On Tuesday, February 10, 2009, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a hearing to discuss the Majority Staff’s Draft Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) proposal. Under the proposed RES, the U.S. supply of electricity from renewable sources would be required to reach 20 percent by 2021.
NAFO submitted an official statement (PDF) and a supplementary white paper (PDF) for the record.
NAFO asks the Committee to recognize biomass from private, working forests as an eligible feedstock on an even playing field with other renewable energy sources. NAFO’s statement makes the following points:
- Our nation will not meet its objectives to increase our reliance on secure, domestic sources of renewable energy without the contributions of working forests
- Definitions of eligible biomass feedstock should put working forests on an even playing field with other renewable energy sources
- Utilizing working forests will both meet our nation’s energy needs and help reduce atmospheric greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations
- Forest owners work within a well-established framework of laws, regulations and non-regulatory programs and actions that maintain responsible forest management
- NAFO is prepared to work with Congress and other stakeholders to realize the contributions of working forests in energy policy in an environmentally responsible way
NAFO strongly supports our nation’s efforts to establish new sources of renewable energy, and thereby reduce its dependence on fossil fuels and imported energy. America’s working forests can play a fundamental role in meeting these new and growing energy needs. U.S. policies should encourage investment in forests as a source of renewable energy, by establishing non-restrictive definitions of forest biomass eligible for use in renewable energy programs.
Please visit the below links to read NAFO’s full statement and supplementary white paper entitled “The Environmental Regulation of Private Forests in the United States.”
- Statement of the National Alliance of Forest Owners (PDF)
- NAFO White Paper: The Environmental Regulation of Private Forests in the United States (PDF)
Tags: biomass
