“I was disappointed when the House of Representatives passed an “energy” bill that didn’t include much-needed provisions for adding nuclear power to American supplies.  I was frustrated to see that the bill ignored new coal technologies that promise efficiency and clean energy.

But it is beyond the pale that this legislative effort took a deliberate swipe at renewable fuels from our forests in the form of waste wood.

Calling it waste wood isn’t entirely accurate.  The trimmings from timber operations and lumber yards in Southern Missouri are actually very important and highly useful.  Waste wood offers a promising opportunity to make cellulosic ethanol.  It’s a vital input essential to accomplishing the ambitions goals set forth in the Renewable Fuels Standard to use 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels by the year 2022.

As Congress’ energy bill defined renewable biomass, however, any material removed from a national forest may not count towards this effort.  Cellulosic ethanol from waste wood from national forests is irrelevant under the legislation.  To fuel blenders and refiners, cellulosic ethanol from this waste wood is irrelevant as well, because it cannot qualify for any incentives to use cellulosic ethanol technologies.

Ultimately, the bill’s definition of waste wood affects Southern Missouri by removing an important value which is added to the product of the Mark Twain National Forest.  Every year, tons of timber are removed from the forest as part of the routine forestry management that keeps the Mark Twain healthy and minimizes the risk of destructive forest fires.  As our forest products industry processes the trees and brush taken out of the Mark Twain, nothing should be wasted.

This section of the law threatens to put the “waste” right back into the term “waste wood.”
 
Achieving the goal set by the Renewable Fuels Standard will require all the ethanol our region can produce, from every available source.  This is a critical step in the process of discovering and perfecting new technologies to produce more alternative fuels.

As we bring otherwise-wasted products (like waste wood) into the field of ethanol production, we improve our rural economy and create new markets for value-added farm and forest products.  In the battle to become an energy-independent nation, the American Mid-West will have to take on the roles and responsibilities of the Middle East.  If every tree coming out of our forests eventually means one less barrel of oil coming from the sheiks and emirs of the Middle East, it will be well-worth our investment of scientific and industrial capital today.  The alternative is to let these new technologies founder, and simply throw waste wood away.

Cellulosic ethanol can improve our environment, our economy, and our national security.  New legislation in both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives, of which I am a proud sponsor, would correct this grave oversight, and put the waste wood from our national forests to good use.”