Minnesota regulators allow biomass and garbage incineration over protesters’ opposition

By EPN Staff

After a contentious hearing interrupted by environmentalist protestors, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) ruled that electricity utilities that burn municipal waste or biomass could meet the Carbon-Free Standard under certain conditions. A state law passed in 2023 mandates utilities meet a 100% carbon-free electricity goal by 2040 and directs the PUC to oversee the process. 

At the Jan. 15 hearing, the PUC ruled energy from solar, wind, hydropower, nuclear and geothermal sources automatically met the standard, and energy from biomass and municipal waste could satisfy the standard if alternative disposal, such as a landfill, would produce greater greenhouse gas emissions. Crops grown intentionally for energy, such as ethanal, would not meet the standard. 

Biomass and garbage incineration produce 2% of the state’s electricity, according to the federal government. Most of the state’s electricity is produced from coal (31%), natural gas (25%) and nuclear power (29%). Only 15% is produced through renewable means. 

Why it matters

Sierra Club Minnesota opposed the decision. 

“On Thursday, Minnesota’s energy regulators voted on the side of polluting industries — to undermine our 100% Carbon Free law — by allowing the burning of trees or trash for electricity to be called carbon free, even though their burning emits carbon,” the group said in a press statement. The advocates do not oppose using landfills, which produce both carbon dioxide and methane as garbage and biomass break down. 

Biomass is defined as renewable organic material that can be burned or combusted for energy, such as wood and wood processing waste like sawdust, biofuels and crop waste, paper and paper products, animal and human waste and municipal garbage. Biomass energy, which is considered carbon neutral, supplies 5% of the nation’s energy according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. 

Waste-to-Energy (WTE) plants burn garbage, which would otherwise be placed in landfills. Plant furnaces burn at temperatures in excess of 1800°F to ensure chemicals break down. Under federal law, they must use technology to capture air pollutants and particulate matter. In fact, a new study of Minnesota’s WTE facilities found that high-heat furnaces destroy harmful chemicals, including polyfluoroalkyl substances, called forever chemicals. 

The bigger picture

Many European countries use WTE to produce electricity and heating while vastly reducing landfill use. There are 492 WTE plants in Europe, according to the Confederation of European Waste-to-Energy Plants, compared to only 60 WTE plants in the U.S. 

Sweden alone has 34 WTE plants and only sends 1% of its garbage to landfills. The Scandinavian nation even imports waste from other countries. Owen Gaffney, director of international media and strategy at the Stockholm Resilience Center, told the New York Times, “[WTE] is less carbon intensive than coal and it uses resources more efficiently than simply putting them in landfill where they would decompose and release greenhouse gases anyway.”