by Wallace McMullen
DNR’s Energy Center is Compiling Information About Renewable Energy in Missouri
The Missouri Department of Natural Resources’ Energy Center is conducting a survey to learn what Missouri citizens and businesses are doing in the field of renewable energy. The survey is available at www.dnr.mo.gov/energy/renewables/re-survey.htm. They request help in spreading the word about this survey.
Information gathered in the survey can help encourage the use of renewables.
- The survey will enable the Energy Center to develop and disseminate reliable statistics on the production and use of solar, wind and biomass energy in Missouri.
- Technical and market information gathered in the survey could strengthen technical assistance provided by the Energy Center and other organizations to firms and individuals producing or using renewable energy in Missouri.
- Contact information gathered in the survey could be used to connect prospective users or producers of renewable energy with peers who have volunteered to share what they have learned from producing or using renewable energy.
They are trying to gather comprehensive statistics on the production and use of four type of renewable energy: biomass fuels, wind generation, solar photovoltaic (PV) generation and solar water heating.
They will accept data for most other kinds of renewable energy, such as the use of passive solar features in buildings. However, they are not attempting a comprehensive survey of renewable energy usage or production beyond the four types listed. Further details are provided in an Instruction Sheet that can be downloaded from the Web site.
Questions? Contact John Noller at 1-800-361-4827 or john.noller@dnr.mo.gov
REGFORM Stews in Their Own Juices
The organization REGFORM advocates for large industries against environmental regulation in Missouri. Their clients were pleased by the recent Federal curtailment of Clean Air Act provisions referred to as New Source Review. However, because the EPA has fully delegated the enforcement of the Clean Air Act to the State in Missouri, the rollback will not take effect here until new State regulations are fully promulgated incorporating the Federal changes.
REGFORM has been trying to make regulation of industry more difficult for DNR. They have been supporting legislation requiring DNR to perform extra analysis of new rules. In an attempt to duck the bullet, DNR upper management decided that they would begin doing a Regulatory Impact Report procedure before promulgating any new regulation. This will add at least 60 days to the rule promulgation process.
At the February 26, 2004 Advisory meeting of the Air Pollution Control Program, the REGFORM representatives pitched a fit because the new Regulatory Impact Report is going to slow down the revision of the New Source Review rule they greatly desire by several months. So intense was their pique, this observer thought Mr. Perry of REGFORM might bang his shoe on the table. He didn’t. One might say this demonstrates the old adage, “You may not like the results when you get what you ask for.”
Higher Accuracy in a Wind Study
DNR’s Energy Center is working on a joint application with Iowa to get Department of Energy grant funding for measuring wind speed at greater heights. Modern electric generation equipment powered by wind operates with the rotor hub at a height of 200 to 300 feet. Missouri currently has no body of wind data systematically recorded higher than 30 feet. If the Energy Center is able to obtain funding, they will be able to work on filling the information gap, and more accurately assess the state’s wind resources.