Libby, Montana awarded BDO Zone A rating for woody biomass

Lincoln County Port Authority (LCPA) and Ecostrat are pleased to announce the issue of a new Bioeconomy Development Opportunity (BDO) Zone designation for Libby, Mo.

AA and A BDO Zone Ratings identify the areas in the country that are best positioned for low-risk bioeconomy project development. Libby’s A rating for forest, pulpwood and sawmill residuals is expected to drive new market development for bioeconomy projects that can utilize the region’s 225,000-275,000 green tons per year of available woody biomass.

The Libby, MT BDO Zone is rated A, or low risk, based on strong assets such as reliable anchor suppliers, available forest products labour market and limited competing markets for its forest residuals and pulp-wood. The A rating issue indicates that Libby merits strong consideration as a location for new bio-based development that requires stable, long-term supplies of wood fibre.

“With the Kootenai National Forest growing over 800,000,000 board feet of woody biomass a year, it makes sense for Lincoln County to pursue a BDO Zone Rating,” says Lincoln County commissioner, Jerry Bennett. “This A rating provides the opportunity to affordably manage our forest and private grounds, while attracting new market development to the County.”

The BDO Zone extends an 80-mile drive distance from Libby and is centred around the Kootenai Business Park, an optimal location for incoming bio-based projects.

“The clean energy market is growing at an unprecedented pace, and rural communities need the tools to keep up on a competitive global stage,” says Jordan Solomon, chairman of the BDO Zone Initiative. “Libby’s BDO Zone rating is a powerful signal to project developers worldwide that Libby has undergone rigorous and extensive due diligence using over 100 standardized, transparent, and validated risk indicators based on the BSCR Standards for bio-based investment.

Libby’s BDO Zone rating fills a critical need for more credible financial tools that empower rural regions to gain attention at the international level and enable local communities to leverage local biomass assets to attract new bio-based manufacturing plants, and create jobs.”