The Cook County Board of Commissioners lent its support Tuesday, May 25, 2010 for a grant that would fund a thorough study on the feasibility of using local biomass as a community wide, renewable source of energy.
The Cook County Local Energy Project (CCLEP) has been working with Dovetail Partners, the consulting firm that applied for the grant. Dovetail Partners is a nonprofit organization that researches policy alternatives and the impacts of environmental decisions regarding natural resources and land use.
Requested was $262,160 from Minnesota’s Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund for studies in Ely and Cook County. Reviewing grants for the 2011-2012 funding cycle is the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR), which makes recommendations to the legislature for special environmental and natural resource projects.
The grant application states that the project would address “key questions about the viability of community bioenergy systems.” Those questions include how much biomass is available from the local forest; how could it be harvested, transported, and utilized; and what standards would protect air quality, water quality, habitat and biodiversity and minimize risk of wildfire.
The project would also provide examples that other communities in the state could use as they consider similar projects.
“Locally produced, community based renewable energy systems hold significant promise for increasing energy security, reducing carbon emissions, and contributing to local economies,” the application states.
After the board voted to support the grant, Commissioner Bob Fenwick said that some legislators continue to advocate against including federal forests in the definition of biomass in current federal legislation. Seventy percent of Cook County is comprised of U.S. Forest Service land.
Partners in the project are the City of Ely and its Alternative Energy Task Force: Energy- Efficient Ely, Cook County, the University of Minnesota, CCLEP, and Dovetail Partners in collaboration with Firewise, the Minnesota Forest Resource Council, Clean Energy Resources Teams (CERTs), and the Superior National Forest.
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