Reducing the nation's dependency on foreign oil is important for the country's security and its future economic health, which is why the Department of Environmental Protection's decision to approve a renewable energy biomass plant in Plainfield is welcomed news.
The Plainfield Renewable Energy biomass plant will burn clean construction and demolition debris, brush and stumps, old wooden pallets and other untainted material. The burning of the wood produces a gas that fuels electric generation.
The facility will generate 37.5 megawatts of electricity, enough to supply about 26,000 homes.
Some environmental groups had sought to block the Plainfield Renewable Energy project because it will circulate water from the Quinebaug River to produce the steam necessary to turn its generator. Pollutants from smokestack emissions were also raised as a concern.
But the DEP evaluation showed there would be only a minimal impact to the river and that air emissions would be well within the state's stringent guidelines, and certainly less than oil and coal plants produce.
Critics should consider what happens if such plants are not built. Construction debris and other waste-wood materials must go somewhere. Trucking it out of state wastes energy and would cause more pollution from truck emissions.
If the nation is to move toward greater energy self-sufficiency it has to encourage new technologies for power generation, not find reasons to block them.
