From: Gregory Caplan <glcaplan@icloud.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 1, 2019 12:19 PM
To: RPS, DOER (ENE)
Subject: Dont burn trees and garbage
Dear Sirs and Ms,
It appears that regulators,
executives and staff in our state offices are not aware that the burning of
materials of all kinds has been leading us into what is now a catastrophe.
Please realize that we don't just have a global warming challenge ; we don't
just have a climate change crisis ; we have a civilizationally caused global
catastrophe unfolding in the biological , meteorological and humanitarian
dimensions
In this context I am very alarmed by the proposed changes to RPS
Class I, especially the changes that reduce or eliminate the core requirements
of the 2012 RPS bioenergy rules. in particular the DOER plans reductions
in facility efficiency criteria, increases in the allowed variety of wood,
including whole trees, increasing from 20 years to 30 years the timeframe for
plants to show a net reduction in GHG emissions relative to fossil fuels,
calculations of lifecycle CO2 emissions that ignore fossil fuels used in
harvesting, processing and transport, elimination of requirements for liquid
fuels to show a real reduction in GHG’s, and the removal of
Massachusetts-specific forest harvesting criteria.
The Baker administration is aware that the climate crisis
is real, is urgent, and that the time window for dramatic action is just a few
years. These proposals are entirely contrary to the public good, contrary
to my health and especially the health of children and older adults.
Clean energy does not come out of a smokestack. Burning
wood is a highly emitting source of energy and the there is no longer time to
grow new forests to recapture the emissions, and moreover living forests
sequester CO2.
Health impacts are an immediate consequence of wood
burning. The Commonwealth and its citizens can ill afford increased
health care costs and reductions in quality of life due to illness caused by
particulate matter pollution.
I urge you to withdraw the proposed eligibility changes
to RPS Class I and Class II.
Thank you.