[USCC] Waxman-Markey Climate Bill

[Andrew Kessler]

We very much share Nelson's concerns about this legislation.

It raises a broader question - is the USCC's lobbying effort in  
Washington adequate or does it need to be strengthened?

The policy changes that are and have taken place and the resulting  
legislative efforts are unprecedented in recent memory.  The USCC must  
have a meaningful seat at the table and direct dialogue with key  
people in Congress and the White House.  Industries related to and in  
many cases in competition with the organics recycling industry are  
clearly well represented in Washington, and we must have adequate  
representation to protect our interests.

In addition, there are several excellent examples of fledging  
cleantech sectors doing an excellent job pushing their agenda in  
Washington and ensuring both policy and dollars are moving in their  
favor.  For example, wind, solar, hydrogen industries have very high  
profiles and active efforts in Washington.

The organics recycling industry must have a similarly high profile and  
active presence to ensure that the language to which Nelson refers  
does not even end up in the bill in the first place.  Trying to remove  
language is much harder than keeping it off the page.  A reactive  
strategy is far less effective than a proactive strategy.

I applaud the USCC's leadership in many key areas and encourage the  
council to further dedicate resources and capital to Washington.  It  
may well be time to form a PAC or possibly team up with other  
organization(s) whose interests are aligned with ours to strengthen  
our presence in Washington.

Maybe it's time to hold the annual conference in Washington!

Andrew Kessler
Managing Director
Turning Earth, LLC
97 Maple Wood Drive, Brewster, NY 10509
Telephone.   845 259 8400   |  Facsimile.   845 622 3649  |  Mobile.   
917 251 5662
www.turningearthllc.com

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On Jul 8, 2009, at 1:00 PM, compost-request at mailman.cloudnet.com wrote:

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Today's Topics:

   1. Fw: Waxman-Markey Climate Bill (Nelson Widell)

From: Nelson Widell <nelsonwidell22002 at yahoo.com>
Date: July 7, 2009 11:45:34 AM EDT
To: compost at mailman.cloudnet.com
Subject: [USCC] Fw: Waxman-Markey Climate Bill
Reply-To: Compost Discussion List <compost at mailman.cloudnet.com>


from Nelson Widell
Peninsula Compost Co.LLC
Wilmington, Delaware


--- On Mon, 7/6/09, Nelson Widell <nelsonwidell22002 at yahoo.com> wrote:


From: Nelson Widell <nelsonwidell22002 at yahoo.com>
Subject: Waxman-Markey Climate Bill
To: compost at mailman.cloudnet.com
Date: Monday, July 6, 2009, 2:24 PM







As recently passed through the House, the Waxman -Markey Bill (HR2454)  
eliminates carbon offset incentives for projects that capture or avoid  
landfill methane emissions,including composting and anaerobic digestion.
Unfortunately,this bill takes away offset opportunites for composting  
by forcing the EPA to regulate landfill methane emissions through  
"performance standards". Since the bill appears to assume that all  
landfill emthane emissions will be taken care of by performance  
standard regulations, then there is no need to develop offset projects  
such as composting or anaerobic digestion related to this.
As one can imagine, the major landfill companies love this because it  
provides justification
for sending more organics to landfills to produce more methane gas to  
help pay for the increased gas collection costs contemplated by the  
proposed new EPA capping requirements for those lanfills.
This is bad news for the composting industry.
I haven't heard a peep out of the USCC on this issue.Does the  
Composting Council have a position on this or propse to do anything  
about it?


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