Environmentalists go after carbon neutrality claims of forest biomass

In Washington, dozens of environmental NGOs have sent a letter to the chairwoman of the voicing concern over the definition of forest-derived biomass as “carbon neutral” as included in an amendment to the Energy Policy and Modernization Act, Senate Bill 2012 approved last week, as well as an amendment that refers to “net carbon” negativity of co-firing biomass with coal for electricity production. They and their scientific staff are concerned that such language when used by the DOE and EPA will encourage accelerated forest clearing for bioenergy production.