(1)Existing law establishes in the Natural Resources Agency the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL-FIRE), and requires CAL-FIRE to be responsible for, among other things, fire protection and prevention, as provided. Existing law establishes the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection in CAL-FIRE to represent the states interest in the acquisition and management of state forests and requires the board to maintain an adequate forest policy. The former Governor, Edmund G. Brown Jr., issued Executive Order No. B-52-18 that, among other things, established a Forest Management Task Force, now known as the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force, involving specified state agencies to create the action plan for wildfire and forest resilience. The executive order also established a Joint Institute for Wood Products Innovation, to be located within the state board.

This bill would establish the Forest Biomass Waste Utilization Program to be administered by the state boards Joint Institute for Wood Products Innovation to develop an implementation plan to meet the goals and recommendations of, and the comprehensive framework to align with the states wood utilization policies and priorities and focused market strategy of, specified statewide forest management plans, and to develop a workforce training program to complement the workforce needs associated with the implementation plan. The bill would require the state board, in coordination with the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force, to submit an annual report to the Legislature, beginning January 1, 2025, on the progress made on implementing the implementation plan.

This bill would require the Natural Resources Agency, in furtherance of the program, to facilitate the integration of recommendations for forest biomass waste utilization in relevant, state climate adaptation plans.

(2)The Warren-Alquist State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Act establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) and requires the Energy Commission to undertake various actions in furtherance of meeting the states clean energy and pollution reduction objectives. Existing law requires the Energy Commission, in consultation with specified state and federal agencies and at least every 2 years, to conduct assessments and forecasts of all aspects of energy industry supply, production, transportation, delivery and distribution, demand, and prices. Existing law requires the Energy Commission, in consultation with specified entities, to adopt a biennial integrated energy policy report containing certain information.

This bill would require the Energy Commission, in furtherance of the Forest Biomass Waste Utilization Program, to prepare and submit a report to the Legislature, on or before December 31, 2024, that evaluates innovative bioenergy technologies that use forest biomass waste, as specified. The bill would also require the Energy Commission to include, as part of the 2025 edition of the integrated policy report, an assessment of the potential for forest biomass waste energy to provide firm renewable power.

(3)The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board (state air board) as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The act requires the state air board to adopt a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit, as specified, and to adopt rules and regulations in an open public process to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective greenhouse gas emission reductions. The act requires the state air board to develop, on or before December 31, 2020, and every 5 years thereafter, a report that assesses greenhouse gas emission associated with wildfire and forest management activities. The act requires the state air board to prepare, approve, and update at least once every 5 years, beginning on January 1, 2009, a scoping plan for achieving the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from sources or categories of sources of greenhouse gases under the act.

This bill would require the state air board, in the report developed on or before December 31, 2025, and every 5 years thereafter, to include, among other things, a methodology to quantify the greenhouse gas and short-lived climate pollutant emissions from wildfire, pile burning, and forest management activities, as specified. The bill would also require the state air board to consider the results of that report, as applicable, in the next update of the scoping plan.

(4)Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. The California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program requires every electrical corporation to file with the PUC a standard tariff for electricity generated by an electric generation facility, as defined, that qualifies for the tariff, is owned and operated by a retail customer of the electrical corporation, and is located within the service territory of, and developed to sell electricity to, the electrical corporation. The PUC refers to this requirement as the renewable feed-in tariff. The renewable feed-in tariff law, in part, requires the PUC to direct the electrical corporations, collectively, to procure at least 250 megawatts of cumulative rated generating capacity from developers of bioenergy projects that commence operation on or after June 1, 2013. Pursuant to this requirement, the PUC has established and revised the Bioenergy Market Adjusting Tariff (BioMAT) program. Existing law authorizes a community choice aggregator to submit eligible projects for cost recovery pursuant to the BioMAT program, as specified.

This bill would require the PUC to continue the BioMAT program until the implementation of the provisions authorizing community choice aggregators to participate in the program has been resolved as specified, and adequate time is given to community choice aggregators to participate in the program.

Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime.

Because certain provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and because a violation of a commission action implementing the bills requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

(5)The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

(1)Existing law establishes in the Natural Resources Agency the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL-FIRE), and requires CAL-FIRE to be responsible for, among other things, fire protection and prevention, as provided. Existing law establishes the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection in CAL-FIRE to represent the states interest in the acquisition and management of state forests and requires the board to maintain an adequate forest policy. The former Governor, Edmund G. Brown Jr., issued Executive Order No. B-52-18 that, among other things, established a Forest Management Task Force, now known as the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force, involving specified state agencies to create the action plan for wildfire and forest resilience. The executive order also established a Joint Institute for Wood Products Innovation, to be located within the state board.

This bill would establish the Forest Waste Biomass Waste Utilization Program to be administered by the state boards Joint Institute for Wood Products Innovation to develop an implementation plan to meet the goals and recommendations of, and the comprehensive framework to align with the states wood utilization policies and priorities and focused market strategy of, specified statewide forest management plans, and to develop a workforce training program to complement the workforce needs associated with the implementation plan. The bill would require the state board, in coordination with the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force, to submit an annual report to the Legislature, beginning January 1, 2025, on the progress made on implementing the implementation plan.

This bill would require the Natural Resources Agency, in furtherance of the program, to facilitate the integration of recommendations for forest biomass waste utilization in relevant, state climate adaptation plans.

(2)The Warren-Alquist State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Act establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) and requires the Energy Commission to undertake various actions in furtherance of meeting the states clean energy and pollution reduction objectives. Existing law requires the Energy Commission, in consultation with specified state and federal agencies and at least every 2 years, to conduct assessments and forecasts of all aspects of energy industry supply, production, transportation, delivery and distribution, demand, and prices. Existing law requires the Energy Commission, in consultation with specified entities, to adopt a biennial integrated energy policy report containing certain information.

This bill would require the Energy Commission, in furtherance of the Forest Waste Biomass Waste Utilization Program, to prepare and submit a report to the Legislature, on or before December 31, 2024, that evaluates innovative bioenergy technologies that use forest biomass waste, as specified. The bill would also require the Energy Commission to include, as part of the 2025 edition of the integrated policy report, and each report adopted biennially thereafter, an assessment of the potential for forest biomass waste energy to provide firm renewable power.

(3)The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board (state air board) as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The act requires the state air board to adopt a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit, as specified, and to adopt rules and regulations in an open public process to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective greenhouse gas emission reductions. The act requires the state air board to develop, on or before December 31, 2020, and every 5 years thereafter, a report that assesses greenhouse gas emission associated with wildfire and forest management activities. The act requires the state air board to prepare, approve, and update at least once every 5 years, beginning on January 1, 2009, a scoping plan for achieving the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from sources or categories of sources of greenhouse gases under the act.

This bill would require the state air board, in the report developed on or before December 31, 2025, and every 5 years thereafter, to include, among other things, a methodology to quantify the greenhouse gas and short-lived climate pollutant emissions from wildfire, pile burning, and forest management activities, as specified. The bill would also require the state air board to consider the results of that report, as applicable, in the next update of the scoping plan.

(4)Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. The California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program requires every electrical corporation to file with the PUC a standard tariff for electricity generated by an electric generation facility, as defined, that qualifies for the tariff, is owned and operated by a retail customer of the electrical corporation, and is located within the service territory of, and developed to sell electricity to, the electrical corporation. The PUC refers to this requirement as the renewable feed-in tariff. The renewable feed-in tariff law, in part, requires the PUC to direct the electrical corporations, collectively, to procure at least 250 megawatts of cumulative rated generating capacity from developers of bioenergy projects that commence operation on or after June 1, 2013. Pursuant to this requirement, the PUC has established and revised the Bioenergy Market Adjusting Tariff (BioMAT) program. Existing law authorizes a community choice aggregator to submit eligible projects for cost recovery pursuant to the BioMAT program, as specified.

