From the Director's Desk:
Conference Prep and Federal Advocacy Dominate PFI Efforts
This is the final edition of the Pellet Wire before we convene as a board, an organization and a conference body in Milwaukee. At just over a week out from the conference our attention turns toward actual production and delivery a quality conference as opposed to attendee and sponsor recruitment. We are gathering as panels, staking out discussion topics and working to build panel discussions that are informative for our audience.
Out of curiosity I looked back at the last Pellet Wire before the 2021 conference. You can find it here. In my commentary, I staked out five talking points I was anticipating would dominate our discussions. Not surprisingly, the sector and the economy at large’s emergence from a global pandemic was at the top of list. Interestingly, reverberations of that seismic economic disruption are still being felt and I’d bet good money that managing the inflationary pressures across the wood pellet supply chain will attract a sizeable share of the time and commentary from panelists.
Next on our list was an assessment of the impact of the BTU Act on wood pellet appliances. The BTU Act will certainly get a great deal of air time at this year’s event, but I suspect the bulk of the discussion will center on the PFI’s efforts to see it expanded and extended. Remember, only the residential component of the legislation was included in the spending bill then President Trump signed in December of 2020. This tax credit sunsets in 2023 and we’re making an all-out effort to see this important tax credit and its companion tax credit for businesses and institutions included in any clean energy tax package currently under development. This work dominates the time available to our team not committed to conference to-do’s. Tuesday’s call with Senator Crapo (Idaho) is an important step in getting our message of the economic and environmental importance of wood pellet manufacturing and use in front of key Senate Finance Committee members.
An Update on Our Conversation with Senator Mike Crapo:
Yesterday as I authored my commentary for the Pellet Wire, our meeting with Senator Mike Crapo was hours away. We were prepared and had our exhibits in order and my biggest concern was whether the Senator would make the call. The Senator is the Ranking Member on the Senate Finance Committee and our colleagues at O’Neill & Associates have advised us that if the BTU Act is to be expanded and extended via legislative action, it will be because the Finance Committee look favorably upon it.
The Senator was prompt and at 3:15 pm Central Time, we were on the phone with one of 100 U.S. Senators. We quickly worked through the three tenets of our argument and asked for his support on ensuring the tax credit was included in any kind of clean energy tax package that the committee was working on. Senator Crapo listened attentively and then outlined the three pathways that lead to our tax credit expanded and extended offering that the third, the credits inclusion in a tax extenders bill being the most likely. He specifically identified Senators Wyden (Oregon) and Manchin (West Virginia) as important to our cause. We were buoyed by this news as our outreach effort has included staff from both of those offices. He ended the call saying, “I am all in with you and will do what I can.” In a short after-action review with our colleagues at O’Neill & Associates we unanimously agreed that it had been our most effective and positive advocacy effort in this most recent push.
I look forward to speaking in more detail about our advocacy efforts when we gather later this month in Milwaukee.
