California needs Biomass Energy to Meet its Wildfire goals. Its Policies Keep Burning them Down
14 hours ago Charles Rotter
California is a case study in how grand visions and slogans can smother practical problem-solving. The Los Angeles Times recently ran an article with the headline: “California needs biomass energy to meet its wildfire goals. Its projects keep going South.” It was meant as reporting, but it reads like an indictment of California’s governing philosophy. It shows, once again, how a state that trumpets itself as the global leader in “climate action” cannot get out of its own way, even when it desperately needs solutions.
At the heart of the problem is California’s wildfire crisis. After more than a century of fire suppression, the forests — especially in the Sierra Nevada — have grown so dense that they are tinderboxes waiting for a spark. Cal Fire Deputy Chief John McCarthy put it plainly:
“The more than a century of fire suppression in California’s forests — especially in the Sierra Nevada — had dramatically increased their density, providing fires with ample fuel to explode into raging beasts”.
The state knows it must thin at least one million acres of forest per year. That work produces 10 million tons of wood waste annually. The question is: what to do with the mountain of biomass?
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/09/30/california-needs-biomass-energy-to-meet-its-wildfire-goals-its-policies-keep-burning-them-down/