This bill would require the PUC to continue the BioMAT program until the 250 megawatts are procured. implementation of the provisions authorizing community choice aggregators to participate in the program has been resolved as specified, and adequate time is given to community choice aggregators to participate in the program.

Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime.

Because certain provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and because a violation of a commission action implementing the bills requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

(5)The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

(1)Existing law establishes in the Natural Resources Agency the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL-FIRE), and requires CAL-FIRE to be responsible for, among other things, fire protection and prevention, as provided. Existing law establishes the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection in CAL-FIRE to represent the states interest in the acquisition and management of state forests and requires the board to maintain an adequate forest policy. The former Governor, Edmund G. Brown Jr., issued Executive Order No. B-52-18 that, among other things, established a Forest Management Task Force, now known as the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force, involving specified state agencies to create the action plan for wildfire and forest resilience. The executive order also established a Joint Institute for Wood Products Innovation, to be located within the state board.

This bill would establish the Forest Waste Biomass Utilization Program to be administered by the state boards Joint Institute for Wood Products Innovation to develop an implementation plan to meet the goals and recommendations of, and the comprehensive framework to align with the states wood utilization policies and priorities and focused market strategy of, specified statewide forest management plans, and to develop a workforce training program to complement the workforce needs associated with the implementation plan. The bill would require the state board, in coordination with the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force, to submit an annual report to the Legislature, beginning January 1, 2025, on the progress made on implementing the implementation plan.

This bill would require the Natural Resources Agency, in furtherance of the program, to facilitate the integration of recommendations for forest biomass waste utilization in relevant, state climate adaptation plans.

(2)The Warren-Alquist State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Act establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) and requires the Energy Commission to undertake various actions in furtherance of meeting the states clean energy and pollution reduction objectives. Existing law requires the Energy Commission, in consultation with specified state and federal agencies and at least every 2 years, to conduct assessments and forecasts of all aspects of energy industry supply, production, transportation, delivery and distribution, demand, and prices. Existing law requires the Energy Commission, in consultation with specified entities, to adopt a biennial integrated energy policy report containing certain information.

This bill would require the Energy Commission, in furtherance of the Forest Waste Biomass Utilization Program, to prepare and submit a report to the Legislature, on or before December 31, 2024, that evaluates innovative bioenergy technologies that use forest biomass waste, as specified. The bill would also require the Energy Commission to include, as part of the 2025 edition of the integrated policy report, and each report adopted biennially thereafter, an assessment of the potential for forest biomass waste energy to provide firm renewable power.

(3)The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board (state air board) as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The act requires the state air board to adopt a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit, as specified, and to adopt rules and regulations in an open public process to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective greenhouse gas emission reductions. The act requires the state air board to develop, on or before December 31, 2020, and every 5 years thereafter, a report that assesses greenhouse gas emission associated with wildfire and forest management activities. The act requires the state air board to prepare, approve, and update at least once every 5 years, beginning on January 1, 2009, a scoping plan for achieving the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from sources or categories of sources of greenhouse gases under the act.

This bill would require the state air board, in the report developed on or before December 31, 2025, and every 5 years thereafter, to include, among other things, a methodology to quantify the greenhouse gas and short-lived climate pollutant emissions from wildfire, pile burning, and forest management activities, as specified. The bill would also require the state air board to consider the results of that report, as applicable, in the next update of the scoping plan.

(4)Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. The California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program requires every electrical corporation to file with the PUC a standard tariff for electricity generated by an electric generation facility, as defined, that qualifies for the tariff, is owned and operated by a retail customer of the electrical corporation, and is located within the service territory of, and developed to sell electricity to, the electrical corporation. The PUC refers to this requirement as the renewable feed-in tariff. The renewable feed-in tariff law, in part, requires the PUC to direct the electrical corporations, collectively, to procure at least 250 megawatts of cumulative rated generating capacity from developers of bioenergy projects that commence operation on or after June 1, 2013. Pursuant to this requirement, the PUC has established and revised the Bioenergy Market Adjusting Tariff (BioMAT) program.

This bill would require the PUC to continue the BioMAT program until the 250 megawatts are procured.

Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime.

Because certain provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and because a violation of a commission action implementing the bills requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Date of Hearing: May 17, 2023

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Chris Holden, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 625

Author:(Aguiar-Curry) – As Amended Ver:April 12, 2023

Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: Yes Reimbursable: No

SUMMARY:

This bill creates the Forest Biomass Waste (FBW) Utilization Program.

Specifically, this bill:

1. Creates the Forest Biomass Waste Utilization Program within the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection’s (Board of Forestry’s) Joint Institute for Wood Products Innovation (the Joint Institute) to:
2. Develop an implementation plan, in coordination with specified state agencies, to (i) meet the goals and recommendations in the Joint Institute’s Forest Biomass Waste Utilization Plan of 2020 and (ii) align the state’s wood utilization policies and priorities with the “focused market strategy” “required” by the “Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan” issued in 2021 by the Governor’s Forest Management Task Force. The implementation plan is to (i) identify funding needs, gaps in research and development, necessary regulatory changes and other needs and (ii) adopt best practices for biomass feedstock aggregation consistent with recommendations of the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR). The Board of Forestry, in coordination with the “Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force,” is to, beginning January 1, 2025, annually submit a report to the Legislature on progress in implementing the implementation plan.
3. Develop, in collaboration with entities that have expertise in workforce development, a workforce training program that will complement the workforce needs associated with implementation of the FBW Utilization Program.
4. Requires the Air Resources Board (ARB), starting with the 2025 edition of the quintennial report ARB produces, pursuant to existing law, to assess greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with wildfire and forest management practices, to include (a) a methodology to quantify the GHG and short-lived climate pollutant emissions, including black carbon, from wildfire, pile burning and forest management activities and (b) a list of data needed to use the methodology, and requires ARB to produce the report in coordination with the “Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force.”
5. Directs the California Energy Commission (CEC) to:
6. In coordination with the Natural Resources Agency (NatRes Agency), the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) and the Department of Conservation (Conservation), to consider funding through the Clean Transportation Program qualifying projects that use forest biomass waste for advanced biofuel technology development.
7. In coordination with the NatRes Agency and Conservation, submit a report to the Legislature, on or before December 31, 2024, that evaluates innovative bioenergy technologies that utilize forest biomass waste, as specified.
8. Include in the 2025 edition of the CEC’s integrated energy policy report (IEPR) an assessment of the potential for forest biomass waste energy to provide firm renewable power.
9. Requires the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to continue the Bioenergy Market Adjusting Tariff (BioMAT) program at least until community choice aggregators (CCAs) are able to participate in the program.
10. Directs the NatRes Agency to facilitate the integration of recommendations for forest biomass waste utilization in relevant state climate adaptation plans.

FISCAL EFFECT:

1. ARB indicates it will need to enter contracts related to black carbon, including development of a model to estimate black carbon emissions, measure such emissions and integrate black carbon emissions data into existing GHG emissions models. ARB estimates it will need about $4 million dollars one time for the contracts (Cost of Implementation Account (COIA)). ARB also anticipates ongoing staff costs of just over $1 million for six positions (COIA).
2. Cal Fire anticipates needing three new positions and consultant contracts, totaling about $1 million annually, to develop the implementation plan and workforce training program (special fund). Cal Fire describes these costs as ongoing, but it seems likely Cal Fire’s costs would diminish after the plan and program are developed.
3. The CEC anticipates needing at least two new staff members $350,000 annually) and, possibly, funding for consultants or contractors ($500,000 one time) to include biomass assessments analyses and recommendations in the IEPR (special fund).
4. Costs of an unknown, but potentially significant amount, to the NatRes Agency.
5. Minor absorbable costs to CPUC.

