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EPA biomass attack, Forest die-off, more…

November 16, 2010

Forest Policy Briefs
by Rex Storm,
Associated Oregon Loggers,

Scientists Oppose EPA Attack on Biomass: When the federal
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently proposed air/carbon regulations
that would severely cripple the growing US forest biomass industry, the Society
of American Foresters wrote a stern letter to Congress—criticizing the EPA’s
outlandish actions. The letter was signed by 114 scientists, including 4 OSU
scientists and 2 Oregon consultants. The EPA’s proposed Tailoring Rule, if not
corrected, could stop any new biomass energy plant, or worse, cause existing
biomass plants to shut or convert to fossil fuel.

Rocky Mountain Forest Die-Off: Nearly a decade into the
largest bark beetle epidemic in modern-day Colorado & Wyoming history, a
recent US Forest Service aerial survey shows that beetles in 2010 killed 3.6
million acres of ponderosa and lodgepole pine trees in the two states, an area
the size of Connecticut. That’s up from 2.5 million acres infested there in
2008. Foresters predict all mature lodgepole pines in Wyoming’s Medicine Bow
Nat. Forest will be dead within five years. The USFS Regional Forester says
the dead trees are recreation hazards and will fuel catastrophic forest
fires.

Judge Orders USFS to Look for Species: Yet another
irrational ruling has been rendered by a federal judge, who stopped the Bussel
Ck. forest health timber sale on Idaho’s Panhandle National Forest. In a
lawsuit brought by environmentalists, US District Judge Lodge ordered that the
Forest Service search and find all key wildlife—such as pileated woodpeckers and
n. goshawks—in the project area, before logging or road building is authorized.
It’s unknown at this time how this poorly-written ruling may impact Forest
Service project planning elsewhere.

Fire Season Ends on Cool Note: Industrial forest fire season
ended in October for forest protection districts, with the Douglas Forest
Protective Association recording the second-lowest number of acres burned since
the association was formed in 1912. During a short 105-day fire season
beginning June 28 and ending Oct. 10, DFPA firefighters fought 38 fires that
burned 48 acres. Over the past decade, DFPA has averaged 88 fires that burn
nearly 700 acres per year. In recent times, 1987 was the worst fire season,
when 172 fires burned 30,469 acres of forest.

Appeal Filed to Overturn Roads Ruling: The State of Oregon
(Forestry Board & ODF), Oregon Forest Industries Council, and four timber
companies have asked the federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to re-hear an
unfavorable federal court ruling that would seriously impact all forest roads.
The ruling had wrongly declared that forest road runoff would be a “point-source
of pollution,” and therefore required a federal Clean Water Act NPDES permit.
The original 2006 case was filed by Northwest Environmental Defense Center,
against Oregon’s State Forester, Board, and four state timber sale
purchasers.

Court Challenge to Coastal Forestry: Twenty years ago, the
Oregon legislature, at the request of the timber industry, gave the Board of
Forestry and OR Dept. of Forestry legal authority to protect water on private
forestland through the Forest Practices Act. Yet, another environmentalist
lawsuit is threatening this sole authority of the Board. The suit attempts to
misuse the federal Coastal Zone Management Act by forcing the US Environmental
Protection Agency and OR Dept. of Environmental Quality to compel changes to the
OR Forest Practices Act. The DEQ intends to continue their existing forest
authorities, within the guidance of the court rulings.

Recession Over? The National Bureau of Economic
Research—official referee of the US economy—announced in Sept. that the
recession had ended and economic recovery began in June 2009. One cannot help
but wonder whether this feel-good pronouncement was politically-motivated, timed
just before November’s general election. Many US business analysts scoffed at
this illogical pronouncement, as economic conditions for many American business
sectors are stalled in the pre-June 2009 recession cycle, and most economic
indicators remain far below the pre-recession years.

Cool Summer, Bad Fire Business: The shortest summer in
recent memory has left private firefighting and helicopter companies struggling
to survive amid massive layoffs. The 2010 fire season is among the slowest fire
years in recent history. Most companies saw revenues plunge by more than half
this year, as federal and state agencies spent about $50 million less than in a
typical year on firefighting contracts in Oregon alone. Compounding the hurt,
it was a short & cool fire season west wide, and Oregon is home to a
majority of the region’s forest fire contractors.

