Biomass in Oregon: Think 'farmers market of the energy sector'

By Guest Columnist


By Greg Blair and Wade Mosby

Much as our local farmers markets in Oregon provide local products, biomass facilities in Oregon use local products, too, converting them into energy that powers our homes and businesses.

This helps Oregon import fewer fossil fuels for energy, which most scientists stress is crucial for reducing pollution and promoting clean air. Also similar to vendors at a farmers market, most of Oregon's 16 biomass facilities are "mom-and-pop" operations: small but hearty local businesses providing local power and local jobs.

We are constantly surprised and puzzled by people in Oregon and elsewhere who attack biomass. Most of them don't understand our industry. But the science behind it speaks for itself. Virtually every study we have seen that has measured the carbon profile of waste wood -- as opposed to whole trees or forests -- has found biomass carbon emissions negligible, even going so far as to deem biomass "carbon neutral."

Just this summer, University of Washington environmental scientist Bruce Lippke released a study concluding that biomass releases only 4 percent of the emissions released by coal. This study looked comprehensively at carbon inputs and outputs resulting from biomass energy production, and found biomass "better than carbon neutral."

The materials used in biomass would not otherwise be utilized. They would decompose on forest floors where they would serve as fuel for the next forest fire, or they would rot in landfills, or they would be piled and burned. Each of these alternatives would release the ozone-harming methane gas that biomass facilities trap and contain. Carbon released from biomass energy production is easily and quickly reabsorbed by forests, completing the carbon cycle.

Meanwhile, while we are bickering about carbon profiles, biomass in Europe -- a far more environmentally conscious society -- is gaining in popularity and enjoying wide support from the public and government alike. It's time to clear up a few myths about the biomass industry here in Oregon. We do not contribute to pollution. We do not overharvest our national forests. We do not contribute to deforestation.

The facts are that our often-misunderstood industry is undeniably preferable to the use of fossil fuels for energy. We use wood materials that would be otherwise wasted to provide clean, renewable, "local" energy for Oregonians. We employ hundreds of Oregonians directly, and we support dozens of businesses statewide by purchasing unwanted wood waste and collecting slash from logging operations.

An effective energy program should responsibly utilize all sources of energy that we have at our disposal. Limiting or eradicating biomass because we are measuring its carbon profile inaccurately would be a huge mistake costing hundreds of jobs and an increase in fossil fuel use.

There's no reason that biomass and environmental advocates can't coexist peacefully. In fact, the two should be a natural partnership.

Greg Blair is the managing general partner at Biomass One in White City. Wade Mosby is senior vice president at the Collins Cos. in Portland.