Forest Owners reacts to GHG regulation

July 13,
2010, Washington, D.C. – David P. Tenny, president and CEO of the National
Alliance of Forest Owners, has issued a statement on the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA)'s Call for Information on Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Associated with Bioenergy and Other Biogenic Sources.

"The
EPA's response to the requests of key stakeholders and the admonitions of
Congress is welcome. However the announced action is a very modest step forward
and does not convey a sense of urgency. We continue to call upon EPA to suspend
application of the regulation to greenhouse gas emissions from biomass
facilities while developing its policy, as many stakeholders and members of
Congress have requested.”

"We
are at a critical juncture at which both policy makers and the marketplace are
considering our nation's path forward on renewable energy. EPA must act quickly
to clarify the treatment of biomass energy under the Tailoring Rule and remove
the confusion resulting from their sudden and significant shift in policy. Each
moment of delay jeopardizes existing and future investments in low-carbon
biomass energy that are essential to meeting our national renewable energy
goals and reducing our dependence on high-carbon-emitting fossil fuels.”

"References
by the EPA to greenhouse gas inventories and international conventions and
protocols acknowledged by experts as the most accepted approaches to accounting
for carbon emissions from biomass energy is appropriate. These set as a
baseline the internationally accepted position that accounting for carbon
emissions from forests for all uses, including energy production, is most
appropriately done at the national scale, rather than through site-by-site analyses
that can easily create a distorted picture of the forest carbon cycle.”

"The
National Alliance of Forest Owners (NAFO) looks forward to contributing to the
already significant body of information demonstrating the carbon benefits of
biomass energy. NAFO also looks forward to the earnest engagement of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA), which is well positioned to vigorously
represent the contributions of agriculture and forestry to produce renewable
energy that significantly reduces overall greenhouse gas emissions. It will be
critical for EPA and USDA to work together and to work quickly. Our nation's
renewable energy future is waiting."