{"id":2007,"date":"2011-05-20T06:40:30","date_gmt":"2011-05-20T10:40:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/05\/vsu-faculty-senate-passes-anti-biomass-resolution.html"},"modified":"2011-05-20T06:40:30","modified_gmt":"2011-05-20T10:40:30","slug":"vsu-faculty-senate-passes-anti-biomass-resolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/05\/vsu-faculty-senate-passes-anti-biomass-resolution.html","title":{"rendered":"VSU Faculty Senate passes anti-biomass resolution"},"content":{"rendered":"

Karen Noll reported on WACE’s facebook page<\/a> that
\nthe VSU Faculty Senate passed a resolution Thursday 19 May 2011 that
\nbiomass will not be considered renewable for VSU’s climate commitment goal.<\/p>\n

\nWhy?
\n
\nBecause<\/a>
\nleading medical associations have identified woody biomass
\nincineration as increasing risks of
\n“a variety of illnesses, some life-threatening”,
\nbecause biomass incineration
\nproduces more CO2, NOX, and fine particulates than existing coal plants,
\nand because it
\n“may lead to
\nunsustainable forestry practices and a net increase in global greenhouse
\ngas emissions”.<\/p>\n

\nWho proposed this?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\nThe Environmental Issues Committee (EIC) wants to present a resolution to
\nthe Faculty Senate for their consideration regarding Sustainable Energy
\nResources (Dr. Jason Allard, Chair). See Attachment C<\/b>.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here is the current
\n
\nmembership of the EIC.<\/a>
\n(At least I think it’s current: the terms seem to run through 2010
\nat the latest,
\nand this is 2011.)
\nSome of the names seem familiar, such as long-time
\nenvironmental activist Brad Bergstrom
\nand SAVE student EIC member Natasha Fast.
\nInterestingly, former VLCIA biomass expert
\n
\nTom Manning<\/a> used to be an EIC member but apparently no longer is.<\/p>\n

\nHere is the full text of the EIC resolution from the
\n
\nFaculty Senate Agenda May 19, 2011<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>Attachment C<\/b>: EIC Resolution<\/p>\n

A Resolution Defining \u201cRenewable\u201d Electricity Sources
\nfor Potential Adoption as a Tangible Action to Reduce Valdosta State
\nUniversity\u2019s Carbon Footprint Under its 2009 Climate Commitment<\/b><\/p>\n

WHEREAS, Valdosta State University became a signatory to the American
\nCollege and University Presidents\u2019 Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) in
\nMay 2009, after a supportive resolution passed the VSU Faculty Senate
\nunanimously; and,<\/p>\n

WHEREAS, one of seven \u201ctangible actions\u201d that ACUPCC signatories
\nmay undertake in their long-term plan to achieve carbon neutrality is
\n\u201cpurchasing or producing at least 15% of our institution\u2019s electricity
\nconsumption from renewable sources\u201d; and,<\/p>\n

WHEREAS, biomass combustion\/incineration to produce electricity
\nhas until recently been regarded as, and may be defined under state and
\nfederal tax codes as a renewable source<\/i> of electricity; and,<\/p>\n

WHEREAS, the incineration of woody biomass and other organic debris
\nto produce electricity has been identified recently by the American Lung
\nAssociation, the American Heart Association, and the American Cancer
\nSociety as a significant source of air pollutants including but not
\nlimited to nitrogen oxides and fine particulates, causing increased
\nrisks of a variety of illnesses, some life-threatening; and,<\/p>\n

WHEREAS, biomass incineration for base-load electricity generation
\nproduces more nitrogen oxides and fine particulates per unit of power
\nthan existing coal-burning power plants, meaning it is not clean
\nenergy<\/i>; and,<\/p>\n

WHEREAS, recent studies indicate that biomass incineration for
\nbase-load electricity generation produces more carbon dioxide per
\nunit of power than existing coal-burning power plants and may lead to
\nunsustainable forestry practices and a net increase in global greenhouse
\ngas emissions, meaning it is not green energy<\/i>;<\/p>\n

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Valdosta State University
\nFaculty Senate, meeting at its _____________ 2011 meeting, urges
\nthat, if and when VSU decides to adopt as a ACUPCC tangible action a
\nrenewable energy portfolio for its electricity use, that it not include
\nbiomass combustion as part of that renewable portfolio, due to the above
\nstated detrimental environmental and health effects, and instead urges
\ninvestments in improved energy efficiency and truly green energy sources
\nsuch as solar and geothermal, and other non-combustion, non-polluting
\nmethods as may be available.<\/p>\n

This resolution does not necessarily represent the views of the
\nadministrators, faculty, or staff of Valdosta State University or the
\nGeorgia Board of Regents.<\/p>\n

\nReferences<\/p>\n

\n<\/b>American College & University Presidents\u2019 Climate Commitment (ACUPCC). (2007-2011).
\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org\/about\/commitment<\/a><\/p>\n

\nBrook et al. (2004). Air pollution & cardiovascular disease. American Heart Association.
\n
\nhttp:\/\/circ.ahajournals.org\/cgi\/content\/full\/109\/21\/2655<\/a><\/p>\n

\nLuyssaert et al. (2008). Old-growth forests as global carbon sinks. Nature 455:213-215.
\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.nature.com\/nature\/journal\/v455\/n7210\/abs\/nature07276.html<\/a><\/p>\n

\nManomet Center for Conservation Sciences (2010). Biomass sustainability and carbon policy study.
\n
\nhttp:\/\/manomet.org<\/a><\/p>\n

\nSearchinger et al. (2009). Fixing a critical climate accounting error. Science 326:527-528.
\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.openmarket.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/searchinger-science-oct-09.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

\nUS EPA \u201cTailoring Rule,\u201d 40 CFR.
\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.epa.gov\/nsr\/documents\/20100413final.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

\nVSU Faculty Senate meeting minutes for May 21, 2009:
\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.valdosta.edu\/facsen\/meeting\/minutes\/documents\/Senate_Minutes_2009-05-21.pdf<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Karen Noll reported on WACE’s facebook page that the VSU Faculty Senate passed a resolution Thursday 19 May 2011 that biomass will not be considered renewable for VSU’s climate commitment goal. Why? Because leading medical associations have identified woody biomass incineration as increasing risks of “a variety of illnesses, some life-threatening”, because biomass incineration produces […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,120,47,141,216,40,16,50,740,41,21,22,32,23,4468,289,178,134,700],"tags":[8738,4469,4531,8719,8745,8753,4528,8722,4532,8801,8701,1691,7,4470,4529,4534,4530,4533,6,1175,8749,8743,8796],"class_list":["post-2007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activism","category-biomass","category-climate-change","category-co2","category-coal","category-community","category-environment","category-epa","category-forestry","category-health-care","category-planning","category-politics","category-pollution","category-renewable-energy","category-save","category-science","category-vlcia","category-vsu","category-wace","tag-biomass","tag-brad-bergstrom","tag-carbon-sequestration","tag-climate-change","tag-co2","tag-coal","tag-eic","tag-epa","tag-faculty-senate","tag-forestry","tag-georgia","tag-karen-noll","tag-lowndes-county","tag-natasha-fast","tag-nox","tag-old-growth","tag-particulates","tag-tom-manning","tag-valdosta","tag-valdosta-state-university","tag-vlcia","tag-vsu","tag-wace"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2007\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}