California Rep. Kelly Introduces Bill To Incentivize New Biomass Facilities
During the July 15 Transportation & Infrastructure Committee hearing of the U.S. House of Representative Rep. Kevin Kiley (I-CA) introduced H.R. 9746, the Biomass Facility Construction Act. This legislation would create a tax credit totaling 30% of the cost of construction for biomass facilities and allow them to concurrently receive the existing tax credit for energy produced via biomass.
“Our forests are overgrown and in desperate need of cleanup,” Rep. Kiley said in his remarks, which his office posted on YouTube. “A large contributor to this heightened wildfire risk is the buildup of limbs, leaves, shrubs, bushes, and dead wood, otherwise known as biomass. When biomass accumulates in our forests, it creates more fuel for wildfire.”
A large part of wildfire mitigation efforts is cleaning up this biomass, but contractors struggle with disposing of this material because there aren’t enough biomass facilities to bring it to. To help address the lack of facilities, this legislation provides a tax credit for biomass facility construction and energy production. This will lead to the construction of more biomass facilities, creating more access for contractors to offload this material and lower the costs of wildfire mitigation efforts.
Latest News
U.S. Housing Starts Boom In November
U.S. housing starts—single-family and multi-family combined—made their largest monthly increase in 2023, jumping 14.8% in November over October to a rate of 1.560 million. Single-family starts in November were at a rate of 1.143 million, a whopping 18% above October, while multi-family was 404,000 in November, up nearly 9% over October…
Weyerhaeuser Enhances Coastal Holdings
Weyerhaeuser Co. entered into two agreements with Forest Investment Associates to divest 69,600 acres in upstate South Carolina for $170 million, and to purchase 60,700 acres of high-quality timberlands in coastal North Carolina, South Carolina and Mississippi for $163 million…
Boise Cascade Curtails Chapman Sawmill
Boise Cascade announced an indefinite curtailment of its lumber production in Chapman, Ala. The curtailment will affect 80 positions. The plywood operations at the Chapman location are not part of the curtailment. Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notification was provided to impacted employees and specifies that operations will cease on January 28, 2024…
WWPA’s Mathews Leaves A Legacy
James R. Mathews, known by most as Jim, was a WWPA Lumber Inspector and Master Lumberman, but is most remembered by his colleagues and those in the industry as a great friend and mentor. He died at the age of 74. Mathews spent 42 years working in the lumber industry. He began his career with Weyerhaeuser Co., Klamath Falls, Oregon in 1970. He worked in most of the planer mill positions until moving into the lumber grading department as a student grader in 1972…
Find Us On Social
Newsletter
The monthly Timber Processing Industry Newsletter reaches over 4,000 mill owners and supervisors.
Subscribe/Renew
Timber Processing is delivered 10 times per year to subscribers who represent sawmill ownership, management and supervisory personnel and corporate executives. Subscriptions are FREE to qualified individuals.
Advertise
Complete the online form so we can direct you to the appropriate Sales Representative.