COMMENTS:

1. Purpose. The author intends this bill to result in an increase in what the author describes as “beneficial” use of the state’s forest biomass, thereby reducing air pollution and creating jobs in economically depressed areas of the state. According to the author:

Without a productive way to use that biomass, it will be piled and burned, which emits significant climate and air pollution. Converting forest waste biomass to beneficial re-uses can, instead, reduce emissions from pile and burn while creating renewable power and fuels, biochar, crosslaminated timber, and other valuable wood products. Doing so will also boost jobs, economic growth, and energy security in many of California’s poorest and most vulnerable regions.

1. Background.

Wildfires and biomass. Much of the state in covered in forests. The forests are habitat to a wide variety of plants and animals, and their health and existence provide numerous ecological and environmental benefits. In addition, homes, businesses and critical infrastructure sits alongside and within those forests.

Unfortunately, much of this forestland is prone to wildfire.

Following particularly devastating wildfires over the first decades of this century, the state committed to improving forest health and, thereby, decreasing the risk of wildfire. Notable in regards to this commitment was passage of SB 901 (Dodd), Chapter 626, Statutes of 2018, which requires California to double forest “fuel” removal to reduce the risks of catastrophic wildfires.

Prescribed burns are one way to remove forest fuel. Another is mechanical thinning, in which woody biomass is physically removed from the forest. An ongoing challenge for forest managers, and policy makers, is deciding what to do with the millions of tons of biomass that is removed from forests.

One option is to ignite the biomass in what are known as “burn piles.” This open burning disposes of the biomass. Yet, it also creates air pollution, increases wildfire risk and secures no additional benefits from the forest “waste.”

The state has sought to make better use of the biomass removed from the state’s forests. In support of this effort, various state entities have produced documents that include recommendations to allow the state to make the most of its disposal of the millions of tons of biomass pulled from California’s forests. Those documents include:

• “California Forest Carbon Plan: Managing our Forest Landscapes in a Changing Climate” issued by the California Environmental Protection Agency, the NatRes Agency and the Cal Fire in May 2018.
• “Joint Institute Recommendations to Expand Wood and Biomass Utilization in California” report issued by the board’s Joint Institute in November 2020.
• “California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan” issued by the Governor’s Forest Management Task Force in January 2021.

This bill places in law many of the recommendations made in these documents.

The BioMAT program. One way to dispose of biomass removed from the forest is to combust it to produce heat that, in turn, is used to generate electricity. CPUC’s BioMAT program is a feed-in tariff program to encourage the procurement of energy produced by small renewable generators using biological sources. Under the program, small bioenergy generators (those less than five megawatts (MW) in capacity) may offer up to 250 MW from eligible projects through a fixed-price standard contract to an investor-owned utility (IOU). An IOU must procure the electricity at the fixed price and according to the standard terms.

Statute differentiates BioMAT bioenergy projects into three categories and allocates the program’s 250 MW across each category. Each of the state’s large electric utilities—Pacific Gas and Electric, Southern California Electric and San Diego Gas and Electric (PG&E, SCE and SDG&E, respectively)—is obligated to procure up to a certain amount, in MW, of bioenergy from each category, if an eligible generator makes the electricity available to the IOU. The table below shows the three BioMAT project categories, the MWs associated with each category, and each IOU’s proportional procurement obligations within each BioMAT category. As the table shows, BioMAT procurement has been, for the most part, anemic. This lack of procurement is likely because electricity produced by BioMAT-eligible resources costs significantly more than does electricity produced by other renewable energy resources.

Recently, in spite of the lack of procurement, or maybe because of the lack of procurement, the Legislature allowed CCAs to procure BioMAT resources and extended the BioMAT procurement obligation by five years. (See AB 843 (Aguiar-Curry), Chapter 234, Statutes of 2021, and SB 1109 (Caballero), Chapter 364, Statutes of 2022, respectively.)

CPUC is undertaking a proceeding to consider how to accommodate CCA participation in BioMAT, consistent with the requirements of AB 843. Whereas this bill would have extended the BioMAT program indefinitely, it now extends the program only until CCAs are able to participate in the program.

Analysis Prepared by: Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081

Date of Hearing: April 10, 2023

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES

Luz Rivas, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 625 (

Author:Aguiar-Curry) – As Amended Ver:March 27, 2023

SUBJECT: Forest biomass: management: emissions: energy

SUMMARY: Establishes the Forest Waste Biomass Utilization Program to develop an implementation plan to meet the goals and recommendations of the state’s wood utilization policies and priorities and focused market strategy of specified statewide forest management plans, and to develop a workforce training program to complement the workforce needs associated with the implementation plan.

EXISTING LAW:

1. Establishes in the California Natural Resources Agency (NRA) the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), and requires CAL FIRE to be responsible for, among other things, fire protection and prevention, as provided. (Public Resources Code (PRC) 4003, et seq.)
2. Establishes the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection (Board of Forestry) in CAL FIRE to represent the state’s interest in the acquisition and management of state forests and requires the Board of Forestry to maintain an adequate forest policy. (PRC 4002)
3. Establishes, pursuant to Executive Order No. B-52-18, a Forest Management Task Force (Task Force), now known as the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force, involving specified state agencies to create the action plan for wildfire and forest resilience. The executive order also established a Joint Institute for Wood Products Innovation (Institute).
4. Designates, under the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, the State Air Resources Board (ARB) as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions. Requires the ARB to adopt specified statewide GHG limits below 1990 levels and to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective GHG reductions. (Health & Safety Code (HSC) 38561)
5. Requires ARB to prepare and approve a Scoping Plan for achieving reductions in GHG emissions from sources or categories of sources of GHGs. Requires the Scoping Plan to identify and make recommendations on direct GHG emissions reduction measures, among other things. Requires ARB to update Scoping Plan for at least once every five years. (HSC 38561)
6. Requires ARB, in consultation with CAL FIRE, to develop a report on or before December 31, 2020, and every five years thereafter that assesses GHGs associated with wildfire and forest management activities. (HSC 38535)
7. Establishes, pursuant to the Warren-Alquist State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Act, the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (CEC). Requires the CEC, in consultation with specified state and federal agencies and at least every two years, to conduct assessments and forecasts of all aspects of energy industry supply, production, transportation, delivery and distribution, demand, and prices. (PRC 25000, et seq.)
8. Requires the CEC to adopt a biennial integrated energy policy report (IEPR) containing an overview of major energy trends and issues facing the state, including, but not limited to, supply, demand, pricing, reliability, efficiency, and impacts on public health and safety, the economy, resources, and the environment. (PRC 25302)
9. Establishes, pursuant to the Clean Transportation Program to provide funding to specified eligible entities to develop and deploy innovative technologies that transform California’s fuel and vehicle types to help attain the state’s climate change policies. (HSC 44270)
10. Requires the Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to establish a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) requiring all retail sellers, as defined, to procure a minimum quantity of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources, as defined, so that the total kilowatt hours of those products sold to their retail end-use customers achieves 44% of retail sales by December 31, 2024, 52% by December 31, 2027, and 60% by December 31, 2030. (Public Utilities Code (PUC) 399.11)
11. Requires the CPUC to direct electrical corporations, collectively, to procure at least 250 megawatts (MW) of cumulative rated generating capacity from developers of bioenergy projects that commence operation on or after June 1, 2013. Pursuant to this requirement, the PUC has established and revised the Bioenergy Market Adjusting Tariff (BioMAT) program. (PUC 399.20)

THIS BILL:

