Federal woody biomass policy strategies for building regional business capacity in Oregon? Cassandra Moseley, University of Oregon

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1 Federal woody biomass policy strategies for building regional business capacity in Oregon? Cassandra Moseley, University of Oregon 1

2 Co-authors Emily Jane Davis, Oregon State Univ. Yeon-Su Kim, Northern Arizona Univ. Anne Mottek Lucas, Mottek Consulting Max Nielsen-Pincus, Portland State Univ. Ted Bilek, U.S. Forest Service Funding: U.S. Forest Service 2

3 Outline Context Woody Biomass Utilization Grant Program (WoodyBUG) Findings Implications for Policy Implications for Research 3

4 Seattle Portland Eugene San Francisco 4

5 Electricity 5

6 Woody Bioenergy Feed stocks: Native species, softwood Space heat Process heat (esp. kilns for drying wood) Pellets, biobricks, kiln-dried fire wood Combined heat and power Stand alone electric (very rare) 6

7 Add forest cover slide 7

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15 Policy Environment As much about forest policy as it is about energy policy Community safety from wildfire Endangered species recovery Landscape-scale restoration Community economic opportunity Declining federal budgets for forest mgt. Social conflict over forest management 15

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17 Woody Biomass Utilization Advocates hope that it can: Contribute to forest restoration by reducing treatment costs for restoration Create local economic opportunity Contribute to wood products viability Jobs, businesses Lower energy costs Reduce leakage of energy dollars in local economy 17

18 Federal Woody Biomass Utilization Grant Program (Woody BUG) Grants to businesses increase utilization of biomass from hazardous fuels reduction Harvesting and processing equipment, market development, technical assistance. US$5 million in grants annually (nationally) Question: How did this program change change regional business capacity? 18

19 Methods Comparative case study ( ) Eastern Oregon and Eastern Arizona In-depth interviews with key informants (Forest Service, NGOs, and grant recipients) Economic impact analysis 19

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21 Malheur Lumber Company Dimensional lumber Small log line, large log line Mill residuals animal bedding, pulp Arid landscape, far from transportation Struggling with supply access Partially dependent on federal forests Market volatility on demand side 21

22 Malheur Lumber Company WoodyBUG Grant: Focus on product diversification $250,000 for log shaver, drumb dryer, and shaving bagging (animal bedding) Mix of federal and private funding A couple of years later, got addition $ to add new pellet/biobrick facility 22

23 Wallowa County All saw milling capacity gone Culturally still important Need for jobs Need for forest restoration/fuels reduction Local NGO Rebuilding small scale wood products capacity 23

24 Woody BUG grants $250,000 Expand existing post and pole plant to include clean chips, hog fule, and fire wood $250,000 horizontal wood processer for slash and wood waste 24

25 = Forest restoration Byproduct and log removal Restored condition Lumber Densified fuel Posts and poles

26 Findings Business Capacity Program filled key gaps in supply chains in subregions by investing in harvesting and processing equipment creating new capacity, leveraging further investments But, many grantees combined this with other assistance to succeed And, filling these equipment gaps revealed other challenges 26

27 Findings NGO s Non-governmental organizations played key roles in regional efforts Market development Technical assistance to smaller businesses Risk sharing with businesses Grant writing, paperwork 27

28 Findings In Sum Small investments can make a big difference, if used to fill key gaps in supply chain NGO s are important for assisting small businesses and building regional strategy Narrow programs combined with other programs to make viable businesses Didn t address supply or demand issues 28

29 Implications for policy Critical to pay attention to all parts of the supply chain simultaneously Given policy fragmentation, cluster development strategy may be necessary to succeed Regional intermediaries to coordinate strategy and align policies 29

30 Implications for research Because policy environment is extremely fragmented Studying one policy at a time limited utility Biomass policy is often not energy policy, but social, natural resource, agriculture and environmental policy need to look well beyond energy policy to understand policy drivers. 30

31 Thank you Cassandra Moseley Ecosystem Workforce Program Institute for a Sustainable Environment University of Oregon cmoseley@uoregon.edu 31

32 open mills open mills Source: Oregon Employment Dept. 32