U.S. legislation that will better enable the forest products industry’s ability to benefit from energy tax cr…
U.S. legislation that will better enable the forest products industry’s ability to benefit from energy tax credits is being strongly supported by the American Forest & Paper Association.
H.R. 7290, introduced by Conrgessman Mike Michaud will help the sector take advantage of tax credits for energy it produces from biomass. CEO of the AF&PA Donna Harman says the bill recognizes the needs of the forestry industry as well as its workers.
“The forest products industry is feeling the effects of the economic downturn just like other industries and Congressman Michaud’s legislation is an important boost to the industry’s competitiveness,” she said. “The forest products industry is the nation’s leading industrial producer of renewable energy with paper mills generating 64% of their own energy and wood products mills generating 74%. Unfortunately, the forest products industry does not receive the same favourable tax consideration as other industrial renewable energy producers because we use a large portion of our energy in-house instead of selling it all to the grid,” she continued.
The new bill will now benefit facilities that generate their own energy from renewable biomass. Harman says the legislation serves to “fix” the imbalance and will ensure the greater use of renewable energy.
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