II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4603 

To promote the use of forest restoration residue harvested on National Forest 

System land for renewable energy, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 16, 2020 

Ms. MCSALLY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To promote the use of forest restoration residue harvested 

on National Forest System land for renewable energy, 

and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Forest Health and Bio5 mass Energy Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) the current forest health crisis is due in 

9 part to overstocked forests that are unable to withVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:20 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4603.IS S4603

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1 stand the effects of a changing climate, drought, in2 sect outbreaks, and disease; 

3 (2) removing small, dead, and dying trees as 

4 part of an ecological restoration prescription im5 proves forest health and resilience and reduces the 

6 risk of unnatural wildfire; 

7 (3) in many regions of the United States, the 

8 rate of harvesting dead and dying trees is not keep9 ing pace with mortality of those trees; 

10 (4) there is an urgent need to establish industry 

11 capacity in the removal of timber residue and bio12 mass material from small trees that are at high risk 

13 of catastrophic wildfire; 

14 (5) wood biomass energy is a renewable source 

15 of energy that can generally reduce carbon emissions 

16 and other pollutants from a wildfire, open-burning 

17 fire, or prescribed fire, if biomass material is re18 moved from forest land that is at high risk of cata19 strophic wildfire; 

20 (6) comprehensive data on the forest biomass 

21 potential of fire-prone Federal land is needed from 

22 the Department of Energy and the Department of 

23 Agriculture; 

24 (7) using forest thinning and slash as fuel for 

25 biomass power plants reduces carbon impacts and 


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1 greatly reduces the emissions of carbon and other 

2 pollutants compared to wildfire, open-burning fire, 

3 and prescribed fire; and 

4 (8) removing concentrations of dead and fire5 prone trees reduces the risk to the public, fire6 fighters, and private and public employees who work 

7 in forest land and of high-intensity burns once the 

8 trees begin to break and fall down. 

9 SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF HIGH HAZARD AREA. 

10 In this Act, the term ‘‘high hazard area’’ means— 

11 (1) an area of Federal land or non-Federal land 

12 located in an area in which— 

13 (A) a project is carried out under— 

14 (i) the Collaborative Forest Land15 scape Restoration Program established 

16 under section 4003 of the Omnibus Public 

17 Land Management Act of 2009 (16 U.S.C. 

18 7303); or 

19 (ii) a good neighbor agreement en20 tered into under section 8206 of the Agri21 cultural Act of 2014 (16 U.S.C. 2113a); 

22 and 

23 (B) drought, tree mortality, insect out24 breaks, or disease pose an imminent wildfire 


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1 risk to a community, public infrastructure, 

2 health, or safety; and 

3 (2) any area of National Forest System land lo4 cated west of the 100th meridian. 

5 SEC. 4. DESIGNATION OF HIGH HAZARD AREAS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agriculture 

7 shall— 

8 (1) as necessary, designate high hazard areas of 

9 National Forest System land; and 

10 (2) maintain on a website an updated list of 

11 high hazard areas designated under paragraph (1). 

12 (b) DURATION.—Land designated as a high hazard 

13 area under subsection (a) shall retain that designation for 

14 a period of not less than 15 years, unless the Secretary 

15 of Agriculture, after consultation with the Governor of the 

16 State in which the high hazard area is located, determines 

17 that the designation is no longer warranted. 

18 SEC. 5. CLASSIFICATION OF TIMBER RESIDUE IN HIGH 

19 HAZARD AREAS AS NO-VALUE. 

20 For the removal of timber located within a high haz21 ard area that is covered by the Collaborative Forest Land22 scape Restoration Program established under section 4003 

23 of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (16 

24 U.S.C. 7303) or a good neighbor agreement entered into 

25 under section 8206 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (16 


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1 U.S.C. 2113a), the Secretary of Agriculture shall not 

2 charge a stumpage rate or assign any value to— 

3 (1) a tree that is— 

4 (A) less than 12 inches in diameter at 

5 breast height; and 

6 (B) cut to reduce a fire hazard and make 

7 stands more fire resilient; 

8 (2) any forest processing residue or byproduct 

9 of forest restoration, such as the top or a branch of 

10 a tree harvested for higher-valued wood products; or 

11 (3) a large dead tree that is not suitable for 

12 higher-valued wood products because of decay. 

13 SEC. 6. ASSESSMENT OF FEDERAL LAND FOR WOOD BIO14 MASS ENERGY POTENTIAL. 

15 (a) ASSESSMENT.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

17 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 

18 Energy (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Sec19 retary’’), in coordination with the Secretary of the 

20 Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture, shall 

21 produce a comprehensive assessment (referred to in 

22 this section as the ‘‘assessment’’) of the potential to 

23 produce biomass energy from land under the admin24 istrative jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior 


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1 and the Secretary of Agriculture, subject to para2 graph (2). 

3 (2) EXEMPTED LAND.—The assessment shall 

4 not apply to land— 

5 (A) that is a component of the National 

6 Wilderness Preservation System; 

7 (B) on which the removal of vegetation is 

8 prohibited or restricted by an Act of Congress 

9 or a Presidential proclamation; or 

10 (C) that is a wilderness study area. 

