News Release

Mr. Kranz goes to Washington: Supervisor delves deeper into biomass for Tahoe

Alanna Lungren
April 19, 2006

Little more than one year into Placer County Supervisor's Bruce Kranz's first year in office, the issue of catastrophic wildfire in the Tahoe Basin remains a persistent agenda item for Kranz. One way that Kranz is suggesting the threat be reduced and potentially eradicated, is the creation of a biomass fermentation plant, ideally he said, at the site of the closed landfill and current transfer station at Cabin Creek, off Highway 89.

"My view is what we have to do with catastrophic wildfire is involve the private sector and involve the biomass industry," explained Kranz. "Turn [biomass] into fuel."

Because of fervent fire suppression in the 100 years after Tahoe's Comstock era in the mid-1800s, the forests around the lake are overgrown and overloaded with ground fuel, constituting what experts describe as a tinderbox. Currently, the U.S. Forest Service, the local fire protection districts, California Department of Forestry and the state parks battle the threat of wildfire through prescribed burns and thinning techniques. But Kranz suggests that in addition to these methods already in place, the combination of a biomass plant would increase efficiency in the restoration of Tahoe's forests and could be financially feasible through grants or earmarks.

The plant that Kranz favored would be a fermentation plant that produced a gas that could be "captured," as Kranz stated, as opposed to a biomass burning plant. The gases captured could be used in place of natural gas that Tahoe's buses currently run on, or the energy product could be sold, stated Kranz.

"If you got [UC Davis and Sacramento State] scientists out there doing research," stated Kranz referring to the experts involved with the push for a biomass plant, "You can make a go at this."

In the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency's Draft Fuel Reduction and Forest Restoration Plan for the Lake Tahoe Basin, released in February of this year, "A total of 4,330 acres would be burned annually in the Lake Tahoe Basin," with an estimated cost per acre burned ranging from $400 to $10,000.

Though Kranz states that they do not know definitively about cost of a biomass plant, he's reported cooperation and interest in the project between his office and the Department of Energy's Office of Biomass, the Undersecretary for Natural Resources and the Environment in the Department of Agriculture and the House Forest and Forest Health Subcommittee, as well as the offices of Sens. Diane Feinstein (D-CA), John Ensign (R-NV), Gordon Smith (R-OR), Rep. John Doolittle (R-Roseville) and House Resources Committee Chairman Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Tracy).

What is known about a potential biomass plant somewhere on the North Shore is that a location more than 40 miles away from the source of biomass collection would put the cost too high. Carson City Renewable, an energy company in Northern Nevada, currently takes trees and brush collected from forests during thinning and then processes the woody material and shrub to create a seed-ground spread, used to encourage vegetation growth. Kranz said he is also in discussion with the Nevada energy company to see if a way exists to economically utilize their services as a solution to hauling out piled forest fuels around Lake Tahoe.

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	News Release Mr. Kranz goes to Washington: Supervisor delves deeper into biomass for Tahoe Alanna Lungren April 19, 2006 Little more than one year into Placer County Supervisor's Bruce Kranz's first year in office, the issue of catastrophic wildfire in the Tahoe Basin remains a persistent agenda item for Kranz. One way that Kranz is suggesting the threat be reduced and potentially eradicated, is the creation of a biomass fermentation plant, ideally he said, at the site of the closed landfill and current transfer station at Cabin Creek, off Highway 89. "My view is what we have to do with catastrophic wildfire is involve the private sector and involve the biomass industry," explained Kranz. "Turn [biomass] into fuel." Because of fervent fire suppression in the 100 years after Tahoe's Comstock era in the mid-1800s, the forests around the lake are overgrown and overloaded with ground fuel, constituting what experts describe as a tinderbox. Currently, the U.S. Forest Service, the local fire protection districts, California Department of Forestry and the state parks battle the threat of wildfire through prescribed burns and thinning techniques. But Kranz suggests that in addition to these methods already in place, the combination of a biomass plant would increase efficiency in the restoration of Tahoe's forests and could be financially feasible through grants or earmarks. The plant that Kranz favored would be a fermentation plant that produced a gas that could be "captured," as Kranz stated, as opposed to a biomass burning plant. The gases captured could be used in place of natural gas that Tahoe's buses currently run on, or the energy product could be sold, stated Kranz. "If you got [UC Davis and Sacramento State] scientists out there doing research," stated Kranz referring to the experts involved with the push for a biomass plant, "You can make a go at this." In the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency's Draft Fuel Reduction and Forest Restoration Plan for the Lake Tahoe Basin, released in February of this year, "A total of 4,330 acres would be burned annually in the Lake Tahoe Basin," with an estimated cost per acre burned ranging from $400 to $10,000. Though Kranz states that they do not know definitively about cost of a biomass plant, he's reported cooperation and interest in the project between his office and the Department of Energy's Office of Biomass, the Undersecretary for Natural Resources and the Environment in the Department of Agriculture and the House Forest and Forest Health Subcommittee, as well as the offices of Sens. Diane Feinstein (D-CA), John Ensign (R-NV), Gordon Smith (R-OR), Rep. John Doolittle (R-Roseville) and House Resources Committee Chairman Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Tracy). What is known about a potential biomass plant somewhere on the North Shore is that a location more than 40 miles away from the source of biomass collection would put the cost too high. Carson City Renewable, an energy company in Northern Nevada, currently takes trees and brush collected from forests during thinning and then processes the woody material and shrub to create a seed-ground spread, used to encourage vegetation growth. Kranz said he is also in discussion with the Nevada energy company to see if a way exists to economically utilize their services as a solution to hauling out piled forest fuels around Lake Tahoe.