1. Requires, as part of the 2025 update to the report that assesses GHGs associated with wildfire and forest management activities, ARB to include both of the following:
   1. A methodology to quantify GHG and short-lived climate pollutant emissions, including black carbon, from wildfire, pile burning, and forest management activities.
   2. A list of the data needed to use the methodology prepared.
2. Requires ARB, in developing the Scoping Plan, to consider the results of the latest report mentioned above.
3. Establishes the Forest Biomass Waste Utilization Program (Biomass Program) in the Institute.
4. Defines the following terms for purposes of the Biomass Program:
   1. “California Forest Carbon Plan” means the “California Forest Carbon Plan: Managing our Forest Landscapes in a Changing Climate” issued by the California Environmental Protection Agency, the NRA, and CAL FIRE in May 2018;
   2. “Forest Biomass Waste Utilization Plan” means the “Joint Institute Recommendations to Expand Wood and Biomass Utilization in California” report issued by the Board of Forestry Institute in November 2020;
   3. “Forest biomass waste” is forest biomass that is removed to reduce or mitigate the risk of wildfire, reduce the risks to public safety or infrastructure from falling trees or tree limbs, or create defensible space, or for forest restoration projects; and,
   4. “Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan” means the “California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan” (Action Plan) issued by the Task Force in January 2021.
5. Requires the Biomass Program to do all of the following:
   1. Develop an implementation plan, in coordination with the Task Force, Office of Planning and Research (OPR), Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, Department of Toxic Substances Control, Department of Conservation (DOC), CEC, and CPUC, to meet the goals and recommendations of the Forest Biomass Waste Utilization Plan, and the comprehensive framework to align the state’s wood utilization policies and priorities and the focused market strategy required by the Action Plan. Requires the implementation plan to do both of the following:
      1. Identify, with particular emphasis on the development of new forest biomass waste utilization projects on developed property that is located near forested land that sources forest biomass waste, funding needs, gaps in research and demonstration, necessary regulatory changes, and other needs.
      2. Adopt best practices for biomass feedstock aggregation that are consistent with the recommendations of OPR.
   2. In collaboration with governmental, nonprofit, and for-profit entities that have expertise in workforce development, including, but not limited to, the California Community College system and the California Workforce Development Board, develop a workforce training program that will complement the workforce needs associated with implementation of the biomass utilization program.
6. Requires, beginning January 1, 2025, and annually thereafter, the Board of Forestry, in coordination with the Task Force, to prepare and submit an annual report to the Legislature on the progress made on implementing the implementation plan.
7. Requires NRA to facilitate the integration of recommendations for forest biomass waste uses in relevant state climate adaptation plans.
8. Requires the CEC, in coordination with CAL FIRE, NRA, and DOC, to consider funding qualifying projects pursuant to the Clean Transportation Program that use forest biomass waste for advanced biofuel technology development, including, but not limited to, projects that use noncombustion conversion technologies for electrical vehicle charging or hydrogen vehicle fueling.
9. Requires the CEC, in coordination with NRA and DOC, to prepare and submit a report to the Legislature, on or before December 31, 2024, that evaluates innovative bioenergy technologies that use forest biomass waste. Requires the report to present recommendations, where appropriate, for opportunities to maximize environmental performance, grid reliability benefits, and value to electricity ratepayers. Requires the report to assess the potential to facilitate the use of forest biomass waste produced within fire-threat areas, as identified by the PUC, to support the integration of innovative biomass power for the purpose of supporting rural microgrids, or providing other grid support, or both, including an assessment of any technological or feasible challenges, including, but not limited to, challenges associated with reliability and fueling concerns. Authorizes the report to include a review of, and recommendations for, alternative programming or financing considerations. Sunsets the report requirements on January 1, 2028.
10. Requires the CEC, as part of the 2025 edition of the IEPR, to include an assessment of the potential for forest biomass waste energy to provide firm renewable power.
11. Requires the PUC to continue the BioMAT program until the implementation of paragraph (5) of subdivision (f) of Section 399.20 is resolved within CPUC rulemaking proceeding R.22-10-010 and adequate time is given to community choice aggregators to participate in the program.
12. States that no reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.

FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown

COMMENTS:

1. According to the author:

California’s forests cover nearly one-third of the state and provide enormous benefits for the climate, the environment, and the economy.  Our forests are, however, increasingly vulnerable to wildfire, invasive species, drought, and other threats.  State law requires forest fuel removal on one million acres per year, which will generate millions of tons of forest waste biomass. The Air Board’s 2022 Climate Change Scoping Plan calls for forest management on 2.3 million acres a year to reduce wildfire risks and restore healthier, more resilient forests.   Without a productive way to use that biomass, it will be piled and burned, which emits significant climate and air pollution.  Converting forest waste biomass to beneficial re-uses can, instead, reduce emissions from pile and burn while creating renewable power and fuels, biochar, cross-laminated timber, and other valuable wood products.  Doing so will also boost jobs, economic growth, and energy security in many of California’s poorest and most vulnerable regions.  AB 625 will address the need to put California’s forest biomass waste to reduce wildfires and create healthier forests by establishing the Forest Waste Biomass Utilization Program and directing state agencies to help promote the processing of biomass waste into bioenergy and other wood products. This bill also extends the existing Bioenergy Feed-in Tariff (BioMAT) Program until the California Public Utilities Commission implements past legislation that allows Community Choice Aggregators to participate in the program.

1. Biomass. California covers about 100 million acres and approximately 40% of the state is forest. National Forest System lands, managed by the US Forest Service (USFS), cover in excess of 18 million acres (approximately 58% of California forestland).  Forest operations such as logging, thinning, fuels reduction programs, and ecosystem restoration create a huge amount of woody biomass. Some of this is brought out of the forest for use, but as much as half of the biomass is left in the forest. When residues from mastication and slash from timber harvests are left scattered throughout the forest, they act as additional dry surface fuel and serve to increase intensity and severity if a wildfire burns through the area. Often woody biomass materials are piled and burned creating air pollution, such as black carbon, or left to decay, creating methane.

According to the CEC, there are currently approximately 47 million bone dry tons (BDT) of biomass resource potential in California. According to the Board of Forestry, state requirements to remove forest fuels on a combined one million acres per year will lead to 10 to 15 million bone dry tons of forest waste biomass annually.

SB 901 (Dodd, Chapter 626, Statutes of 2018) requires California to double forest fuel removal to reduce the risks of catastrophic wildfires. More recently, California entered an agreement with the USFS to reduce forest fuels on one million acres per year. While some of that will be accomplished with prescribed fire, much of it will require mechanical thinning that will generate millions of tons of forest waste per year.

1. Biomass markets. Biomass piles reflect the severely underdeveloped forest biomass supply chain in California. One key obstacle to effectively using them is the cost of loading and transportation, since forested areas tend to be rural, mountainous, and remote. The main use of biomass today is as a fuel for California's existing biomass power plants. Currently, there are about 30 direct-combustion biomass facilities in operation with a capacity of 640 megawatts (MW). These biomass plants use about five million BDT of biomass per year – or about 10% of the total BDT biomass resource potential. 

According to the CEC’s September 2020 report Utility-Scale Renewable Energy Generation Technology Roadmap, forest fire prevention through bioenergy systems is limited by cost. While wood residue and thinning collection is one of the most noticeable and currently relevant aspects of bioenergy conversion, the cost of collecting and delivering distributed wood resources remains prohibitively expensive. In general, woody biomass generation has a higher cost compared to other renewables even without accounting for collection of the types of wood resources that most often lead to wildfires.

Wood products manufacturing and various biomass utilization pathways contribute to local and regional economies by creating jobs and generating revenue through forest management and restoration activities; commercial harvesting; product manufacturing and energy or fuels production and related support businesses; and, transportation and shipping. A more robust market for biomass could help pay for forest treatments or provide income for landowners.

1. Wildfire prevention. Wildfires have been growing in size, duration, and destructivity over the past 20 years. Growing wildfire risk is due to accumulating fuels, a warming climate, and expanding development in the wildland-urban interface. The 2020 fire season broke numerous records. In August 2020, California and the USFS agreed to scale up vegetation treatment and maintenance to one million acres of federal, state, and private forest and wildlands annually by 2025.

