BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                            



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                                 UNFINISHED BUSINESS


          Bill No:  SB 498
          Author:   Lara (D)
          Amended:  6/26/14
          Vote:     21


           SENATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE  :  5-1, 1/15/14
          AYES:  Hill, Corbett, Fuller, Jackson, Leno
          NOES:  Pavley
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Gaines, Hancock, Vacancy

           SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE  :  6-0, 1/23/14
          AYES:  De León, Gaines, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Walters

           SENATE FLOOR  :  34-0, 1/28/14
          AYES:  Anderson, Beall, Berryhill, Block, Calderon, Cannella,  
            Corbett, Correa,  De León, DeSaulnier, Evans, Fuller,  
            Galgiani, Hancock, Hernandez, Hill, Hueso, Huff, Jackson,  
            Knight, Lara, Leno, Liu, Mitchell, Monning, Padilla, Pavley,  
            Roth, Steinberg, Torres, Vidak, Wolk, Wyland, Yee
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Gaines, Lieu, Nielsen, Walters, Wright,  
            Vacancy

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  73-2, 8/19/14 - See last page for vote


           SUBJECT  :    Solid waste:  biomass conversion

          SOURCE  :     California State Association of Counties
                      County of Los Angeles


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           DIGEST  :    This bill adds the production of fuels and the use of  
          non-combustion thermal conversion technologies to the definition  
          of "biomass conversion" for purposes of the Integrated Waste  
          Management Act (IWMA).

           Assembly Amendments  require a solid waste facility sending  
          materials to a biomass conversion facility to ensure that the  
          materials sent are limited to those specified materials;  
          authorize the department of a local enforcement agency to  
          inspect the solid waste facility, as specified; and require the  
          owner or operator of a biomass conversion facility to submit an  
          annual report to the Department of Resources, Recycling and  
          Recovery (CalRecycle), as specified.

           ANALYSIS  :    

          Existing law, under the California IWMA: 

          1.Requires each city or county source reduction and recycling  
            element to include an implementation schedule that shows a  
            city or county must divert 50% of solid waste from landfill  
            disposal or transformation by January 1, 2000, through source  
            reduction, recycling, and composting activities. 

          2.Establishes a state policy goal that 75% of solid waste  
            generated be diverted from landfill disposal through source  
            reduction, recycling, or composting by 2020.

          3.Defines "transformation" to mean incineration, pyrolysis,  
            distillation, or biological conversion other than composting  
            and specifies that "transformation" does not include  
            composting, gasification, or biomass conversion.

          4.Defines "biomass conversion" to mean the controlled  
            combustion, when separated from other solid waste and used for  
            producing electricity or heat of specified biomass, including,  
            agricultural crop residues, bark, lawn, yard, garden  
            clippings, leaves, silvicultural residue, tree and brush  
            pruning, wood, wood chips, and wood waste and nonrecyclable  
            pulp or nonrecyclable paper materials. 

          5.Specifies that "biomass conversion" does not include the  
            controlled combustion of recyclable pulp or recyclable paper  
            materials, or materials that contain sewage sludge, industrial  

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            sludge, medical waste, hazardous waste, or either high-level  
            or low-level radioactive waste.

          This bill:  

          1.Authorizes the use of "non-combustion thermal conversion  
            technologies" for biomass conversion.

          2.Requires a solid waste facility that sends materials to a  
            biomass conversion facility to ensure that the materials are  
            limited to those authorized by the IWMA and authorizes solid  
            waste local enforcement agencies to inspect solid waste  
            facilities and operations for compliance with this  
            requirement.

          3.Requires, beginning April 1, 2016, and annually thereafter,  
            the owner or operator of a biomass conversion facility to  
            provide a report to CalRecycle with specified information  
            about the facility, the materials accepted by the facility,  
            and the end user of ash generated by the facility. 

          4.Defines "biomass conversion" to mean the production of heat,  
            fuels, or electricity by the controlled combustion of, or the  
            use of, other noncombustion thermal conversion technologies on  
            specified materials, when separated from other solid waste.

           Background

          Conversion technologies  .  According to CalRecycle, conversion  
          technologies are processes that can convert organic materials  
          into usable forms of energy including heat, steam, electricity,  
          natural gas, and liquid fuels.

          Thermochemical conversion processes are characterized by higher  
          temperatures and faster conversion rates and include combustion,  
          gasification, and pyrolysis.  Pyrolysis is the thermal  
          decomposition of feedstock at high temperatures (greater than  
          400?F) in the absence of air, whereas gasification is a process  
          that uses air or oxygen and high heat, (typically above 1300?F)  
          to convert feedstock into a synthetic gas or fuel gas.   
          Gasification uses less air or oxygen than incineration  
          processes.  Thermochemical conversion is best suited for lower  
          moisture feedstocks.


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          Biochemical conversion processes include aerobic conversion  
          (i.e., composting), anaerobic digestion (which occurs in  
          landfills and controlled reactors or digesters), and anaerobic  
          fermentation (for example, the conversion of sugars from  
          cellulose to ethanol).  Biochemical conversion proceeds at lower  
          temperatures and lower reaction rates.  Higher moisture  
          feedstocks are generally good candidates for biochemical  
          processes.

