LAKE COUNTY
Dolly Parton’s educational Imagination Library program available to families
Give the gift of early literacy this holiday season by registering for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a book gifting program that mails free, age-appropriate, high-quality books to children from birth until their fifth birthday, no matter their family’s income.
Even if you do not have a child between the ages of 0-5, you can still support Lake County youth and their path to early literacy by making a financial donation to Imagination Library.
Lake County Superintendent of Schools Brock Falkenberg says, “Research shows that when children are read to at an early age, there is a positive parent/child connection, and it is also associated with higher measures of early language and math development.”
In an effort to improve early literacy for Lake County’s children and help prepare them for kindergarten, the Lake County Office of Education began participating in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library almost 10 years ago.
Although the books from Imagination Library are free for the children, there is an associated cost to the Lake County Office of Education of $25 per child, per year. With 2,358 Lake County children registered, this is an annual cost of over $77,000. Administered by LCOE, this program is funded by donations from local businesses, community organizations and individuals.
Major donors for the program are First 5 Lake County, St. Helena Hospital Clearlake and Charlotte Griswold of Clearlake, a former teacher from Konocti Unified School District. Each of them provides annual donations to help cover the registration costs for children.
First 5 California is also donating to Imagination Library this year. They will provide registration to 268 Lake County children in 2021, and another 268 children in 2022.
To learn more about Imagination Library, register your child, or to donate, visit our website at lakecoe.org/ImaginationLibary
—Submitted: Lake County Office of Education
WASHINGTON D.C.
Rep. Garamendi Introduces ‘Biomass and Biogas for Electric Vehicles Act’
Congressman John Garamendi (D-CA) introduced the “Biomass and Biogas for Electric Vehicles Act.” This legislation would allow biomass facilities generating renewable electricity to finally participate in the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program.
“I have long supported a utility-scale subsidy for biomass electricity to incentivize proper forest management and much-needed hazardous fuels reduction in fire-prone states like California. As California and neighboring states face increasingly severe and year-round fire seasons, this will help to reduce the artificially high levels of biomass on our forestlands due to man-made climate change, drought, invasive species like bark beetle outbreaks, and years of mismanagement,” said Congressman Garamendi (D-CA). “Renewable electricity from biomass and biogas helps reduce our nation’s greenhouse gas emission and transition to a clean energy economy. While these measures alone will not solve the climate crisis or prevent all catastrophic wildfires, they are undoubtedly part of the solution. That’s why I’m introducing the ‘Biomass and Biogas for Electric Vehicles Act.’”
“State foresters see the Renewable Fuel Standard as an underutilized but important tool for supporting forest products markets,” said Christopher Martin, president of the National Association of State Foresters and state forester of Connecticut. “Forest markets, like those for biomass, are essential to maintaining healthy and resilient forests nationwide. Unfortunately, in the decade since the RFS was passed by Congress, the EPA has not developed a pathway to generate RINs on electricity produced from woody biomass. Representative Garamendi’s Biomass and Biogas for Electric Vehicles Act would facilitate RFS biomass project development by lifting federal lands restrictions on multiple biomass feedstocks and clarifying the renewable biomass electricity pathway.”
In passing the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (Public Law 110-140), Congress made electricity from renewable biomass—including biogas and waste-to-energy from eligible feedstocks such as separated yard or food waste—eligible under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). Despite years of Congressional urging, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has yet to approve a single biomass facility under the program. Some pending applications for biomass electricity—known as “pathway petitions” under the RFS program—have been pending now for more than 7 years.
Currently, the USEPA requires facilities to prove with perfect traceability that the electricity generated is used as a transportation fuel to participate in the RFS program. Most biomass facilities are simply selling electricity into the grid and, therefore, cannot prove definitively that each electron generated is used exclusively by electric vehicles.
The “Biomass and Biogas for Electric Vehicles Act” (H.R.5899) would:
- Direct the USEPA to extrapolate the percentage of total U.S. electricity generation used for charging electric vehicles. The USEPA would then set a quarterly quota for each biomass facility registered under the RFS program, limited by each facility’s maximum design capacity.
