From the Director’s Desk: PFI Is D.C.-Bound, Policy Watch, Act Now on Hotel Rooms for PFI Annual Conference, PFI Member/Pellet Appliances Featured on TV's Designing Spaces
PFI Is D.C.-Bound
Next week a small group of PFI members will execute a fly-in to speak with lawmakers about the organization’s priorities within the Farm Bill and remind them of the value wood pellet manufacturing brings to their respective states. We’re specifically reaching out to members of Senate and House Agriculture committees for maximum impact on our Farm Bill advocacy. Watch for a summary of our discussions and slate of meetings in the next Pellet Wire. I’d like to extend my appreciation to the following members for making some time for the organization and joining us in DC:
Frank Kvietok, Lignetics
Karen Smeltz, Hearth & Home Technologies
Scott Cummings, Barefoot Pellets
John McAdow, Easy Heat Wood Pellets
Pat Curran, Curran Renewable Energy
Stephen Faehner, American Wood Fibers
Our normal DC fly-in pattern has typically had us visiting DC in the fall, pairing it with our fall board meeting. With 2024 being an election year, the fall will find members back in their states and districts campaigning. As such, and considering the importance of our farm bill priorities, this spring presented the best opportunity to speak with our elected representatives this year. A full write-up and summary will be included in the May 10th edition of the Pellet Wire.
Policy Watch
Last week Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) introduced the Forest Biomass Emissions Act of 2024 to “require the Environmental Protection Agency to assess the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions associated with forest biomass combustion for electricity when developing relevant rules and regulations and to carry out a study on the impacts of the forest biomass industry, and for other purposes.” The bill is short and vacillates between a narrow look at “forest biomass combustion for electricity” to a more expansive inquiry into facilities “that produce wood pellets from forest biomass, forest biomass facilities, and active forest biomass harvesting areas.” Earlier in the bill forest biomass is explained to mean, among other things, “(ii) wood waste and wood residues generated from sawmill operations” which covers the facilities of every producer-member of the PFI. At first blush and without knowing any of the players involved in writing, supporting, and co-sponsoring this might read like a pro-biomass energy piece of legislation. In the Industry News section of this Pellet Wire, I’ve included a link to an article published in Biomass Magazine just two months ago by William Strauss entitled “Pellet Fuel Essential to Decarbonization Goals”. In it, Dr. Strauss offers to refrain from his ongoing urge to capture MORE of the carbon benefit available via repowering with wood pellets because of their inherent carbon benefit. Very definitely, the organizations offering public support for the “Forest Biomass Emissions Act” are not expecting the federally mandated inquiry to lead to MORE biomass power which is revealing. Bioenergy hangs its hat on its carbon benefit and the policy support that creates demand for industrial wood pellets is absolutely based on the inherent carbon benefit of pellet fuel. The debate now is about the math and where the boundaries are drawn. An early reaction from Carrie Annand at the American Biomass Energy Association states clearly, “Any biomass life cycle assessment should take into account the alternate fate of these fuels. If not used for biomass, these fuels could end up in a landfill releasing methane, which the EPA says is 28 times more harmful than carbon dioxide.” The carbon implications of alternate fates for fiber are just ONE example of the myriad ways that carbon science isn’t as cut and dry or simple as it may be purported to be. Our own “Sustainable from the Beginning” document cites a 2021 Life Cycle Associates study that examined many different wood pellets for heating deployments and compared them to fossil fuel equivalents. All of them showed a reduction in carbon intensity, with some showing as much as a 65% reduction. And how does Sen. Booker suggest the EPA tabulate the carbon benefit of a forest resource that has been growing for over a century? Forest product manufacturers, of both energy and non-energy products, rightly point to the carbon fixing properties of a growing tree and insist that the carbon stockpiled in growing trees gets added to the ledger. Is this the methodology that Sen. Booker will direct the EPA to utilize? Not likely. Sen. Booker introduced this bill already certain of its outcome because he’s certain of the math and carbon parameters he’ll direct the EPA to utilize, and this bill is intended to arrive at a conclusion that is already foregone. For that reason alone, it is worthy of our attention and opposition.
Act Now on Hotel Rooms for PFI Annual Conference
Have I mentioned that this year’s PFI Annual Conference is being held in historic Charleston, South Carolina, a town full to the brim of great food and history? I hope so. PFI will be in Charleston from June 25 through June 27. If you are planning to attend, please take a moment to book your hotel room soon. Our room block is more than 50% subscribed already. To assure yourself of a room at the conference hotel, the lovely Mills House in the heart of historic downtown, please book today!
