Incineration Technologies Cannot Make Clean, Renewable Energy

Washington, DC – As Congress considers the biggest global warming legislation to date, community health advocates are meeting with members of Congress in Washington, DC, this week to advocate for smart legislation that protects public health, the environment and the climate by not calling incineration “renewable energy.” These advocates from across the country are telling their elected officials that “Trash should not be treated as a renewable resource.”

Incineration is not climate friendly. The core destructive impacts of all types of incinerators are the same: Incinerators negatively impact public health, local economies, the climate and the environment. Giving federal subsidies to burn trash and biomass in incinerators to generate electricity obstructs far more sensible and effective strategies to conserve energy by reducing, recycling and composting the same materials.

As the House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce considers the “American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009,” a little known component of clean energy legislation is gaining traction. Big polluters and the waste incineration industry want to call burning garbage, landfill gas and biomass “renewable energy,” and have incinerators as part of the Renewable Electricity Standard. But municipal solid waste incinerators emit more carbon dioxide per unit of electricity produced than coal-fired power plants and emit indirect greenhouse gases such as carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and others.

Don’t Wait to Suffocate

This weekend, Energy Justice Network, a Philadelphia-based environmental non-profit, took to the streets to protest Bank of America’s investments in coal. Joined by local activists and supported by Rainforest Action Network, Energy Justice Network was one of 50 groups from across the country to organize “No Coal Day of Action” events this weekend.

The group spent Saturday distributing information, collecting petition signatures, and calling the Bank headquarters (phone number 704-386-5666) to persuade Bank of America to stop providing massive loans to coal companies. Bank of America’s loan practices are literally fueling the climate crisis by enabling the construction of expensive new coal plants likely to become even more costly for ratepayers due to a carbon cap-and-auction system under the Obama administration.

Rainforest Action Network’s global finance campaign has revealed that Bank of America, and other major banking institutions such as Citi and JPMorgan Chase, all provide significant financial resources to coal companies – including those that practice mountaintop removal mining. Groups hosting “No Coal’ protests this weekend implored bank customers to reconsider their banking options amid a severe economic downturn, and to support safe alternative financial institutions such as credit unions.