California is responsible for fire and resource protection on nearly 13.3 million acres of private and state-owned forested lands. The state owns about 1.1 million acres of these lands, and 12.2 million acres of lands are under private ownership. In the past several years, forest management has significantly expanded on these lands. CAL FIRE has increased its forest thinning and prescribed fire activities from about 30,000 acres in 2016 to more than 50,000 acres in 2020. Partners receiving state-funded grants treated more than 30,000 acres in 2020. Private landowners currently actively manage 250,000-300,000 acres through fuels reduction, mechanical thinning, and timber harvest projects.

Implementing innovative and recommended strategies for forest fuel load reduction and creating end-use markets for biomass can encourage and ideally accelerate healthy forest management to prevent wildfire spread while ideally reducing GHG emission.

1. Forest Biomass Waste Utilization Program. The Institute at the Board of Forestry is dedicated to providing California forest product information, research, and analysis to increase economic drivers for healthy forests. Institute work focuses on long-term ecological and economic sustainability; education and outreach; increased forest resilience, long-term carbon storage, and local economies; and, industry retention and development in California.

On November 4, 2020, the Institute and the Board of Forestry released a set of recommendations to promote biomass utilization in California, including: providing financial incentives and leveraging public dollars to attract private capital to support demand for innovate wood and biomass products markets; identifying priority wood products manufacturing centers in or near forested communities throughout the state; providing grants to support workforce development; facilitating information flow between state, federal, tribal, and local governments; utilities; and other non-governmental organizations; and, measuring progress, among others.

This bill establishes the Biomass Program under the administration of the Institute to meet the goals and recommendations of the Forest Biomass Waste Utilization Plan, the comprehensive wood utilization strategy, and market framework required by the Action Plan.

More specifically, the Biomass Program would develop an implementation plan, with the Task Force and other state agencies, to identify, with particular emphasis on the development of new forest biomass waste utilization projects on developed property that is located near forested land that sources forest biomass waste, funding needs, gaps in research and demonstration, necessary regulatory changes, and other needs, and adopt best practices for biomass feedstock aggregation that are consistent with the recommendations of OPR. Under the Biomass Program, a workforce training program that will complement the workforce needs associated with implementation of the biomass utilization program would also be developed.

In furtherance of the program, the bill requires NRA to facilitate the integration of recommendations for forest biomass waste utilization in relevant, state climate adaptation plans.

1. Air Resources Board. In its Short Lived Climate Pollutant Reduction Strategy, ARB acknowledges that the only practical way to rapidly reduce the impacts of climate change is to immediately reduce emissions of short-lived climate pollutants, which include black carbon and methane, among others. Short-lived climate pollutants have atmospheric lifetimes on the order of a few days to a few decades, and their relative climate forcing impacts, when measured in terms of how they heat the atmosphere, can be tens, hundreds, or even thousands of times greater than that of carbon dioxide (CO₂). Black carbon is emitted from burning fuels such as biomass, as well as from various forms of non-fuel biomass combustion (destruction of excess woody wastes, wildfires, etc.). Black carbon contributes to climate change both directly by absorbing sunlight and indirectly by depositing on snow and by interacting with clouds and affecting cloud formation. While methane has a global warming potential 28 times more powerful than CO₂ over a 100-year time horizon, black carbon has a warming impact on climate 460-1,500 times stronger than CO₂ per unit of mass.

Current law requires ARB, in coordination with CAL FIRE, to develop a standardized system for quantifying the direct carbon emissions and decay from fuel reduction activities for purposes of meeting the accounting requirements for Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund expenditures, and develop a historic baseline of GHG emissions from California’s natural fire regime reflecting conditions before modern fire suppression. AB 625 augments that reporting requirement for a 2025 report to include a methodology to quantify the GHG and short-lived climate pollutant emissions, including black carbon, from wildfire, pile burning, and forest management activities.

Under the Global Warming Solutions Act [AB 32 (Núñez), Chapter 488, Statutes of 2006], ARB is tasked with developing the Scoping Plan – the state’s road map for reducing anthropogenic GHGs to specified targets below 1990 levels to meet our GHG reduction and carbon neutrality goals. AB 625 further requires ARB to consider the results of the report that quantifies the direct carbon emissions and short-lived climate pollutant emissions from wildfires and fuel reduction activities.

ARB has historically not included GHG data from California’s natural fire regime because it would skew the focus away from human-made emissions (i.e., from the fossil fuel sector). Given the SB 901 report pursuant to HSC 68535, it is not necessary to include that information additionally in the Scoping Plan.

1. Energy Commission. The Clean Transportation Program, also known as the Alternative and Renewable Technology Program (AB118 (Núñez), Chapter 750, Statutes of 2007), invests up to $100 million annually in a broad portfolio of transportation and fuel transportation projects, including biomethane, which is a renewable natural gas produced from decaying organic matter such as waste water treatment sludge, food waste, animal manures, landfill gas, dead trees, and municipal solid waste through a process called anaerobic digestion.

AB 625 requires the CEC, in furtherance of the Biomass Program, to consider funding qualifying projects pursuant to that program that use forest biomass waste for advanced biofuel technology development, including, but not limited to, projects that use noncombustion conversion technologies for electrical vehicle charging or hydrogen vehicle fueling.

Further, the bill requires CEC to prepare and submit a report to the Legislature, on or before December 31, 2024, that evaluates innovative bioenergy technologies that use forest biomass waste. In addition to the recommendations the CEC would be required to make, the author may wish to consider additionally requiring the CEC to consider the air quality improvement to nonattainment areas with existing or proposed bioenergy facilities.

Current law requires the CEC to prepare a biennial IEPR, which contains an integrated assessment of major energy trends and issues facing California’s electricity, natural gas, and transportation fuel sectors. AB 625 would require CEC to include an assessment in the IEPR of the potential for forest biomass waste energy to provide firm renewable power.

1. Public Utilities Commission. The BioMAT is a Feed-in-Tariff program that ordered 250 MW of procurement for electricity from bioenergy projects. Electricity generated as part of the BioMAT program must count towards the utilities’ RPS targets. The intent of BioMAT is to create a program that differentiated small renewable biomass and biogas projects from other renewable distributed generation technologies to ensure that there are contracting opportunities for these facilities that capture existing methane emissions or use materials from agricultural and sustainable forestry activities. The procurement is allocated among three distinct bioenergy technology categories:

Category 1: Biogas from wastewater treatment, municipal organic waste diversion, food processing, and co-digestion - 110 MW

Category 2: Dairy and other agricultural bioenergy - 90 MW

Category 3: Bioenergy using byproducts of sustainable forest management (including fuels from high hazard zones) - 50 MW

According to the October 2018 CPUC BioMAT Program Review and Staff Proposal, during the first two years of the program’s inception, participation was low, undermining the competition needed for offer prices to adjust. As of 2018, the program has contracts for 33 MW of capacity, or 13% of the 250 MW procurement goal. At that time, CPUC staff noted it could take approximately 20 years to reach the BioMAT program procurement goal of 250 MW.

In September 2020, the PUC adopted Rulemaking 18-07-003 to extend BioMAT until December 31, 2025.

In October 2022, the PUC issued Rulemaking 22-10-010 to implement AB 843 (Aguiar-Curry, Chapter 843, Statutes of 2021) and authorize Community Choice Aggregators to participate in the BioMAT program.

In consideration of that ongoing rulemaking, AB 625 was amended in the Assembly Utilities & Energy Committee to require the CPUC continue the BioMAT program until the implementation of AB 843 is resolved within that rulemaking and adequate time is given to community choice aggregators to participate in the program.

1. Committee amendments. The Committee may wish to consider amending the bill as follows to strike subdivision (g) from Sec. 38561 to remove the proposed changes to the Scoping Plan.
2. Double referral. This bill was heard in the Assembly Utilities and Energy Committee on March 22, where it was approved 13-0.
3. Related legislation.

AB 998 (Connolly) requires the CEC to report on the utility-scale biomass combustion facilities still in operation as of January 1, 2024 and specifies information the report must contain. This bill is scheduled to be heard in the Assembly Utilities and Energy Committee.

