The BioEnergy Producers Association was established to advance the development and commercialization of sustainable, environmentally preferable industries that produce power, fuels, and chemicals from agricultural, forestry and urban sources of biomass and plastic wastes.

A major goal of the BioEnergy Producers Association is to promote the development of a comprehensive policy and constructive regulatory environment for bioenergy production in the State of California–initiatives that prioritize biobased industry growth, and further national biomass research and development policy objectives for energy security, pollution abatement, and rural economic development. Over the years, its legislation has been formally endorsed by more than 100 stakeholders.

Its goal is to educate the public about the environmental and economic benefits of biobased industries, and to pursue broad-based coalitions that will promote their introduction throughout the state.

Leadership

Chairman of the Board – James L. Stewart
Active for the past eighteen years in renewable energy project consulting and development, Jim Stewart has four times been voted as one of the “Top 100 People in the BioEconomy” in annual polls of Biofuels Digest, for which he serves as a columnist. He co-founded and served as Vice President – Marketing & Public Affairs of New Planet Energy, which joint ventured with INEOS Bio to construct the world’s first biorefinery designed to co-produce ethanol and electricity from carbon-based wastes. The project was supported by $125 million in USDOE and USDA grants and loan guarantees. In 2003, Stewart left a distinguished career in the entertainment industry to devote himself to renewable energy project development. His career in the motion picture industry included 13 years with Walt Disney Productions, where he served as Vice President-Corporate Relations and Assistant to the President.

President – Senator David A. Roberti (ret.)
David Roberti served for 27 years in the California Legislature and was a member of the California Integrated Waste Management Board (now known as CalRecycle) from 1998 to 2002. The youngest legislator ever elected to office in California when he joined the State Assembly in 1966, Roberti was elected to the State Senate in 1971, serving as Senate Majority Leader from 1976 to 1980 and then as Senate President pro Tempore from 1980 to 1994. Roberti was the chief Senate negotiator for AB 939 the governing legislation for solid waste management in California. He authored, among other pieces of environmental legislation, laws reducing the generation of hazardous waste in California and setting deadlines for their implementation. He has taught political science at both Loyola Marymount and the University of Southern California.

Vice-President – Kay Martin
Kay Martin is the former Director of the Ventura County Environmental and Energy Resources Department, which implements the County’s solid waste management programs and also has lead responsibility for advancing the County’s comprehensive bioenergy platform. A member of the Executive Board of the California Biomass Collaborative, Dr. Martin is a leading authority on legislative and regulatory issues relating to conversion technologies, and a leading proponent for their commercialization and for the development of new product markets, including renewable energy, transportation fuels and industrial chemicals, for the biomass fractions of the municipal waste stream. She has authored several books and frequently contributes articles on this subject to a variety of professional journals.