UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY WASHINGTON

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OFFICE OF AIR AND RAOIATIOI'\ 

### MEMORAN DUM Subject: From: To: Summar y of takeholder Meeting s Cari ss a Cyran Docket s E PA- II Q-OAR- 2 0 13-060 2
. EPA-HQ-OAR- 2 0 13 -0603. and EPA-HQOAR- 20 13-04 9 5 This memorandum s ummari ze s meeting s with stak e holders during the week of January 12. 2 015. On Janu a r y 13 , A ssoc iate A ss is tant Administrator for Climate and Senior Coun se l lor Air and Radiation Joseph Goffman met with r epresentatives from Nat io nal Resource Defense Co un c il. Sign-in sheet attached. On Januar y 14, As sociate A ss is tant Adm ini strator lor Climate and Senior Counsel for Air and Radiation Joseph Goffman spoke with David Tenny of the National Alliance of Forest Owner s . On January 16 , A ssoc iate A ss i s tant A dmini strator for Climate and Senior Coun s el for Air and Rad iat io n J osep h GotTman spoke with lormer Colorado Governor Bill Ritter of th e Cehter for the New Energy Econom y .

I n t erne t Address (URLl • hllp 1/www epa gov R ec ycled/ Re c yc lable • Pronted w1th Vegetable 0•1 Based Inks on 100 " Postconsumer Process Chlorone Free Recycled Paper

### Date: Janua ry 13 , 2015 Me e ting: General Discussion Ru le(s) Discussed: Written Mat e rials? 

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# FACT SHEET SEPTEMBER 2014 F$ .1 3-04

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# Burning Trees for Electricity Will Accelerate Climate Change and Destroy Southern Forests Power companies in the United States and Europe are expanding their use of trees-known as woody biomass-as a fuel source to replace fossil fuels. The wood is chipped or turned 1nto pellets and burned 

### in power plants just the same as coal. To meet this increasing demand, a new, rapidly growing industry of manufacturing facilities has emerged across the southeastern United States to supply wood fuel to electric utilities on both sides of the Atlantic. In the Southeast, the massive fuel needs of these energy companies could double logging rates and significantly increase carbon emissions. contr i buting to climate change at a time when we need to actively cut our carbon pollut1on. As Important. local forest ecosystems and watersheds could be devastated
. 

### OUR FORES T S AREN ' T FUEl Am e ri cans kn ow h ow va lu ab le our forests are, in th e Southeast and across the co untry. In addition to providin g one of th e best tools to fight climate c han ge, forests filter water, give u s open spaces to hunt, fish, and camp, a nd provid e habitat to a multitude of s p ec ies . If big powe r p la nts turn in c r eas in gly to whol e trees for th e ir f u el, it will inte nsify pressure to overharvest o ur forests, th r eate nin g o ur climate, wildlife , land , and wate r. Fo r the biomas s indu st r y to grow in a way th a t he lp s red u ce pollution and protects our for es ts , large pow e r compan ies a nd pellet manufacturers must co mmit to a wood-so urc in g policy that excludes who le trees.

Over the past year alone. wood pelle t exports from southeastern ports increased 70 percent. making the southern United States the l argest exporter of wood pe ll ets in the world. This growth is expected to continue: numerous additional manu f acturing and export facilities are planned. particularly in the South. While so me f orm s o f woo d y biomass can red u ce ca rb on e mi ss ion s, burning 

### whole tr ees and some larger woody d e bri s for ene r gy actually increases carbo n pollution for decades compared with fossil fuels s u c h as coal o r natural gas. U

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ortuna te ly, as pellet manufacturers con t i nu e to sou rce wh o le trees to produce wood fue l, and p owe r companies in vest heav ily in biomass e nergy w ith out lo n g- term sourcing policies again s t burning whol e trees , large - scale u se of wh o le tre es for energy production w ill c reate a growing demand for limited fores t re so ur ces . This will not o nl y exace rb a te e xisting press ures o n so uth e rn forests but a l so in crease c lim ate pollution. 

### BURNING TREES FOR ENERGY INCREASES CARBON POllUTION FOR DECADES Power com pani es and pellet manufacturers pro m ote bioma ss e nergy a s a way to reduce car bon e m i ssio n s and miti ga te climate change. They argue that th e ca rb on emitted when burning trees for ene r gy is e qual to the amou nt of carbon those trees ha ve ab so rb ed from th e atmosphere whil e g r

owi ng and a n ew tre e will ab so rb a s it g rows. Until rece n tl y, e n e r gy from biomas s was co ns id e r e d a n i mport an t part of a robust p o rtfoli o of r e n ewab le e nergy so urces - alongs id e suc h technologies as so lar, wind , and geothermal-to add ress climate cha ng e . H oweve r , advances in sc ie n ce a nd acco untin g for p o lluti on from diff e re nt t y p es o f woody biomass hav e c larifi ed that burnin g whole trees to produ ce e lectric ity actually increases ca rbon e mi ss ions compared with fossil fue ls for many de ca des. There are two k ey reasons. • Burning tr e es for e l ectric ity i s highly in eff i ci e nt
. By s ub s titu tin g trees for coal, power plant s avo id foss il

- fuel carbon emiss ions. But trees are approximat e ly half wa ter by weight , wh ic h means th ey conta in less potential en ergy

