Sustainable Bioenergy, Farms, and Forests - May 22, 2015

President Obama Speaks for the Bees, Wants to Stem Tide of Pollinator Decline

On May 19, the White House released the ‘National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators.’  The plan builds on the President’s 2014 establishment of an interagency task force between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to develop a strategy to reduce honey bee colony losses, increase monarch butterfly numbers and restore pollinator habitat. Currently, honeybee colonies are at an all-time low, with 2014 losses reaching 40 percent of total honeybee populations in the United States.

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Senators Seek to Bolster Policies in Support of Biomass for Heat and Power Applications

On May 13, Senator Wyden (D-OR), introduced the BioEnergy Act of 2015 (S.1294), to provide increased funding for research and development related to biomass thermal heat and electricity. In a similar vein, Senator King (I-VT) introduced The Working Forests for Clean Energy Act (S. 1284), a bill that would consider sustainably harvested biomass as carbon neutral under the Clean Power Plan.  Woody biomass, consisting of low-value tree tops, limbs, sawdust, chips and waste trees, can be used to provide thermal heat in small-scale applications like homes or businesses, or to generate electricity in the power sector.

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Headlines:

1. Amount of Non-Petroleum Fuel in U.S. Grows to 60-Year High

2. Senators Manchin, Heitkamp Introduce Carbon Capture and Utilization Bill

3. Senator Grassley Discusses Food vs. Fuel on Senate Floor

4. IRENA Reports 3 Million Employed In the Bioeconomy Worldwide

5. California Farmers Facing Historic Water Cuts

 

 

To Contact the Editor: Jessie Stolark at eesi@eesi.org

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