Biomass Crop Assistance Program Update

From the September 2010 Forest2Mill newsletter.

At the Florida Farm to Fuel Summit on August 12, William F. Hagy, III, Special Assistant–Director for Alternative Energy Policy at the U.S. Department of Agriculture told summit attendees that the final rule for the Biomass Crop Assistance Program would be released in three weeks. If Hagy is correct, we should expect some news this week.

Hagy did not specify whether the 60-day Congressional review of the rule was already underway, or whether that 60-day period would begin once the rule is released. We suspect it is the latter. If our suspicion is correct, the program could resume under the new rules in November. Hagy provided no details about the contents of the final rule.

In August, the USDA also released an updated version of the total payments made under Phase I of the program. As of August 9, the total payments made totaled just under $243 million. Nearly 92 percent of those payments, or just over $223 million, were for forest materials. Maine (35 million), California ($29 million), Alabama ($25 million) and Georgia ($21 million) received the most BCAP money.

Each of the highest recipient states generate large amounts of electricity using wood and wood waste. Maine produces 3,669 thousand megawatt hours (MWh), California produces 3,484 MWh, Alabama 3,324 MWh and Georgia 2,660 MWh. Although Louisiana produces 2,639 thousand MWh of electricity from wood and wood waste, it received just over $6 million in BCAP payments each.