Climate Research Draws Federal Funds: Secretary of the Interior Salazar
announced that Oregon State University would become one of eight federal Climate
Science Centers (CSC), located across the US. OSU is part of the Northwest
Regional CSC, along with U. of WA, and U. of ID. The new Centers receive
federal funds to conduct research addressing climate change on natural
resources. Salazar said this new federal CSC bureaucracy would be a top
Interior priority. Apparently, the CSC is higher priority than the failed
timber harvest from the BLM’s Western OR forest plan.

Trucking GVW Reform Introduced: In August, US Senator Mike
Crapo (R-ID) introduced gross vehicle weight reform in Congress, as ‘The Safe
& Efficient Transportation Act’ (S.3705). Senator Crapo and his co-sponsors
seek to use federal highways more efficiently, to reduce fuel consumption,
emissions, and traffic congestion, while improving safety and supporting our
land-based industries. This bill would give states the option to increase
interstate truck weight limits, so that more goods move from the farm, forest or
factory to consumers in fewer trips and fewer vehicle miles.

New HOS Rule Moves Forward: On July 26, the Federal Motor
Carrier Safety Administration sent its proposal for a revised Hours of Service
rule to the Office of Management & Budget for review. OMB reviews typically
last 90 days, so publication of the draft rule for public comment would
presumably occur in November. Response from industry executives has been
forceful, as one major shipper points out, cutting driver hours by 10% does not
reduce productivity by merely 10%, but in many cases by something closer to
50%.

New Satellite Phone Launched: AT&T Advanced Enterprise
is selling a satellite phone that may be a tool for forest contractors. With
blanket US coverage, the new ‘TerreStar Genus’ phone costs up to $799, using an
AT&T cell service plan, plus an extra $25/month, 65 cents/minute. Genus
connects via cell tower, and then switches to satellite when cell coverage
lacks. It’s the first “smart” satellite phone with e-mail, web use, and
slightly-thicker than a BlackBerry. Genus requires a clear view of the southern
sky, having no trees, hills or buildings blocking the sky view.

Harvest Little; Pay Big in Rockies: The US Forest Service in
CO & WY has focused its bark beetle treatments almost exclusively on hazard
tree salvage only in campgrounds, along roads and near communities. The USFS is
spending over $30 million in federal stimulus dollars to treat 14,000
acres—that’s more than $2,100/acre on these uneconomical projects. Planned
projects are hobbled by an impotent USFS bureaucracy, low timber volumes, plus
exorbitant transportation & logging costs to reach a single sawmill and a
few pellet mills in the two states.

Colorado Congressman Cries the Blues: After his own
environmentalist allies shut down the national forest timber program in the past
20 years, US Senator Mark Udall (D-CO) is now in a panic because there’s no
timber industry to buy or harvest the trees on millions of acres of dead &
dying pine across his state. Because of the national forest-caused demise of a
once productive CO timber industry, the state’s only timber mill just shut in
bankruptcy proceedings. Senator Udall now seeks $50 million/year entitlement
from Congress to deal with beetle-killed federal timber in CO.

Diamond Lake Restoration Project Slashed: The US Forest
Service announced that the 621-acre D-Bug Timber Sale, located near the Umpqua
Nat. Forest Diamond Lake resort area, would be scaled-back to just 78 acres (13%
of plan). Because most of the planned project was in a Roadless Area, the US
Forest Service reduced the project, succumbing to environmental and political
pressure from the Obama administration. Without far more harvesting than is now
planned, there is little chance firefighters could stop a wildfire racing from
the Roadless Area toward the resort area.

Fire Safety House in Silverton: The Oregon Garden Foundation
announced a partnership to develop the nation’s first full-scale fire prevention
and safety house. Teaming with Oregon Dept. of Forestry, OR State Fire Marshal,
Moonstone Garden Management, and OR State Univ., the foundation secured $600,000
in federal FEMA grant funds and donations to remodel a home located at The
Oregon Garden in Silverton. The ‘Fire Safety House’, championed by ODF, will
showcase fire-resistant landscaping and building construction, as well as home
fire prevention and safety.

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Discuss this article

Oliver November 16,
2010

Bad business practices have led to the bankruptcy of the mill in
Colorado.

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