The National Alliance of Forest Owners (NAFO) praised the provisions for renewable forest biomass and carbon offsets in the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 as passed by the House.

David P. Tenny, president and CEO of NAFO, said, “NAFO appreciates the improvements to the bill that will enable our forests to make a significant contribution to producing clean, domestic renewable energy and providing environmentally sound, cost effective offsets to greenhouse gas emissions. We applaud Chairman Peterson and the other members of Congress who understand the fundamental role of forests in renewable energy and climate policy and who insisted on crafting legislation that captures the full benefits our forests can and should provide.”

Tenny outlined several provisions that are positive in the legislation:

• Adoption of the “Farm Bill” definition for renewable forest biomass for the Renewable Electricity Standard (RES), Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) and for carbon offsets.

• USDA oversight of the carbon offset programs for agriculture and forestry and a timely implementation of the carbon offset program, which would enable forestry offsets to participate early in a new offsets market.

• Recognition of a full suite of forestry activities for eligible carbon-offset project types, including afforestation, reforestation, conservation, forest management and harvested wood products.

Private forests are a plentiful, carbon-neutral and essential resource for meeting our nation’s renewable energy objectives, whether for electricity, transportation fuels or other energy applications. Furthermore, America’s private forests provide our nation’s most effective natural carbon sink, absorbing approximately 10 percent of all of the greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. More mitigation facts of private forests are available on NAFO’s website at www.nafoalliance.org/climate.

NAFO is an organization of private forest owners committed to promoting federal policies that protect the economic and environmental values of privately-owned forests at the national level. NAFO membership encompasses more than 74 million acres of private forestland in 47 states.