On Tuolumne’s Biomass and carbon capture boon.

For my old dive into a Breakthrough Energy Ventures Carbon Capture scheme in my county, see this old interview: https://www.bitchute.com/video/gOBRUx6ptOli

An older email to my county supervisor:

Hi Kathleen,

I’ve been looking into Kodama Services, INC, and I cannot find anything in the BOS agenda minutes about this company.

1. Is the BOS aware of Kodama Services, Inc?

2. Where are they planning (or already removing) trees in Tuolumne?

3. Where are they “burying them?”

4. Which agencies/companies are working with them in our county?

For the sake of time, I am cutting/pasting my notes and video links if you are interested in learning more:

Background:

The stated goal via Breakthrough Energy (an NGO founded by Bill Gates): to thin 70 million acres of forest (under the guise of climate change, fire safety, forest restoration and “resilience”). The “biomass” (which included rounds) will be used for renewable energy projects (ie, pelletized renewable energy to ship to Asian countries) and/or BURIED to “store” their carbon.

Here’s the ticker: the buried carbon fetches a price…and the “credits” are being sold to large corporations like Alphabet, Stripe, etc.

Kodama Services claims to be local to Sonora. But they’re not local. The founders live in PA and MA. They are unreachable by phone and email. They use an iPostal address out of the Staples building on Sanguinetti Road in Sonora.

PART ONE:

My first video breakdown (September 11): https://www.bitchute.com/video/MIlX8nTUy8ez/ (If you wish to speed up the video, tap the setting button, bottom right of video, and set playback speed).

Notes and links:

Bill Gates via (Breakthrough Energy Ventures) & Congruent Ventures gave 6.6M in seed funding to KODAMA SERVICES (Sonora, CA) to cut down trees and bury them to store carbon. Who owns KODAMA? Merritt Jenkins. He lives in Pennsylvania, not in California. https://www.linkedin.com/in/merrittjenkins

I’ve been observing a LOT of logging trucks over the past 6 months. I’m noticing that all of the trees appear healthy (I’ve been documenting). I’ve been through parts of the forest where they’ve been cutting and it’s healthy wood. cut them down and buying biomass will also be used to see carbon credits to corporations. This feels like yet another green lie…a SHELL GAME. The worst part? The biggest oil offenders are in on this! See part 3 of my investigation, below.

Kodama receives funding from Gates:  https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/kodama-systems-raises-6-6m-series-seed-to-accelerate-forest-restoration-and-carbon-storage-301704690.html

Note:  Breakthrough Energy is the umbrella name of several organizations, founded by Bill Gates in 2015, that aim to accelerate innovation in sustainable energy and in other technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It invests in a variety of startup companies that are attempting to commercialize new concepts such as nuclear fusion, large-capacity batteries to store renewable energy, and microbe-generated biofuels.  Breakthrough Energy Catalyst: A Bill Gates-backed private-public fund is preparing to invest in clean-tech projects worth as much as $15bn in the US, EU and UK, aiming to subsidise technologies at scale to help countries reach net zero emissions.

Kodama has additionally received a business development grant from CAL FIRE to develop site connectivity and automation for forest thinning, and a carbon removal R&D grant from Frontier Climate for a biomass storage pilot project in partnership with the Yale Carbon Containment Lab.  The combined funding accelerates Kodama's technology development to improve the efficiency of forestry thinning operations and expand markets for woody biomass byproducts.

Link to Yale Carbon Containment Lab: https://carboncontainmentlab.yale.edu/

News about it happening in Tuolumne County in the Stanislaus forest.  https://biomassmagazine.com/articles/17121/17-million-available-for-biomass-utilization-in-tuolumne-county

More news about biomass and the push for “from Stump to Pump” fuels: The Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), Rural Community Assistance Corp (RCAC), and Sierra Nevada Conservancy (SNC) are pleased to announce a new $17 million program that will provide loans to increase the use of low- and no-value wood from Tuolumne County forests and provide an alternative to pile burning of forest waste. The loans are available to small businesses, nonprofits and public entities including federally recognized Tribes…

