NEWBio is sponsoring a webinar series to inform stakeholders about the Clean Power Plan. Below is an introduction from their fact sheet:
The Clean Power Plan (CPP) was announced by President Obama and the EPA in early August of last year and provides the first-ever national standards that address carbon pollution from power plants. The final rule takes into account over 4.3 million stakeholder and public comments to ease its implementation, with individual states, tribes, and territories building their own plans to meet mandated carbon reduction goals specific to each planning entity. Those goals are set for the year 2030, providing 15 years for full implementation of emission reduction measures, whose efficacy will be assessed between 2022 and 2029. The proposed state plans outlining how this will be achieved must be submitted in September of 2016 and contain specific steps for each tool in a portfolio of methods used to meet state-level goals: emissions trading, increasing energy efficiency on both supply and demand sides, shifting coal generation to natural gas generation, and/or increasing renewable power generation. That last category leaves room for biomass energy, but stakeholders in the bioeconomy still seek clarification on exactly how biomass could or should fit in to a state plan. This webinar series begins to tackle that question, providing guidance, information from cutting-edge research, and expert perspectives on the role sustainable bioenergy can play in state plans designed to meet CPP requirements.