Title: Forest Health and Biomass Energy Act of 2020
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources

Summary:
Forest Health and Biomass Energy Act of 2020
This bill addresses biomass energy, particularly with respect to materials removed from high-hazard areas (e.g., areas that pose wildfire risks).
The bill directs the Department of Energy, in coordination with the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture (USDA), to assess the potential to produce biomass energy from certain land under the administrative jurisdiction of Interior and USDA.
With respect to the removal of timber located within certain high-hazard areas, USDA shall not charge a stumpage rate or assign any value to (1) certain trees, (2) forest processing residues or byproducts of forest restoration, or (3) a large dead tree that is not suitable for higher-valued wood products because of decay.
The bill establishes the High Hazard Area Wood Biomass Fund, into which USDA may deposit a percentage of the revenue generated from base stumpage rates of timber sales that occur on National Forest System land to assist timber operators and biomass energy producers with the collection, harvest, storage, and transportation of biomass material removed from high-hazard areas.
The President shall include in the annual budget submission an annual performance metric, which shall be established by USDA, for the harvest of wood biomass material in green tons made available for bioenergy markets.


[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4603 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Forest Health and Biomass Energy Act 
of 2020''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) the current forest health crisis is due in part to 
        overstocked forests that are unable to withstand the effects of 
        a changing climate, drought, insect outbreaks, and disease;
            (2) removing small, dead, and dying trees as part of an 
        ecological restoration prescription improves forest health and 
        resilience and reduces the risk of unnatural wildfire;
            (3) in many regions of the United States, the rate of 
        harvesting dead and dying trees is not keeping pace with 
        mortality of those trees;
            (4) there is an urgent need to establish industry capacity 
        in the removal of timber residue and biomass material from 
        small trees that are at high risk of catastrophic wildfire;
            (5) wood biomass energy is a renewable source of energy 
        that can generally reduce carbon emissions and other pollutants 
        from a wildfire, open-burning fire, or prescribed fire, if 
        biomass material is removed from forest land that is at high 
        risk of catastrophic wildfire;
            (6) comprehensive data on the forest biomass potential of 
        fire-prone Federal land is needed from the Department of Energy 
        and the Department of Agriculture;
            (7) using forest thinning and slash as fuel for biomass 
        power plants reduces carbon impacts and greatly reduces the 
        emissions of carbon and other pollutants compared to wildfire, 
        open-burning fire, and prescribed fire; and
            (8) removing concentrations of dead and fire-prone trees 
        reduces the risk to the public, firefighters, and private and 
        public employees who work in forest land and of high-intensity 
        burns once the trees begin to break and fall down.

SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF HIGH HAZARD AREA.

    In this Act, the term ``high hazard area'' means--
            (1) an area of Federal land or non-Federal land located in 
        an area in which--
                    (A) a project is carried out under--
                            (i) the Collaborative Forest Landscape 
                        Restoration Program established under section 
                        4003 of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act 
                        of 2009 (16 U.S.C. 7303); or
                            (ii) a good neighbor agreement entered into 
                        under section 8206 of the Agricultural Act of 
                        2014 (16 U.S.C. 2113a); and
                    (B) drought, tree mortality, insect outbreaks, or 
                disease pose an imminent wildfire risk to a community, 
                public infrastructure, health, or safety; and
            (2) any area of National Forest System land located west of 
        the 100th meridian.

SEC. 4. DESIGNATION OF HIGH HAZARD AREAS.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of Agriculture shall--
            (1) as necessary, designate high hazard areas of National 
        Forest System land; and
            (2) maintain on a website an updated list of high hazard 
        areas designated under paragraph (1).
    (b) Duration.--Land designated as a high hazard area under 
subsection (a) shall retain that designation for a period of not less 
than 15 years, unless the Secretary of Agriculture, after consultation 
with the Governor of the State in which the high hazard area is 
located, determines that the designation is no longer warranted.

SEC. 5. CLASSIFICATION OF TIMBER RESIDUE IN HIGH HAZARD AREAS AS NO-
              VALUE.