# DC For more informat i on abo u t NRDC' s Ou r Forest s Are n' t F ue l C ampa i gn. p l ea s e c on ta ct: D

ebb ie H am me l dhamme l @

nrdc. org , h ttp :/ /sw i tchboard
.nrdc
.org/blogs/ dhamme l Sasha Ly u tse s l y

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.or g, h ttp : //swit c hboard
.nrdc
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gwooda llianc e .o r g www. nrdc
.org / forestsnotfuelper unit of carbon emiss ions than coal a nd oth e r fossil fuels do
. In other words, to get the same a m ou n t of e nergy from trees as f r o m fossil fuels , many more trees have to b e burned, r es ultin g in 40 percen t more carbon em issions at the smokestack per unit of energy ge n erated. A n d eve n if trees are replanted immediately, it t akes m a n y decades for a tree to grow and absorb all the carbo n re leased from the burn in g of just o n e tree. • If l ett alone, trees w ill co ntinue to g ro w and absorb car bon out of t he atmosphe re . In the Un it e d States, we co unt on our forests to expa nd eac h year, offsetting approximately 13 percent of the carbo n e mi ss io n s co min g from o ur facto ri es, h o m es, an d cars - th e eq ui vale nt of taking more than 180 milli on cars off the road. ' Cuttin g trees down to burn as fuel in power plants m eans this ca rbon seq u estration is lost. Togethe r , t h e initi a l in crease in carbon pollution a t the smokestack and the lost ca rb o n seq u estrati on mean it can take new trees anyw h e r e from 40 years to more than 1 00 years b efo r e th e re are ca rb o n benefits fro m this kind of bio e n e r gy production. 2 At a time w h e n th e United States urge ntl y needs to c l ean up its power plants , a major s hift to burn in g w h o l e trees for energy production wo ul d n o t o nl y in c rease carbon pollution but also d egrade o ur forests-one of the co untry's best natural air scru bbers.

Southern p.ne p l antations are a majo r source o f biomass f or wood pellet manufacturers. U nlik e natural forests, which are home to a rich and diverse array of plants and animals. tree plantations provide little biodiversity. In the early 1950s there were approximately 2 m ill ion acres of planted pine in the South. That figure has skyrocketed to more than 4 0 m illi on acres of pine plantations today. According to the United States Forest Service. if current trends continue. pine plantatio n s w i ll likely increase by 60 percent-to 54 million acres by 2040-and make up more than one-quarter of a l l r

egional wood l ands, a n area the size o f North Ca r olina and Sout h Carolina comb i ned. 

### INVESTMENTS IN WHOLE- TREE BIOENERGY SHIFT FOCUS AWAY FROM LOW-CARBON ENERGY SOLUTIONS We n ee d utilit y co mp a ni es to in vest in expandi ng e n ergy e fficiency and clean , renewabl e, and truly low-carbon e n ergy so urces, s u c h as so lar , wind, and geot h ermal p owe r. In ves ting in wood-b urnin g power plants distracts from these effo rt s, a n d e rodes hard-won v ictories for fores t conservation. 

### FEASIBLE, COST-EFFECTIVE ALTERNATIVES ARE AVAILABLE Clean waste products-th e unu sed by

- products of s u s t a inabl e forestry that otherwise would be burn ed or would rapidl y decay-and some timb er h arvest r es idu es the s mall

-diameter portion of tree tops and br a n c h es le ft after logg ing -ca n be good so urces of bioma ss. If it is done right, timber r es idu e ca n be removed in limit ed amounts from a forest without co mpromi s ing so il health or wildli fe habitat. Oth er d e di cated biomass so urces , if s u stainably managed and grown on lan d that do es not compete with food production, ca n offer a low - ca rb o n s upply of e n e rgy as lon g a s th e released carb o n i s reabso rb e d qui c kly b y grow in g rep lacement crops fo r more biomass
. Perennial grasses s u c h a s switch grass and s hort -rota ti o n woody c rops are exa mpl es. Real bioma ss solutions must n ot b e es tabli s h e d at the expe n se of natural forests.

The Natural R esources Defense Cou nc il and Do gwoo d Alliance believe that large utili ty co mpanie s mu st s hift to real renew abl es and th a t th ey a n d th e ir pellet and chi p s uppli ers must establi s h adeq u ate policie s to protect our climate and fores ts by com mittin g not to u se w h ole trees before expa ndin g their biomass operatio n s. U
. S. Environmenta l Protection Agency, 2011 Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks, http://www
. epa . gov/climatechange/ghgem i ss i ons/usinventoryreport
. html. 2 Based on f i ndings f r om the follow i ng stud i es: Manomet Center f or Conservat i on Sciences. Biomass Sustainability and Carbon Pol icy Study, J une 201 0; Oregon State Univers i ty, Impacts of Thinning on Carbon Stores in the PNW : A Plot Level Analys i s, May, 2011; The B i omass Energy Resource Center , Forest Gui ld , and Spati al Informatics Group , Biomass Supply and Carbon Accounting for Southeastern Forests. February 2012; Duke Univers i ty and Oregon State Un i vers i ty , Carbon Debt and Carbon Sequestration Parity in Forest Bioenergy Production. May 2012. @ Pr i nt ed o n recycl ed pap er ©Se pte mb e r 2014 Natural Reso u rces D e fense Counci l www . n rdc
. o r g/forestsnotfuel www.nrdc.org/policy