AB 2878 (Aguiar-Curry, 2022) would have established the Forest Biomass Waste Utilization Program to develop an implementation plan to meet the goals and recommendations of the Biomass Waste Utilization Plan and to develop a workforce training program to complement the workforce needs associated with implementation of this program. This bill was held in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

AB 2587 (E. Garcia, 2022) among its provisions, expands the type of firm resources to be considered in an upcoming CEC assessment to include bioenergy and biomass. This bill was held in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

SB 1109 (Caballero, Chapter 364, Statutes of 2022) extends requirements on electric utilities and CCAs to procure energy from biomass generating electric facilities by five years and requires extension of existing contracts by five years.

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

Association of California Water Agencies
California Biomass Energy Alliance
California Compost Coalition
California Forestry Association
Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas
Humboldt and Mendocino Redwood Companies
Marin Clean Energy
Pioneer Community Energy
Placer County Air Pollution Control District
Rural County Representatives of California
Silicon Valley Clean Energy

Opposition

350 Humboldt: Grass Roots Climate Action

Center for Biological Diversity
Climate Action California
Sierra Club

Sempra Energy

Analysis Prepared by: Paige Brokaw / NAT. RES. /

Date of Hearing: March 22^nd, 2023

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON UTILITIES AND ENERGY

Eduardo Garcia, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 625 (

Author:Aguiar-Curry) – As Introduced Ver:February 9, 2023

SUBJECT: Forest Biomass Waste Utilization Program

SUMMARY: Establishes the Forest Biomass Waste Utilization Program to increase the use of forest biomass waste, including—of particular interest to this Committee—requiring the California Energy Commission (CEC) to report to the Legislature on innovative bioenergy technologies, and to indefinitely extend the date of the Bioenergy Market Adjusting Tariff (BioMAT) at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).

Specifically, this bill:

1. Establishes the Forest Biomass Waste Utilization Program in the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) Joint Institute for Wood Products Innovation, and requires the program to develop an implementation plan, in coordination with the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force, Office of Planning and Research, the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, Department of Toxic Substances Control, Department of Conservation, CEC, and the CPUC, to meet the goals and recommendations of the Forest Biomass Waste Utilization Plan and the comprehensive wood utilization strategy and market framework required by the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan. Requires the implementation plan to identify funding needs, gaps in research and demonstration, necessary regulatory changes, and other needs, and to adopt best practices for biomass feedstock aggregation.
2. Requires CARB, in collaboration with governmental, nonprofit, and for-profit entities that have expertise in workforce development, to develop a workforce training program, which shall make recommendations to address barriers that impact the hiring of new workers, including high insurance premiums associated with newly trained drivers.
3. Requires CARB to include a methodology for quantifying the greenhouse gas and short-lived climate pollutant emissions, including black carbon, from wildfire, pile burning, and forest management activities, along with a list of the data needed to use the methodology, into the 2025 update of an assessment of greenhouse gas emissions from wildfire and forest management. Additionally requires CARB to consider the results of the assessment when developing the board’s Scoping Plan.
4. Requires CARB, beginning January 1, 2025, and annually thereafter, to prepare and submit an annual report to the Legislature on the progress made on executing the implementation plan.
5. Requires the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) to include the recommendations for forest biomass waste utilization in relevant state climate adaptation plans.
6. Requires the CEC to consider funding qualifying projects pursuant to the Clean Transportation Program that use forest biomass waste for advanced biofuel technology development including, but not limited to, projects that use noncombustion conversion technologies for electrical vehicle charging or hydrogen vehicle fueling.
7. Requires the CEC, by December 31, 2024, to prepare a report, in coordination with CNRA and the Department of Conservation, which evaluates technologies that utilize forest biomass waste, including recommendations for opportunities to maximize environmental performance, grid reliability, and value to electricity ratepayers. The report would also assess the potential for the use of forest biomass waste produced within fire-threat areas to support the integration of biomass power to support rural microgrids, or provide other grid support, or both, including an assessment of reliability and fueling concerns. The report may include a review of, and recommendations for, alternative programming or financing considerations.
8. Requires the CEC, as part of the 2025 edition—and biennially thereafter—of the Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR), to include an assessment of the potential for forest biomass waste energy to provide firm renewable power.
9. Requires the CPUC to continue the BioMAT program until the full target of 250 megawatts, as specified in statute, have been procured.
10. Defines a number of terms for the purposes to the bill, including “forest biomass waste,” which means forest biomass that is removed for wildfire mitigation, to reduce the risks to public safety or infrastructure from falling trees, creation of defensible space, or for forest restoration projects.

EXISTING LAW:

1. Establishes, pursuant to Executive Order No. B-52-18, a Forest Management Task Force, now known as the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force, involving specified state agencies to create the action plan for wildfire and forest resilience. The executive order also established a Joint Institute for Wood Products Innovation.
2. Designates, under the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, CARB as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of GHGs. Requires CARB to adopt a statewide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions limit and to adopt rules and regulations in an open public process to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective GHG reductions. (Health and Safety Code §§ 38500-38510)
3. Requires CARB, in consultation with the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire), to develop a report on or before December 31, 2020, and every 5 years thereafter that assesses GHGs associated with wildfire and forest management activities. Requires CARB to prepare, adopt, and update an inventory of GHGs from all sources located in the state. (Health and Safety Code § 38535 and § 39607.4)
4. Requires electric investor-owned utilities (IOUs) to collectively procure at least 250 megawatts (MW) of generated resources from bioenergy projects, and the CPUC to allocate amongst the electric IOUs shares of the 250 MW from bioenergy derived from organic waste diversion, dairy and agricultural sources, and byproducts of forest management. Requires the CPUC to encourage IOUs to develop programs and services that facilitate development of bioenergy and biogas. This program is known as BioMAT. (Public Utilities Code § 399.20)
5. Requires retail sellers and publicly owned utilities to increase purchases of renewable energy such that at least 60% of retail sales are procured from eligible renewable energy resources by December 31, 2030. This is known as the Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS). Electricity generated from biomass is considered a renewable energy resource under this policy. (Public Utilities Code §§ 399.11-399.33)
6. Establishes the policy that all of the state's retail electricity be supplied with a mix of RPS-eligible and zero-carbon resources by December 31, 2045, for a total of 100% clean energy. Requires the CPUC, in consultation with the CEC, CARB, and all California balancing authorities, to issue a joint report to the Legislature by January 1, 2021, reviewing and evaluating the 100% clean energy policy. (Public Utilities Code § 454.53)
7. Establishes within the RPS a requirement that electrical corporations, by December 1, 2023, collectively procure, through financial commitments of 5 to 15 years, their proportionate share of 125 MWs of cumulative rated generating capacity from bioenergy projects commencing operation prior to June 1, 2013, that each produces its generation using specified minimum percentages of certain types of forest feedstock, including from Tier 1 and Tier 2 high hazard zones. (Public Utilities Code § 399.20.3)
8. Requires an electrical corporation, local electric publicly owned utility, or community choice aggregator with a contract to procure electricity generated from biomass that is operative at any time in 2022, and expires or expired on or before December 31, 2028, to seek to amend the contract to include, or seek approval for a new contract that includes, an expiration date five years later than the expiration date in the contract that was operative in 2022, so long as the contract extension follows the feedstock requirement. This requirement would be limited to facilities sourcing fuel material in California and would not apply to facilities located in certain air basins. (Public Utilities Code § 8388)
9. Requires the CEC to adopt the IEPR every two years, which must contain an overview of major energy trends and issues facing the state, including, but not limited to, supply, demand, pricing, reliability, efficiency, and impacts on public health and safety, the economy, resources, and the environment. (Public Resources Code §§ 25300-25327)
10. Requires the CEC to incorporate firm zero-carbon resources into the IPER in a timely fashion. (Public Resources Code § 25305.5)

FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown. This bill is keyed fiscal and will be referred to the Committee on Appropriations for its review.