11 (b) SUPPLY INVENTORY.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—The assessment shall include 

13 an inventory of forest biomass supplies located on 

14 Federal land that are suitable for energy use. 

15 (2) CLASSIFICATION.—The supply inventory de16 scribed in paragraph (1) shall distinguish between 

17 forest biomass supplies that— 

18 (A) are live trees; 

19 (B) are dead or salvage trees; 

20 (C) are prone to drought, insect outbreak, 

21 or disease; 

22 (D) are mill residue; and 

23 (E) may potentially be harvested. 

24 (c) EVALUATION OF POTENTIAL SOURCES.—The as25 sessment shall evaluate whether the forest biomass supVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:20 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4603.IS S4603

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1 plies listed in the supply inventory described in subsection 

2 (b) are potential wood biomass sources, such as— 

3 (1) logging waste, such as tops of trees that 

4 otherwise produce commercial sawlogs; 

5 (2) trees that are too small to meet saw timber 

6 merchantability specifications; 

7 (3) trees and ladder fuels that are likely to be 

8 removed as part of forest management prescriptions 

9 to restore forest health and resiliency; 

10 (4) dead trees that are unsuitable for manufac11 ture of sawlogs due to decay, staining, or insect 

12 damage; 

13 (5) portions of harvested trees that cannot be 

14 made into solid wood products; 

15 (6) unutilized slash; 

16 (7) mill residues; and 

17 (8) other wood products suitable for energy use. 

18 (d) INFRASTRUCTURE DISTRIBUTION AND CAPAC19 ITY.—The assessment shall take into consideration— 

20 (1) the availability, potential, and distribution 

21 of the forest biomass supplies listed in the supply in22 ventory described in subsection (b); 

23 (2) the infrastructure that supports existing 

24 wood products and biomass energy production on 

25 the land covered by the assessment; and 


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1 (3) existing and projected forest biomass energy 

2 consumption in the United States. 

3 (e) ESTIMATES.—Based on the supply inventory de4 scribed in subsection (b), the Secretary shall develop— 

5 (1) a 5- and 10-year estimate of biomass energy 

6 that may be produced from supplies listed in the in7 ventory; and 

8 (2) estimates for the associated costs of trans9 porting and processing those supplies for use as en10 ergy. 

11 (f) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

12 of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to 

13 the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the 

14 Senate and the Committee on Natural Resources of the 

15 House of Representatives a report describing— 

16 (1) the assessment; and 

17 (2) the estimates developed under subsection 

18 (e). 

19 SEC. 7. WOOD BIOMASS TARGETS. 

20 The President shall include in the annual submission 

21 of the budget of the United States Government under sec22 tion 1105 of title 31, United States Code, an annual per23 formance metric, which shall be established by the Sec24 retary of Agriculture, for the harvest of wood biomass ma25 terial in green tons made available for bioenergy markets. 


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1 SEC. 8. HIGH HAZARD AREA WOOD BIOMASS FUND. 

2 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 

3 Treasury of the United States a fund, to be known as the 

4 ‘‘High Hazard Area Wood Biomass Fund’’ (referred to 

5 in this section as the ‘‘Fund’’). 

6 (b) DEPOSITS.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agriculture 

8 (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Secretary’’) may 

9 transfer such percentage as the Secretary deter10 mines to be appropriate of the revenue generated 

11 from base stumpage rates of timber sales that occur 

12 on National Forest System land (other than revenue 

13 described in paragraph (2)) to the Secretary of the 

14 Treasury for deposit in the Fund. 

15 (2) EXCLUSIONS.—Revenue generated from 

16 sales described in paragraph (1) may not be trans17 ferred under that paragraph if the revenue would, in 

18 the absence of that paragraph, be— 

19 (A) deposited in the special fund estab20 lished under section 3 of the Act of June 9, 

21 1930 (commonly known as the ‘‘Knutson-Van22 denberg Act’’) (46 Stat. 527, chapter 416; 16 

23 U.S.C. 576b); 

24 (B) paid to a State, county, or territory 

25 under the Act of May 23, 1908 (35 Stat. 260, 

26 chapter 192; 16 U.S.C. 500); or 


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1 (C) paid to a county under the Act of May 

2 24, 1939 (53 Stat. 753, chapter 144; 43 U.S.C. 

3 2621 et seq.). 

4 (c) USE OF FUNDS.—Amounts in the Fund shall be 

5 used by the Secretary to assist timber operators and bio6 mass energy producers with the collection, harvest, stor7 age, and transportation (including by rail) of biomass ma8 terial, such as byproducts of forest health treatments and 

9 hazardous fuels reduction projects, removed from National 

10 Forest System land in high hazard areas. 

11 (d) PRIORITY.—In providing assistance under sub12 section (c), the Secretary shall give priority to an elec13 tricity generating unit that is fired at least 80 percent by 

14 coal and that converts to a majority of biomass power op15 erations. 

16 (e) EFFECT.—Nothing in this section affects the 

17 amount of a county payment under the Secure Rural 

18 Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000 

19 (16 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.). 

Æ 


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