Pioneer Community Energy briefed Loomis council on SB 1383 options; council introduces CalGreen ordinance

Pioneer Community Energy representatives told the Loomis Town Council about options for complying with SB 1383, the state law requiring jurisdictions to procure a portion of their organic‑waste product targets. Pioneer outlined four compliant product types — compost, mulch, anaerobic digestion (bioenergy), and electricity from biomass feedstock — and described Greenleaf Power’s proposal to sell SB 1383‑eligible biomass attributes.

Pioneer’s representative, Kirsten Kolpitky, said Greenleaf’s attributes are being priced at about $32.50 per ton (equivalent to roughly 650 kWh of biomass energy) and that Pioneer would act as a facilitator to aggregate jurisdiction demand, negotiate a draft agreement and split any legal negotiation fees among participants. Pioneer estimated Loomis’ 2024 maximum procurable attribute tonnage and provided a cost comparison: purchasing 336 tons of attributes at $32.50 would cost roughly $10,920, while a quoted compost cost of $21/ton plus trucking could total roughly $11,256 — noting compost pricing and trucking vary widely and storage and distribution create logistic burdens for small jurisdictions.

Pioneer and staff emphasized there is a June 30 window for group pricing for 2024 compliance and urged each jurisdiction to do an independent fiscal analysis before committing. Council took no immediate contract action but asked staff to return with a potential agreement if the council wants to proceed.

On a related compliance track, the council introduced (first reading) an ordinance to add the California Green Building Standards (CalGreen) to the Loomis Municipal Code (Chapter 11.05). R3 Consulting explained the ordinance’s requirements for construction and demolition diversion, recycling enclosures for qualifying multifamily and nonresidential projects, and annual reporting to CalRecycle; the council scheduled a second reading and adoption vote for June 13.