HCD received an award from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development under the Community Development Block Grant—National Disaster Resilience funding to demonstrate how expanding biomass-based businesses could make Tuolumne County more resilient as it continues to rebuild from the devastation of the 2013 Rim Fire. HCD partnered with SNC (sierra Nevada Conservancy) to lead the effort to establish a new Biomass Utilization Fund to encourage the use of forest biomass and increase community and forest resilience. (“Resilient” is overused by the ones running this shell-game).

https://sierranevada.ca.gov/snc-to-consider-22-5-million-in-forest-resilience-land-conservation-and-recreation-grants On Thursday, June 1, Sierra Nevada Conservancy’s (SNC) Governing Board approved roughly $22.5 million in new grants for 24 different projects that will help with wildfire recovery and forest resilience, expand recreation opportunities, and conserve strategic land throughout California’s Sierra-Cascade region. “I’m proud of how the Sierra Nevada Conservancy is partnering with California tribes and local entities, like irrigation and resource conservation districts, land trusts, and conservation organizations, to find nature-based solutions to some of our region’s most pressing concerns,” said Sierra Nevada Conservancy’s Executive Officer Angela Avery. “Together we are advancing shared goals, such as wildfire and climate resilience, conserving special places, and returning ancestral homelands to tribal stewardship, all while expanding outdoor access for all in the Sierra-Cascade.” The allocation of funds by the SNC Board means local and regional partners will work on projects that advance shared environmental and economic goals in the following counties, listed north to south: Siskiyou, Trinity, Shasta, Lassen, Plumas, Butte, Sierra, Yuba, Nevada, Placer, El Dorado, Mono, Mariposa, Inyo, and Tulare. https://sierranevada.ca.gov/snc-approves-22-5-million-to-build-resilience-boost-recreation-and-conserve-land/

Sustainable Aviation Fuel goals for 2050: https://www.energy.gov/eere/bioenergy/sustainable-aviation-fuel-grand-challenge https://www.energy.gov/eere/bioenergy/articles/sustainable-aviation-fuel-grand-challenge-roadmap-flight-plan-sustainable

PART TWO:

My second video, discussing my findings: https://www.bitchute.com/video/SfEillRNLQ20/

Notes:

Part 2: Tahoe Fund, Smartest Forest Fund, & Environmental Ventures Fund: Partner with Kodama Services, Inc. and others: https://www.tahoefund.org/projects/active-projects/smartest-forest-fund/

Emergency CalFire budget: https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4765

CalFire Grants for first quarter (Q1): $16,000,000 grants for biomass: https://www.mymotherlode.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/2023Q1_AwardOffers_ADA.pdf

Tuolumne Calfire grant: https://www.mymotherlode.com/news/local/3141314/tuolumne-gets-millions-in-cal-fire-grants.html

Biomass "boon" in Tuolumne: https://www.mymotherlode.com/news/local/1347134/biomass-project-to-provide-economic-boom-and-help-tuolumne-countys-forest-health.html

RCRC (Rural County Representatives of California): https://www.rcrcnet.org/counties RCRC announces the Golden State Natural Resources "Resilience" projects: "The proposed project would improve the resiliency of California’s forestlands by sustainably procuring and processing excess biomass into a pelletized fuel source for use in renewable energy generation overseas." https://www.rcrcnet.org/rcrc-president-and-ceo-unveils-golden-state-natural-resources-annual-meeting

GSNR Forest resiliency resources (more research needed for the names of alliances, initiatives, etc.): https://goldenstatenaturalresources.

com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/NOP_Forest-Resiliency_18nov2022.pdf

CEQA document for pelletized resources (biomass "fuel" pellets) plants: https://ceqanet.opr.ca.gov/2022110466 Forest Resilience projects map for Golden State Natural Resources pelletized fuel (to be shipped to Asian countries): https://goldenstatenaturalresources.com/local-forest-resilience-projects/ https://goldenstatenaturalresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Resources-Document-8.25.23.pdf.

Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF): https://www.energy.gov/eere/bioenergy/sustainable-aviation-fuel-grand-challenge

Taxpayers & CalFire expenditures: https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/fires/article254432988.html The Kodama's founders are NOT locals. Kodama has a local iPostal address, but the co-founders reside out-of-state. https://kodama.ai/ Founders: Merritt Jonathan Jenkins 570.946.7663 Merritt.jenkins@gmail.com Merritt@kodaka.ai 610.574.2990

And: Matthew D. Verminski (out of Massachusetts): "Experienced entrepreneur, innovator, and executive with a proven track record. As a leader, has built and led multiple high performance teams delivering state-of-the-art, customer focused products under tight timelines. Broad system level approach has resulted in 42 granted US patents to date with more pending. Extensive experience with global supply chains across the US, Mexico, China, Japan, Europe, and Taiwan." He sits on the board of advisors for Root AI: "Root AI is a research company aiming to create intelligent robots that will help growers build the farms of the future."

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mverminski

Matthew Verminski's patents: https://patents.justia.com/inventor/matthew-d-verminski

PART THREE

(video): https://www.bitchute.com/video/QUHFbOMkFqcd/

Supportive Links: On hydrogen, biomass, bio-fuel, and the big-oil partnerships. Tip: hit the "gear" or "settings" button to speed this up for your taste.

This is for those who are interested in the public private partnerships that affect us locally (links below): Just plug in some headphones and listen. The names and players will start to sink in. :)

https://biomassmagazine.com/articles/19684/yosemite-clean-energy-wins-1m-for-biomass-to-hydrogen-projects

It’s one of at least three biomass-related projects currently being developed in the county, including a wood-pellet plant on La Grange Road in Chinese Camp and another that would manufacture other types of wood products on O’Byrnes Ferry Road in Jamestown. Hobby and others who spoke at the TuCARE Summit in October estimated that the three projects represented a total investment of nearly $340 million in the county over the next three years.https://www.uniondemocrat.com/news/article_9903e704-95e8-11ed-aace-93d913234cfa.html

GUNVOR: https://gunvorgroup.com/news/gunvor-partners-with-yosemite-clean-energy-on-green-hydrogen/

NYERA: https://nyera.com/

https://nyera.com/gunvor-joins-global-carbon-capture-storage-institute/

https://www.globalccsinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/State-of-the-Art-CCS-Technologies-2023-GCCSI-Final.pdf

https://www.globalccsinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Five-Year-Strategic-Plan-Global-CCS-Institute.pdf

https://www.theclimategroup.org/states-and-regions-under2-coalition

https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/news/california-climate-investments-reports-implementation-9-billion-projects-reduce-greenhouse

https://www.caclimateinvestments.ca.gov/

https://business.ca.gov/industries/zero-emission-vehicles/zev-action-plan/

https://resources.ca.gov/Initiatives/Forest-Stewardship

FEDERAL FUNDING TRACKER!!!! https://business.ca.gov/industries/climate-and-clean-energy/federal-funding-program-details-climate-and-energy/

https://www.energy.gov/gdo/grid-resilience-and-innovation-partnerships-grip-program

https://prospect.org/environment/california-champions-cross-border-climate-innovations/

https://www.energy.gov/oced/regional-clean-hydrogen-hubs

HTTPS://WWW.CACLIMATEINVESTMENTS.CA.GOV/PROJECT-PROFILES-MAP

https://www.energy.ca.gov/programs-and-topics/programs/low-carbon-fuel-production-program

https://www.caclimateinvestments.ca.gov/about-cci

https://www.ibank.ca.gov/#

https://www.ibank.ca.gov/climate-financing/climate-catalyst-program/

In an effort to help reduce wildfire devastation like that which took place recently in California, Tuolumne County Alliance for Resources & Environment (TuCARE) has established a fundraising campaign for The Community Wildfire Protection Fund (CWPF) https://www.uniondemocrat.com/news/article_a14e6b58-3f8c-11ed-86a1-13d812d0c045.html

https://cwpfproject.com/

https://bioenergyinternational.com/global-energy-transition-investment-hit-us500-billion-in-2020-bloombergnef/

https://breakthroughenergy.org/our-work/breakthrough-energy-ventures/bev-portfolio/

I know this is a LOT of info, but it’s here for you to reference any time. I would like to know what the BOS knows about Kodama, and to have some more information about where they’re operating in our county.

Thank you,

Kathryn S.