- Grandfather any renewable biomass, biogas, or waste-to-energy facilities that can prove definitively the electricity generated is used as transportation fuel, such those with on-site electric vehicle charging stations.
- Require that USEPA review all pending applications for renewable electricity under the RFS program in a timely manner and make a final decision. Some applications have been pending now for more than seven years.
- Require that USEPA post the status of each pending application (for renewable electricity online, including the date submitted, reviewed, and decided.
- Allow USEPA to collect a reasonable fee from industry to cover the costs of reviewing any applications for renewable electricity submitted under the RFS program. In a 2016 “advance notice of proposed rulemaking,” USEPA mentioned inadequate staffing and agency resources as major impediments to approval of biomass electricity under the RFS program. This fee-for-service model is based off USEPA’s regulatory regime for the pesticide industry, which is widely regarded as successful and enjoys broad-based support in Congress.
- Incentivize USEPA to approve pending applications within 1 calendar year, or risk having the fee refunded at the request of the applicant. USEPA would still be required to process the application (pathway petitions and/or facility registration) even after the applicant’s feed is refunded.
- Allow USEPA to waive application fees for municipally-owned renewable electricity facilities.
- Make biomass from federal forestlands eligible under the Renewable Fuel Standard. Current law restricts biomass from the National Forest System and other forestlands administered by federal land management agencies from qualifying under the RFS program.
The full text of the legislation is available at: https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/5899
—Submitted
CALIFORNIA
U.S. borders open to vaxxed travelers
The U.S. this week flung open its borders to many fully vaccinated international travelers for the first time since March 2020, allowing families separated by various borders to reunite for the first time in 20 months and spurring hopes of accelerated economic recovery in California’s tourism-dependent cities. Officials representing San Ysidro, a section of San Diego that abuts California’s border with Mexico, said Monday the prolonged border closure resulted in nearly 300 local businesses closing and $1.3 billion in lost sales. And San Francisco International Airport lost more passengers during the pandemic than 50 other major airports across the country, a devastating loss for a city where foreign tourists make up 60% of overnight visitor spending. “The return of international tourists is vital to San Francisco’s economic recovery,” Joe D’Alessandro, president and CEO of the San Francisco Travel Association, told the San Francisco Chronicle.
Still, challenges remain for airports preparing for an influx of travelers. At Sacramento International Airport, for example, worker shortages have prompted five food and drink concessions to permanently close, while others have closed temporarily or are operating under reduced hours, frustrating hungry travelers and overwhelmed employees alike. The national lack of airport food is “going to be an ongoing problem,” business travel expert Joe Brancatelli told the Sacramento Bee.
—Emily Hoeven, CALMatters
KENTUCKY
College students can save money by cooking for themselves
College students looking to stretch their dollars can do so by cooking meals for themselves instead of dining out, according to the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority.
Eating right is a necessity, but it doesn’t have to be an expensive one. Students who don’t take advantage of campus food plans can cut their food costs by smart shopping and making their own meals.
Instead of buying meals at restaurants, students can save quite a bit of money by fixing most of their meals at home. According to https://www.moneyunder30.com, the average price for a restaurant meal is about $13, more than three times the cost for the average meal prepared at home. A web search for “recipes for college students” will bring up a list of many sites to help students make healthy, inexpensive meals on their own.
Someone who dines out four times a week can save nearly $1,000 a year by cutting back to two restaurant meals. That money can be deposited into a savings or investment account, which allows it to earn interest.
KHEAA a public, non-profit agency established in 1966 to improve students’ access to college. It provides information about financial aid and financial literacy at no cost to students and parents.
The agency also helps colleges manage their student loan default rates and verify information submitted on the FAFSA. For more information about those services, visit www.kheaa.com.
In addition, KHEAA disburses private Advantage Education Loans on behalf of its sister agency, KHESLC. For more information, visit www.advantageeducationloan.com.
—Submitted
—Compiled by Ariel Carmona Jr.
