Fight over ‘black liquor’ subsidies
declared it a renewable energy source. So the paper mill gets millions of ratepayer dollars from a state program created to promote the greening of Maryland.
The subsidies were established in 2004 to help wind turbines, solar panels and other clean technologies compete with fossil fuels, which emit pollution that blankets the planet, melting polar ice, raising sea levels and making extreme weather more likely. The idea was to give a financial boost to alternative energy sources that are both clean and renewable, but expensive to develop.
But many of the facilities that receive the subsidies — trash incinerators, wood-burning “biomass” plants, and the paper mill in Luke — spew millions of pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year, plus toxins that are harmful to people and the environment. The subsidies earmarked for clean energy come from a fast-growing portion of Maryland electricity ratepayers’ bills. The payouts to carbon-emitting energy producers such as the Luke mill have totaled more than $100 million through 2015.
Black liquor — its formal name in the paper-making industry — is Maryland’s largest source of renewable power. Paper factories across the Eastern United States supply a quarter of Maryland’s renewable energy supply. Such wood-derived fuels make up the nation’s third-largest source of renewable energy.
To Mike Ewall, who has spent years trying to convince lawmakers in Maryland and elsewhere to stop subsidizing carbon emissions, it’s a shocking contradiction. “That’s money that could and should have gone to wind power,” says Ewall, director of the Energy Justice Network, a nonprofit advocacy group.
But Todd Downey, manager of the Luke mill, says black liquor “is clearly aligned” with Maryland’s goals to both recognize and develop a diverse portfolio of renewable energy. He says the mill “is helping to shape a cleaner energy future for all Marylanders.”
And Greg Harvey, who ran the black liquor machine in Luke for a decade, takes it personally when mill workers are maligned as polluters — as if he’s being accused of valuing a paycheck above his community.
“You’re questioning my integrity,” says Harvey, the president of the union that represents most of the mill’s 700 workers.
The battle over black liquor demonstrates the complicated struggle beneath efforts to shift to cleaner forms of energy.
The waste-to-energy industry has also fought to win and maintain environmental incentives that were created to promote green power sources. The Wheelabrator trash incinerator on the Middle Branch in Baltimore is the city’s largest source of air pollution. Yet, it has received close to $10 million in renewable energy subsidies since 2011.
Such investments have meant there is much less money available to support cleaner forms of energy, such as wind and solar farms. At the same time, clean projects are running into resistance in their communities, where people who might support a green future in theory don’t necessarily want wind turbines or a solar array next door.
State lawmakers have long wrestled with the question of what sort of energy should be considered renewable.
Some argue: Certainly not black liquor. Maryland lawmakers, hoping to boost green energy in the state, approved a program in 2004 that gives money from electricity bills to firms that generate power from renewable sources.