Dear MA DOER RPS Public Comments,
I have allergic asthma as you do so many people in the
state. The emissions from wood-burning activate my asthma. Please do not
consider Burning wood clean energy.
I am 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.
Sincerely,
Janet Masucci
64 French King Highway
Gill, MA 01354
(413) 863-8694