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Herseth
Sandlin's bill includes forest waste in renewable-fuels
rule
February 08, 2008 | Steve Miller,
Rapid City Journal
Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, D-S.D., has introduced
a bill she said would fix a flaw in the new federal
energy bill that prevents wood waste in national
forests from being used to make ethanol.
A last-minute, closed-door change in the energy
bill that passed in December excluded ethanol
produced from wood waste on national forests from
being counted toward the new national renewable-fuels
standard in the bill.
The exclusion means ethanol or other energy produced
from trees, brush, thinnings, chips and slash
from national forests would not qualify for federal
subsidies or incentives, and it would face competitive
disadvantages in the marketplace, Herseth Sandlin
said at a meeting in Rapid City last month.
The new Renewable Fuels Standard calls for 21
billion gallons of ethanol to be produced from
biomass, including cellulosic materials, by the
year 2022.
On Wednesday, Herseth Sandlin introduced a bill
that includes wood waste from national forests
in the definition of woody biomass that counts
toward the new Renewable Fuels Standard.
The definition in the 2007 energy bill would result
in a loss of economic opportunity for cellulosic
ethanol producers in the Black Hills area, Herseth
Sandlin told reporters Thursday.
"That's
bad policy. I'm working to change it," she
said. "Why would we purposefully exclude
a perfectly good source that comes as a byproduct
of forest-management practices already in place?"
Biomass projects conducted under the authority
of Herseth Sandlin's bill on federal lands would
still have to comply with federal and state law
and applicable land management plans, according
to a news release from Herseth Sandlin's office.
There is an additional requirement for old-growth
maintenance, restoration, and management on federal
lands as defined in the Healthy Forests Restoration
Act of 2003.
Sens. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., and John Thune, R-S.D.,
also support the change to the energy bill, Herseth
Sandlin said.
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