The U.S. House of Representatives today passed landmark climate change and energy legislation that recognizes waste-to-energy as a climate-friendly, renewable energy source.  The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (H.R. 2454) was approved with a 219-212 vote. This major legislation establishes a renewable energy standard which defines waste-to-energy as renewable and establishes a greenhouse gas cap-and-trade system which recognizes the net greenhouse gas reductions associated with waste-to-energy.

To summarize, the major provisions of the legislation approved with respect to waste-to-energy include:

• Renewable electricity standard (RES). The bill includes waste-to-energy as a renewable electricity generator eligible to generate and sell renewable energy credits subject to certain limitations and conditions. Waste-to-energy facilities will only generate credits for the percentage of electricity generated from the biomass (non-fossil) components of municipal solid waste and if the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions of waste-to-energy are less than those of the likely alternative disposal option (as determined by FERC with the concurrence of EPA). In addition, in order to generate RECs in a given year, waste-to-energy facilities must: 1) demonstrate compliance with state and federal environmental permits, 2) must meet the MACT standards for new facilities (both existing and new facilities), and 3) demonstrate that the communities from which the facility accepts waste offer recycling services.
• Greenhouse gas cap. The bill would not regulate waste-to-energy facilities under the greenhouse gas cap if more than 95 percent of the fuel combusted was municipal solid waste on a heat-input basis.
• Federal Agency RES. The bill increases the amount of electricity that federal agencies must purchase from renewable sources, consistent with the levels being mandated for non-Federal entities. Waste-to-energy continues to be an eligible source of renewable electricity that federal agencies can use to satisfy their mandate.