BACKGROUND:

Biomass processes – Biomass is renewable organic material that can include wood and wood processing wastes, yard and food waste, agricultural crops, animal manure, and human sewage (municipal solid waste). Biomass can be used as feedstock to generate heat and electricity out of what would otherwise be waste material. Biomass is converted to energy through four main processes: direct combustion, and thermochemical, chemical, and biological conversion. Direct combustion, or simply burning the biomass, is the most common method for converting biomass to useful energy. Thermochemical conversion—such as pyrolysis and gasification—breaks down the biomass material with heat, usually with little to no oxygen so there is no burning. Chemical conversion breaks down the biomass material through chemical reactions; whereas biological conversion—including fermentation and bacterial decay—breaks down the biomass material through the use of enzymes, bacteria, or other microbes.

Biomass electricity –Today, there are about 87 operating biomass facilities—both direct combustion and alternative processes—in operation with a capacity of 1,259 MW, accounting for about 3% of in-state generation.^[1] Electricity generated from biomass is considered a renewable energy resource for the purposes of meeting the state’s RPS requirements. Unlike variable renewable energy resources (such as solar and wind), bioenergy technologies can provide reliable and renewable baseload generation, or firm power, meaning that electricity can be generated during scheduled times and at predetermined power levels.

Board of Forestry and Fire Protection recommendations – On November 4, 2020, the Joint Institute for Wood Products Innovation and the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection released a set of recommendations to promote biomass utilization in California, specifically seeking to put forest fuels to its highest value use rather than pile burning or leaving the material to decompose.^[2] The report includes a comprehensive list of market and regulatory challenges in bioenergy, and offers a couple dozen recommendations for various state agencies, many of which appear in this bill. Recommendation 2.3.1 urged ensuring microgrid tariffs include forest waste-based energy and forested communities.

BioMAT – BioMAT is a feed-in-tariff program established by SB 1112 (Rubio, Chapter 612, Statutes of 2012). Feed-in-tariffs offer long-term contracts with price certainty—usually above-market—for financing renewable energy investments. BioMAT created a 250 MW procurement requirement for small-scale bioenergy projects for California’s three largest IOUs,^[3] broken into biogas, agriculture, and sustainable forest management categories. As shown in Table 1, the program has received limited adoption since its implementation in 2014.

The BioMAT program underwent a formal program review in 2018,^[5] where CPUC staff recommended programmatic and procedural improvements to the program. The goal of the program review was to simplify the BioMAT procurement process, enable expanded program participation, address program barriers, reduce ratepayer expenditures, and promote statewide goals. In August 2020 a decision was issued directing changes to the BioMAT program rules, contract terms, clarifications in the procurement process, and an extension of the BioMAT program until December 2025^[6] (from the previously set end date of February 2021).^[7] The extension date was determined by evaluating the benefits of the program alongside its high costs and low participation. The prospect of extending the program indefinitely was suggested to likely increase costs to ratepayers, was unlikely to provide meaningful benefits, and would not address the issues associated with low participation.

In October 2022, the CPUC opened a rulemaking to implement AB 843 (Aguiar-Curry, Chapter 234, 2021), which authorized Community Choice Aggregators (CCAs) to participate in the BioMAT program. In this proceeding, the CPUC is considering how to most effectively integrate CCAs into the BioMAT program alongside IOUs, as well as the potential effect of the incorporation of CCAs on the BioMAT program. In their evaluation of potential effects of CCA addition, the CPUC identified specific issues as being within the scope of the proceeding, including the possibility of an additional 5-year extension of the BioMAT program (extending the end date to December 2030).^[8] The CPUC is scheduled to issue a preliminary decision in Q3 of 2023 with a Commission Decision to follow, strongly suggesting that the CPUC will weigh in on the possibility of a BioMAT timeline extension well before the current program end date of December 2025.

Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR) – Existing law requires the CEC to develop the IEPR and establishes requirements for certain reports that must be included in the IEPR. The IEPR is a comprehensive energy policy report covering many aspects of California’s energy market, including energy supply and demand forecasts. In compliance with existing law, the CEC develops a full IEPR report every two years, with an update in the years between those full reports. The CEC develops the IEPR through public workshops, which include stakeholders relevant to the topics covered by the report. A draft version of the report is publicly available for comment and the IEPR is adopted at a CEC business meeting, which is also open to the public. The final IEPR is submitted to the governor, Legislature and other stakeholders in addition to being posted on the CEC’s webpage.

COMMENTS:

1. Author’s Statement. According to the author, “California’s forests cover nearly one-third of the state and provide enormous benefits for the climate, the environment, and the economy. Our forests are, however, increasingly vulnerable to wildfire, invasive species, drought, and other threats. State law requires forest fuel removal on one million acres per year, which will generate millions of tons of forest waste biomass. The Air Board’s 2022 Climate Change Scoping Plan calls for forest management on 2.3 million acres a year to reduce wildfire risks and restore healthier, more resilient forests. Without a productive way to use that biomass, it will be piled and burned, which emits significant climate and air pollution. Converting forest waste biomass to beneficial re-uses can, instead, reduce emissions from pile and burn while creating renewable power and fuels, biochar, cross-laminated timber, and other valuable wood products. Doing so will also boost jobs, economic growth, and energy security in many of California’s poorest and most vulnerable regions. AB 625 will address the need to put California’s forest biomass waste to reduce wildfires and create healthier forests by establishing the Forest Waste Biomass Utilization Program and directing state agencies to help promote the processing of biomass waste into bioenergy and other wood products. This bill also extends the existing Bioenergy Feed-in Tariff (BioMAT) Program until it meets its original goal of procuring 250 MW of bioenergy.”
2. Statewide benefits of forest management. Wildfires have been growing in duration and ferocity over the past 20 years. Their growing risk is due to a number of factors, from accumulating forest fuels to a warming climate to expanding development in the wildland-urban interface. Better management of the fuels that contribute to this wildfire risk is one of the main strategies to help mitigate fires.

According to the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources, the State of California is responsible for fire and resource protection on nearly 13.3 million acres of private and state-owned forested lands. The state owns about 1.1 million acres of these lands, and 12.2 million acres of lands are under private ownership. In the past several years, forest management has significantly expanded on these lands. CalFire has increased its forest thinning and prescribed fire activities from about 30,000 acres in 2016 to more than 50,000 acres in 2020. Partners receiving state-funded grants treated more than 30,000 acres in 2020. Private landowners currently actively manage 250,000-300,000 acres through fuels reduction, mechanical thinning, and timber harvest projects. In addition, SB 901 (Dodd, Chapter 626, Statutes of 2018) requires California to double forest fuel removal. And in August 2020, California and the US Forest Service agreed to scale up vegetation treatment and maintenance to one million acres of federal, state, and private forest and wildlands annually by 2025.^[9]

All of these efforts produce forest waste. Sometimes that waste is left in piles, contributing to wildfire risk; whereas at others times the waste is burned on site, contributing to air pollution. This bill seeks recommended and alternative strategies for forest fuel load reduction in the hopes of creating end-use markets for biomass that will encourage and accelerate healthy forest management to prevent wildfire spread while reducing GHG emission.

1. The Best End-Use? The need to better manage California’s forest waste is apparent. Having a robust biomass market spurring that forest management can help drive down the cost of forest waste removal activities. However, the biomass supply chain is underdeveloped in California. As noted above, government intervention has led the biomass energy sector to be the main end-use for California’s biomass waste. This bill appropriately seeks a more holistic approach by establishing a Forest Biomass Waste Utilization Program, with an emphasis on examining innovative new projects to manage the large volume of forest waste anticipated to arise in the coming years.^[10]
2. Cost Considerations. The main end-use of biomass today is as a fuel for California's existing biomass power plants. This has largely been driven by direct mandates to procure biomass electricity. In October 2015, Governor Brown issued an Emergency Order addressing Tree Mortality, and called upon the CPUC to review and update its procurement programs for small bioenergy generators.^[11] The Bioenergy Renewable Action Mechanism (BioRAM) program was established in response. Subsequently, SB 859 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review, Chapter 368, Statutes of 2016) directed additional BioRAM procurement resulting in the requirement on large IOUs to procure 146 MWs of bioenergy from High Hazard Zone fuel. SB 901 (Dodd, Chapter 626, Statutes of 2018) further amended the BioRAM program to add program flexibility and extend certain biomass contracts by five years. Without these efforts, the viability of electricity generation from biomass is unclear. Biomass often experiences high operation and transportation costs, which often make electricity generated from biomass more expensive than other sources.

