An inconvenient distraction: A vexatious type can make it difficult for success and a friend points out ‘a difficulty’ and you find yourself in a position of lampoon. The issue is should what you report be directed or controlled. To illustrate we published, 13 December 2014, “Maybe the question is better put this way: Plants don’t need carbon, soils do. Biochar is but a hazardous waste from pyrolysis”. This was not a position statement; it was outlining a problem of perception promoted by deniers that you should think of it as an ash.

On 13 December 2014 we also wrote – “The quandary for most of us when we express our thoughts is we can be regarded as excessive or obsessive for seeking out an agenda”. In this story CO2Land org had an agenda – to make one aware. To be aware that moves were afoot overseas to have ash declared ‘waste’. The below the radar application if you want to make more of it.

What is difficult to accept is that the catalyst for this change was the coal fired power stations in the USA. The story unfolds as:

On 22 December 2014, http://www.wastedrive.com published that – Feds: Coal ash classified as solid waste – by Nicole Wrona. This followed a story published by Dina Cappiello The Associated Press on 20 December 2014 through the Casper Star Tribune. Outlining: “The Obama administration on Friday set the first national standards for waste generated from coal burned for electricity, treating it more like household garbage rather than a hazardous material.”

To directly quote wastedrive.com – on the affects of the new regulations:

Dive Brief:

• New federal standards will categorize coal ash as a solid waste instead of considering it a hazardous material.
• The classification was determined despite pushback from environmentalists. The regulations do not extend to shuttered power plants, but would apply to closed ash ponds where utilities are active.
• States will continue to ensure standards surrounding the waste are followed. The federal government would have taken over enforcement had the decision turned out differently or if the waste had been dubbed “hazardous.”

Dive Insight:

• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it would protect citizens from the risks associated with coal ash waste sites while pledging to hold corporations who operated ash waste sites accountable. The rules are expected to increase leak monitoring, control blowing dust, and to require companies to publicly release test results.
• Waste Management had predicted a substantial amount of growth for the company if the rule were to be approved. The ash waste stream is larger than the waste stream currently handled by the company.

Recommended Reading:

• Casper Star Tribune: First federal standards on power plant coal ash treat it like garbage; avoid ‘hazardous’ label”.

Now back in Australia the Carbon Farming Initiative is sympathetic to bio char from pyrolysis. The difficulty is the regulations that are responded to by the EPA of each state. The question now is will this USA EPA ruling be followed in Australia? Will bio char too be cleared of any stigma of a perception either implied or express that it is an ash – should be leave this to experts?

It is not that simple. As we said previously what is needed to be truly progressive is the commitment to investigate the potential. Do we need a senate inquiry to get that moving? We see some wonderful benefits where multiple products could be extracted from just a simple classification change being the catalyst.