Williams to Host Second Biomass Discussion Featuring Bill Moomaw and Mary Booth

Media contact: Noelle Lemoine, communications assistant; tele: (413) 597-4277; email: [email protected]

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., January 5, 2011 – Williams College will host a presentation titled “Getting Biomass Right: Should We Be Generating Electricity from Trees?” on Thursday, Feb. 10, at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium on the lower level of Paresky Student Center. The event, free and open to the public, is the second in a series of forums addressing issues of biomass.

The discussion will feature Bill Moomaw, director of the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy at the Fletcher School of Tufts University, and Mary Booth, co-founder of the Massachusetts Environmental Energy Alliance (MEEA). Each will present remarks before taking questions.

Moomaw is professor of international environmental policy at Tufts. His work and research over the past two decades have focused on stratospheric ozone, climate, energy, forests, water, and sustainable development. He has served as a lead author or coordinating lead author for four Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports and is coordinating lead author of the IPCC special report “Renewable Energy and Climate Change” due out this year. He was also a member of the Technical Steering Committee that published new forest management recommendations based on ecosystem services for Massachusetts. He has advised corporations, governments, and the World Bank on climate, energy, and forest issues. He graduated from Williams in 1959, earned his Ph.D. at M.I.T., and taught in the Williams chemistry department from 1964 to 1990.

Booth is a scientist whose research has examined human influences on soils, waters, and forests. She is currently serving as an expert witness on air-permit appeals for biomass plants proposed nationally. The MEEA, which she co-founded with Alexandra Dawson, advocates for sustainable energy solutions by carrying out scientific and legal analyses of the impacts of energy policies. The organization promotes issues such as energy conservation and efficiency and transparent, science-based state and federal energy policies, and opposes large-scale biomass plants. Booth was formerly a senior scientist at Environmental Working Group. She received her Ph.D. in ecosystem ecology at Utah State University.

The event is sponsored by the Center for Environmental Studies, the Zilkha Center for Environmental Initiatives, and the Office of Public Affairs.

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For building locations on the Williams campus, please consult the map outside the driveway entrance to the Security Office located in Hopkins Hall on Main Street (Rte. 2), next to the Thompson Memorial Chapel, or call the Office of Public Affairs (413) 597-4277. The map can also be found on the web at www.williams.edu/home/campusmap/

To visit the college on the Internet: http://www.williams.edu/ Williams College can also be found on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/williamscollege and Twitter: http://twitter.com/williamscollege

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Published January 5, 2011