As shown in Figure 1,^[12] RPS contract prices saw a spike in 2016 due to the execution of the BioRAM contracts. Figure 1 does not show contracts of 3 MW or less, so BioMAT contracts are not represented; however, their 2021 average contract price was substantially higher than the cumulative average of BioRAM contract prices.^[13] The total contracted capacity and average price of BioMAT contracts in 2021 was 11.3 MW and 17.4 ¢/kWh, respectively, while the total capacity and average contract price of existing BioRAM contracts is 178 MW and 11.4 ¢/kWh, to date. For comparison, the IOUs’ weighted average RPS procurement expenditures in 2021 were approximately 8.4 ¢/kWh for geothermal, 14.4 ¢/kWh for small hydro, 11 ¢/kWh for solar PV, and 8.6 ¢/kWh for wind.^[14]

Figure 1- Historical Trend of All Load Serving Entities' RPS Contract Costs by Technology and Year of Execution

1. Current CPUC rulemaking on the BioMAT program: The CPUC has an ongoing rulemaking proceeding (R.22-10-010) which, among other issues, is considering an additional five-year extension to the BioMAT program which, if adopted, would push the end date of the program to December 2030. In considering this potential extension, the CPUC is weighing the history of cost concerns and low utilization of the BioMAT program alongside the potential for recent developments to increase participation in the program, particularly the authorization of CCA participation. In short, the CPUC both set the current BioMAT end date and is currently in the process of considering an additional extension. Therefore it may be premature to indefinitely extend the BioMAT program as this bill seeks to do. However, it is reasonable for new program participants to be concerned with the current CPUC-established deadline of December 2025, as ongoing rulemakings are still underway. The author and committee may wish to consider amendments to remove the indefinite extension of the BioMAT program, and rather ensure the BioMAT program may continue until CCAs are able to adequately participate in the program.
2. Avoiding strain on IEPR: Assessing the potential for forest biomass waste energy to provide renewable power is important, but requiring the CEC to re-assess the role of forest biomass waste energy every two years as part of the IEPR process may not yield enough new insights to justify the additional reporting burden. As such, the author and committee may wish to consider amendments to strike part of Section 25302.3(a), retaining the assessment of forest biomass waste energy in the 2025 edition of the IEPR but not requiring similar assessments in subsequent IEPRs.
3. Related Legislation.

AB 998 (Connolly), would require the CEC to issue a report on the utility-scale biomass combustion facilities still in operation, options to maximize the environmental benefits of these facilities, recommendations for strategies to upgrade biomass combustion facilities, and an evaluation of the feasibility of upgrading utility-scale biomass combustion facilities that have recently ceased operation. Status: referred to the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources.

1. Prior Legislation.

AB 2878 (Aguiar-Curry, 2022) would, among other provisions, establish the Forest Waste Biomass Utilization Program to develop an implementation plan to meet the goals and recommendations of specified statewide forest management plans, require the CEC to report on innovative bioenergy technologies that utilize forest biomass waste and to include an assessment of the potential for forest biomass waste energy to provide firm renewable power in the 2023 edition of the integrated policy report and each report adopted biennially thereafter, and requires CARB to report on a methodology to quantify the greenhouse gas and short-lived climate pollutant emissions from forest management activities as well as consider the results of that report in the next update of its scoping plan. Status: Died – Senate Appropriations.

SB 1109 (Caballero) extended the electrical corporations’ obligation to collectively procure their proportionate share of 125 megawatts of cumulative rated generating capacity from existing bioenergy projects, require those entities with a contract to procure electricity generated from biomass that expires before December 31, 2028, to seek 5 year extensions on those contracts, and require any new contracts for incremental procurement of electricity from bioenergy resources to be from a resource that meets emission limits equivalent to the best available retrofit control technology. Status: Chapter 364, Statutes of 2022.

AB 843 (Aguiar-Curry) authorizes a CCA to execute contracts for eligible bioenergy projects and submit those contracts for cost recovery pursuant to the BioMAT program, if open capacity exists within the 250-megawatt BioMAT program limit. Status: Chapter 234, Statutes of 2021.

AB 322 (Salas) requires the CEC to consider, in the investment planning process for electric ratepayer-funded Electric Program Investment Charge program, funding for eligible biomass conversion to energy projects. Status: Chapter 229, Statutes of 2021.

AB 3163 (Salas), expands the definition of “biomethane” to include methane that is produced from the non-combustion thermal conversion of eligible biomass feedstock, for purposes of the CPUC’s consideration of adopting biomethane procurement targets. Status: Chapter 358, Statutes of 2020.

SB 901 (Dodd), among its many provisions, required an extension by 5 years of the existing biomass procurement contracts authorized under an executive order from Governor J. Brown. Status: Chapter 626, Statutes of 2018.

SB 859 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review), among its many provisions, directed 125 MW of bioenergy procurement. Status: Chapter 368, Statutes of 2016.

SB 1122 (Rubio), established a statewide procurement of up to 250 MW of renewable energy from small biomass or biogas technologies that utilize low emission technologies, and requires 50 MW be from small-scale bioenergy from the byproducts of sustainable forestry. This established the BioMAT program. Status: Chapter 612, Statutes of 2012.

1. Double Referral. This bill is double-referred; upon passage in this Committee, this bill will be referred to the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources.

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA)
Bioenergy Association of California
California Forestry Association
Camptonville Community Partnership, INC
Marin Clean Energy (MCE)
Pioneer Community Energy (UNREG)
Placer County Air Pollution Control District
Rostrum
Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC)

Oppose

Climate Action California
Sierra Club

Oppose Unless Amended

Sempra Energy and Its Affiliates: San Diego Gas & Electric Company and Southern California Gas Company

Analysis Prepared by: Samuel Mahanes / U. & E. / (916) 319-2083

1. CEC website, “California Biomass and Waste-to-Energy Statistics and Data,” https://ww2.energy.ca.gov/almanac/renewables_data/biomass/index_cms.php, viewed on 04.22.2022 ↑

2. CPUC, CAL-FIRE, “Joint Institute Recommendations to Expand Wood and Biomass Utilization in California,” November 4, 2020. ↑

3. Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), Southern California Edison (SCE), and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) ↑

4. As reported to this Committee by the CPUC on March 16, 2023. ↑

5. R. 18-07-003 ↑

6. D. 20-08-043 ↑

7. D. 14-12-081 ↑

8. R. 22-10-010 ↑

9. Memorandum of Understanding, “Agreement for Shared Stewardship of California’s Forest and Rangelands between the State of California and the USDA, Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region,” August 12, 2020. ↑

10. According to the Board of Forestry, state requirements to remove forest fuels on one million acres per year will lead to 10 to 15 million bone dry tons of forest waste biomass annually. Existing biomass plants use about five million BDT of biomass per year. ↑

11. Governor Edmund G. Brown, E.O. B-52-18 ↑

12. Taken from pg. 14 of the CPUC’s 2022 Padilla Report, published May 2022. ↑

13. 12.8 ¢/kWh for biogas; 1848 ¢/kWh for dairy/ag; and 20 ¢/kWh for forest; pg. 15, 2022 Padilla Report. ↑

14. Pg. 25, 2022 Padilla Report ↑