clean Power Plan (CPP) and the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) 

program. As a result, we expect that many states and stakeholders will look to the second draft of 

the Framework for indications of how the Agency will treat biogenic C02 emissions under both 

the CPP and the PSD program going forward. In addition to advising you of the release of the 

revised Framework, this memo also describes below OAR's current thinking with respect to 

those two programs and their treatment of biogenic C02 emissions. Please share this 

memorandum with our co-regulators and stakeholders as appropriate. 

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Internet Address (URL) • http://www.epa.gov 

Recycled/Recyclable • Printed with Vegetable Oil Based Inks on 100% Postconsumer, Process Chlorine Free Recycled Paper 
In 2011, the EPA developed the first draft of the Framework and submitted it to a Science 

Advisory Board (SAB) for peer review. 1 With that draft, the Agency continued an extensive 

stakeholder process that began with a Call for Information related to biogenic carbon accounting 

and assessment in 2010 and included public comment on the first draft Framework. Information 

considered in preparing the second draft of the Framework, including the SAB peer review and 

stakeholder input, supports the finding that use of waste-derived feedstocks and certain forestderived industrial byproducts are likely to have minimal or no net atmospheric contributions of 

biogenic C02 emissions, or even reduce such impacts, when compared with an alternate fate of 

disposal. The EPA intends to apply this preliminary finding further within the policy contexts 

and regulatory actions described below. 

The EPA worked to produce the second draft of the Framework to reflect the SAB peer 

review, stakeholder feedback and latest scientific analyses to develop it as a tool for assessing 

biogenic C02 emissions from stationary sources. The EPA will continue to refine its accounting 

work by initiating a second round of targeted peer review through its SAB later this month, 

which includes public comment. As part of this technical process, we will continue to assess and 

closely monitor overall bioenergy demand and landscape conditions for changes that might have 

negative impacts on public health or the environment. 

While we continue the development of the Framework to reflect ongoing technical and 

scientific work, we believe that our approach to the treatment of biomass in the CPP and PSD 

program should be determined by policy and programmatic objectives, goals and considerations, 

based on and supported by technical information - an outlook that the SAB peer reviewers 

acknowledged in their review of the initial draft Framework. In light of those considerations, we 

believe that it is appropriate for the EPA to take additional actions to implement the policies 

described below in the CPP and the PSD program in parallel with our intended further work on 

the Framework. 

In the implementation of the CPP, the EPA anticipates that some states will wish to 

include the use of biogenic feedstocks in their compliance plans. When considering state 

compliance plans, the Agency expects to recognize the biogenic C02 emissions and climate 

policy benefits of waste-derived and certain forest-derived industrial byproduct feedstocks, based 

on the conclusions supported by a variety of technical studies, including the revised Framework. 

In addition, given the importance of sustainable land management in achieving the carbon 

reduction goals of the President's Climate Action Plan, the EPA expects that states' reliance 

specifically on sustainably-derived agricultural- and forest-derived feedstocks may also be an 

approvable element of their compliar~ce plans. This approach is consistent with the EPA's 

recognition in the proposal that every state has different energy systems and available fuel mixes. 

Many states already recognize the importance of forests and other lands for climate resilience 

and mitigation, and have developed a variety of sustainable forestry and land use management 

1 In September 20 II, the Agency released the Draft Accounting Framework for Biogenic C02 Emissions from 

Stationary Sources (hlln. "' \\\\ .epa.gov1

climatechange'ghgcmissions biogenic-emissions.hunll. This draft report 

examined the science associated with biogenic C02 emissions from stationary sources and presented an accounting 

framework for these emissions. EPA's Science Advisory Board (SAB) conducted a peer review of this report and 

released its conclusions in 2012. 

(hllg:t'vosemite.epa.!!.O\ 'sabfsabproduct.nsf/0 2F9B572C71_2A(,'52E85')57831 0070-1886 ). 

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policies and programs to address these concerns. Some states also encourage participation in 

sustainable forest management programs developed by third-party forestry and/or environmental 

entities. 

The EPA will evaluate the biogenic feedstock components of proposed state plansalong with all other aspects of each plan- as part of the compliance plan review and approval 

process and will provide clarification as needed on the basis on which it will make such biomassrelated evaluations. As in the case of many other aspects of the CPP, we expect to consult other 

experts, such as our colleagues at USDA, states and stakeholders to provide information and 

examples of existing state and third-party programs already recognized as meeting sustainability 

goals as articulated by the President's Climate Action Plan. 

In addition, the EPA plans to propose revisions to the PSD rules to include an exemption 

from the Best Available Control Technology (BACT) requirement for GHGs from waste-derived 

feedstocks and from non-waste biogenic feedstocks derived from sustainable forest or 

agricultural practices, consistent with the technical information described above. For wastederived feedstocks, the EPA intends to propose exempting biogenic C02 emissions from GHG 

BACT analyses and anticipates basing that proposal on the rationale that those emissions are 

likely to have minimal or no net atmospheric contributions of biogenic C02 emissions, or even 

reduce such impacts, when compared with an alternate fate of disposal. For sustainable nonwaste feedstocks, the EPA intends to propose exempting biogenic C02 emissions from GHG 

BACT analyses if the applicant can demonstrate that these feedstocks in fact come from 

sustainably managed lands. The rationale above will be presented in the record for any future 

rulemaking and subject to public review and comment. For all other biogenic feedstocks, the 

EPA intends to propose that biogenic C02 emissions would remain subject to the GHG BACT 

requirement at this time. The EPA also anticipates providing additional guidance to sources 

undergoing BACT analyses involving biogenic feedstocks. 

Relatedly, the EPA is working through the legal process to respond to the Supreme 

Court's decision in Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA and the proceedings currently before the 

United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. When developing the PSD 

regulations described above, the EPA intends to consider the outcome of this process and 

coordinate its PSD regulations specific to biogenic C02 emissions with other rule revisions that 

may be necessary to address application of PSD permitting requirements to GHGs. Our goal 

would also be to enable permitting authorities and sources to implement the permitting 

requirements in a practical manner that is consistent with the policy objectives articulated above 

for the CPP. 

I trust this information will be helpful. We will provide additional updates as we move 

forward on the following website http://epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/biogenicemissions.html. 

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