Biomass bill protest disrupts House

AUGUSTA – Protesters disrupted floor debate in the House Tuesday evening in an attempt to call attention to a bill that they argue silences public comment on burning wooden debris in biomass boilers.

House lawmakers had just completed a lengthy debate over one controversial land conservation bill and were about to begin debate on another Tuesday evening when a commotion broke out in the viewing gallery located above the floor.

More than a dozen people began shouting to the lawmakers to reject LD 141, a measure that places on the fast track new rules on burning construction and demolition debris to generate electricity or steam.

One protester, Hillary Lister of Athens, chained herself to the balcony railing while others threw leaflets to the lawmakers below.

Security personnel quickly converged on the protesters, seized a homemade sign and cleared the gallery. They later removed Lister from the Capitol and charged her with obstructing government administration.

Endorsed by a legislative committee last week, LD 141 instructs the Board of Environmental Protection to adopt the state’s first rules regulating the burning of wooden debris.

BEP members decided last month to delay a vote on the proposed rules in order to gather more public comment. Officials with the Department of Environmental Protection have said the rules would be the nation’s most stringent.

During last week’s committee hearing, lawmakers said they needed to expedite adoption of the rules in order to help the state find a new buyer for the Georgia-Pacific Corp. mill in Old Town. The mill has a biomass boiler but does not now burn wooden debris because of emissions problems, DEP officials said last week.

Speaking by telephone after her release Tuesday night, Lister said she and the others believe the Legislature is trying to silence public comment on the proposed rules. The protest was a last resort to get their concerns heard, she said.

“We have tried every other path and decided something more dramatic and vocal and visible was needed to raise public awareness of what the bill is really about,” said Lister, who is actively fighting a proposed biomass boiler in Athens.

LD 141 was passed by the Senate Tuesday and is headed to the House.