Let Biomass Industry Stimulus Subsidies Expire

Let Biomass Industry Section 1603 Subsidies Expire

Dear Senator Jeff Bingaman, Chair, and Senator John Cornyn, Ranking Member

The goal of Section 1603 is to increase the use of industrial-scale energy, including utility-scale biomass power plants, and the high costs and limitations of this program cannot be ignored.

Money: Because developers only apply for grants upon completion of their projects, no one will know the current cost of 1603 until 2013 or later.

Jobs: Just as many jobs would be created by funding conservation, public transportation, and community-scale (as opposed to industrial-scale), non-smokestack, genuinely "clean" energy projects, as would be created funding biomass for energy. Many jobs could go to local people and money would stay in the pockets of consumers, creating a positive ripple effect throughout the economy by funding conservation instead of biomass energy.

Substandard Performance: Studies conducted show that burning biomass fails to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and new energy sources costs 3 times as much as energy saved through conservation efforts. There are notable examples of biomass facilities shutting down due to lack of supply of fuel sources and their dependence on taxpayer subsides to make ends meet. We should not be be putting money into projects that show little evidence of being able to function financially without the current subsidies.

There are better solutions to our energy and climate crisis goals that will be more beneficial to our economy than subsidizing inefficient and expensive industrial-scale energy projects, with borrowed taxpayer money, that can only produce a small portion of our energy needs.

Please allow the grants under Section 1603 to expire at the end of this year.

[Your name]