          Physiochemical conversion involves the physical and chemical  
          synthesis of products from feedstocks (for example, biodiesel  
          from waste fats, oils, and grease-known as FOG) and is primarily  
          associated with the transformation of fresh or used vegetable  
          oils, animal fats, greases, tallow, and other suitable  
          feedstocks into liquid fuels or biodiesel.

          The definition of transformation in current law captures many  
          thermochemical and biochemical conversion technologies, but some  
          processes that would technically qualify as conversion are  
          specifically excluded by statute, namely composting,  
          gasification and biomass conversion (i.e., combustion of green  
          waste).

           Solid waste diversion credit for biomass at conversion  
          facilities  .  Existing law requires jurisdictions to divert 50%  
          of solid waste from landfill disposal or transformation through  
          source reduction, recycling, and composting activities.  Prior  
          to 2008, diversion estimates to determine compliance with the  
          50% diversion mandate were performed by calculating the quantity  
          of solid waste generation and estimating the amount of  
          diversion.  SB 1016 (Wiggins, Chapter 343, Statutes of 2008),  
          changed the diversion calculation by only considering the  
          quantity of disposal, as reported by disposal facilities  
          (transformation facilities and landfills) and the jurisdiction's  
          population, and comparing that value to a baseline rate of  
          disposal.

          Biomass conversion, currently defined as the controlled  
          combustion of specified biomass feedstocks when separated from  
          municipal solid waste, is excluded from the definition of  
          transformation, and therefore, biomass that is combusted at a  
          biomass conversion facility is not counted as disposal.

           Biomass in California  .  According to data from the California  

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          Biomass Collective, there are 28 operational facilities in the  
          state using wood or agriculture biomass with a net generation of  
          565 megawatts (MW).  In addition to these larger scale, biomass  
          combustion facilities, there are a handful of small scale,  
          demonstration and/or research projects in the state that use a  
          noncombustion conversion technology, which generate or plan to  
          generate anywhere from a fraction of an MW to several MWs using  
          biomass.  Of these facilities, the Dixon Ridge Farms in Dixon,  
          CA uses a gasification technology to generate 0.1 MW of  
          electricity from woody and agricultural biomass, and the Cabin  
          Creek Biomass Facility Project in Placer County is proposing to  
          construct a two-megawatt wood-to-energy biomass facility that  
          would also use gasification technology.

           Biomass and Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS)  .  Existing law  
          identifies electrical generation facilities that use biomass as  
          renewable electrical generation facilities and can be certified,  
          if they meet fuel specific requirements, by the California  
          Energy Commission (CEC) as RPS-eligible, and therefore may be  
          used by retail sellers of electricity, and publicly owned  
          utilities to satisfy their RPS procurement goals.

          The CEC defines biomass as any organic material not derived from  
          fossil fuels, including the feedstocks eligible under biomass  
          conversion.

           Related legislation  

          SB 804 (Lara, 2013) included conversion technologies in the  
          definition of biomass conversion and added requirements for  
          those facilities.  SB 804 was vetoed by the Governor.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :    Appropriation:  No   Fiscal Com.:  Yes    
          Local:  Yes

          According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, this bill  
          has minor and absorbable costs to CalRecycle.

           SUPPORT  :   (Verified  8/19/14)

          California State Association of Counties (co-source)
          County of Los Angeles (co-source)
          City of Torrance
          County of Santa Clara

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          Los Angeles County Solid Waste Management Committee/Integrated  
           Waste Management Task Force
          Rural County Representatives of California

           OPPOSITION  :    (Verified  8/19/14)

          Asamblea de Poder Popular de Gonzales 
          California Environmental Justice Alliance 
          California Safe Schools 
          Center for Biological Diversity 
          Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment 
          Clean Water Action 
          Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives 
          Global Community Monitor 
          Grayson Neighborhood Council 
          Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice
          Sierra Club California 
          Valley Improvement Projects 
          West Berkeley Alliance for Clean Air and Safe Jobs

           ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT  :    According to the author's office,  
          "Existing California law defines "biomass conversion" as the  
          direct combustion of certain listed types of biomass materials  
          such as yard clippings, wood waste, and agricultural residues.   
          This definition excludes conversion technologies that can more  
          efficiently generate electricity from those same biomass  
          materials with lower air emissions.  SB 498 will help facilitate  
          cleaner and more efficient technologies to develop in California  
          for converting organic waste to electricity and help the state  
          reach its 75% waste reduction goal.  Specifically, SB 498  
          includes conversion technologies (CT) within the definition of  
          biomass conversion.  While CT could potentially have positive  
          environmental impacts in California, our ability to use CTs as a  
          potential 'tool in our tool box' of waste diversion technologies  
          is hindered by a lack of inclusion of CT in current conversion  
          definitions."


           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  73-2, 8/19/14
          AYES:  Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Bigelow, Bloom, Bocanegra,  
            Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon,  
            Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley, Dababneh,  
            Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier,  
            Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Grove,  

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            Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hernández, Holden, Jones,  
            Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Maienschein, Mansoor,  
            Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande,  
            Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, John A. Pérez, V. Manuel Pérez,  
            Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas,  
            Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Yamada,  
            Atkins
          NOES:  Gatto, Skinner
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Ammiano, Gomez, Lowenthal, Wieckowski,  
            Vacancy


          RM:e  8/19/14   Senate Floor Analyses 

                           SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  SEE ABOVE

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