Can the Environmentalists be Satisfied?

A few weeks ago I blogged on the topic of the proposed Desert Rock energy plant, a proposed coal-burning facility on Navajo land near Farmington that Governor Richardson now opposes.
Okay, so the environmentalists oppose a coal plant. Nothing new there, right?
How about biomass? Environmentalists LOVE biomass, right? And Richardson has made “renewable” energy a top priority of his administration.
Unfortunately, now, with a company in the midst of running the bureaucratic gauntlet necessary to construct a biomass plant in New Mexico, Richardson’s Environmental Secretary Ron Curry has taken the side of radical environmentalists who oppose using dead trees for fuel.
Certainly, biomass is not the “silver bullet” that will solve all of our energy needs — unfortunately for the enviros, those are still coal, oil, gas, and maybe nuclear — but it seems pretty unlikely that one plant will strip all of New Mexico’s forest’s bare. If Richardson is serious about renewable energy (not to mention attracting business to New Mexico) he might want to change course on this one.