Backward on biomass

AS PART OF electricity deregulation in the 1990s, Massachusetts passed a law requiring utilities to get more of their power from renewable sources. Lawmakers had in mind new wind turbines, solar power, or other innovative sources of electricity that did not deplete the planet's dwindling supply of fossil fuels or contribute to global warming. The legislators were not thinking of including existing generators that burn wood or sawmill waste, called biomass generically. But that is precisely what a bill passed this week by the Legislature would do. Governor Romney should veto the measure.

Under the 1997 law, utilities are supposed to increase the proportion of renewable power in their generating portfolios to 4 percent by 2009. Utilities that have more than that in their portfolios can sell ``renewable energy certificates" to utilities that lag in bringing renewable sources on line. If utilities can meet their 4 percent mandate simply by cutting a deal with a wood-burning generator in Vermont, New Hampshire, or Maine (there is only one facility in Massachusetts that would benefit from the bill), there is less pressure to invest in wind or solar power, and the value of renewable energy certificates is cheapened.

According to the state, New England has about 170 megawatts (enough for 170,000 houses) of wood-burning capacity. Supporters of making these generators eligible as renewable sources point to a provision in the bill requiring that the units' owners upgrade their pollution-control methods to qualify. While that would be a welcome improvement, it does not turn a sow's ear into a silk purse; the wood units are still not new sources of renewable power.

This debate is not just theoretical. Developers of wind, solar, or new wood-fired units depend for their financing on the scarcity of such sources now. Mere passage of the Legislature's bill, even without the governor's signature, has reportedly had a chilling effect on genuine renewable energy projects. If such projects do not come on line, the renewable energy law will not achieve its goal of encouraging more sources of electricity that neither emit greenhouse gases nor make the United States dependent on foreign suppliers. Massachusetts is also less likely to be a leader in devising renewable energy technology if its own state law is not working to support it.

The biomass bill is the second legislative attempt this year to weaken the law by broadening eligibility. Romney already vetoed a measure that would have qualified existing hydropower sources. The House overrode his veto, but the Senate failed to override it. The governor will again uphold the integrity of the state's commitment to renewable power if he vetoes this bill.