    For the removal of timber located within a high hazard area that is 
covered by the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program 
established under section 4003 of the Omnibus Public Land Management 
Act of 2009 (16 U.S.C. 7303) or a good neighbor agreement entered into 
under section 8206 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (16 U.S.C. 2113a), 
the Secretary of Agriculture shall not charge a stumpage rate or assign 
any value to--
            (1) a tree that is--
                    (A) less than 12 inches in diameter at breast 
                height; and
                    (B) cut to reduce a fire hazard and make stands 
                more fire resilient;
            (2) any forest processing residue or byproduct of forest 
        restoration, such as the top or a branch of a tree harvested 
        for higher-valued wood products; or
            (3) a large dead tree that is not suitable for higher-
        valued wood products because of decay.

SEC. 6. ASSESSMENT OF FEDERAL LAND FOR WOOD BIOMASS ENERGY POTENTIAL.

    (a) Assessment.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Energy (referred to in 
        this section as the ``Secretary''), in coordination with the 
        Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture, 
        shall produce a comprehensive assessment (referred to in this 
        section as the ``assessment'') of the potential to produce 
        biomass energy from land under the administrative jurisdiction 
        of the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of 
        Agriculture, subject to paragraph (2).
            (2) Exempted land.--The assessment shall not apply to 
        land--
                    (A) that is a component of the National Wilderness 
                Preservation System;
                    (B) on which the removal of vegetation is 
                prohibited or restricted by an Act of Congress or a 
                Presidential proclamation; or
                    (C) that is a wilderness study area.
    (b) Supply Inventory.--
            (1) In general.--The assessment shall include an inventory 
        of forest biomass supplies located on Federal land that are 
        suitable for energy use.
            (2) Classification.--The supply inventory described in 
        paragraph (1) shall distinguish between forest biomass supplies 
        that--
                    (A) are live trees;
                    (B) are dead or salvage trees;
                    (C) are prone to drought, insect outbreak, or 
                disease;
                    (D) are mill residue; and
                    (E) may potentially be harvested.
    (c) Evaluation of Potential Sources.--The assessment shall evaluate 
whether the forest biomass supplies listed in the supply inventory 
described in subsection (b) are potential wood biomass sources, such 
as--
            (1) logging waste, such as tops of trees that otherwise 
        produce commercial sawlogs;
            (2) trees that are too small to meet saw timber 
        merchantability specifications;
            (3) trees and ladder fuels that are likely to be removed as 
        part of forest management prescriptions to restore forest 
        health and resiliency;
            (4) dead trees that are unsuitable for manufacture of 
        sawlogs due to decay, staining, or insect damage;
            (5) portions of harvested trees that cannot be made into 
        solid wood products;
            (6) unutilized slash;
            (7) mill residues; and
            (8) other wood products suitable for energy use.
    (d) Infrastructure Distribution and Capacity.--The assessment shall 
take into consideration--
            (1) the availability, potential, and distribution of the 
        forest biomass supplies listed in the supply inventory 
        described in subsection (b);
            (2) the infrastructure that supports existing wood products 
        and biomass energy production on the land covered by the 
        assessment; and
            (3) existing and projected forest biomass energy 
        consumption in the United States.
    (e) Estimates.--Based on the supply inventory described in 
subsection (b), the Secretary shall develop--
            (1) a 5- and 10-year estimate of biomass energy that may be 
        produced from supplies listed in the inventory; and
            (2) estimates for the associated costs of transporting and 
        processing those supplies for use as energy.
    (f) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of 
this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Energy and 
Natural Resources of the Senate and the Committee on Natural Resources 
of the House of Representatives a report describing--
            (1) the assessment; and
            (2) the estimates developed under subsection (e).

SEC. 7. WOOD BIOMASS TARGETS.

    The President shall include in the annual submission of the budget 
of the United States Government under section 1105 of title 31, United 
States Code, an annual performance metric, which shall be established 
by the Secretary of Agriculture, for the harvest of wood biomass 
material in green tons made available for bioenergy markets.

SEC. 8. HIGH HAZARD AREA WOOD BIOMASS FUND.

    (a) Establishment.--There is established in the Treasury of the 
United States a fund, to be known as the ``High Hazard Area Wood 
Biomass Fund'' (referred to in this section as the ``Fund'').
    (b) Deposits.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary of Agriculture (referred to 
        in this section as the ``Secretary'') may transfer such 
        percentage as the Secretary determines to be appropriate of the 
        revenue generated from base stumpage rates of timber sales that 
        occur on National Forest System land (other than revenue 
        described in paragraph (2)) to the Secretary of the Treasury 
        for deposit in the Fund.
            (2) Exclusions.--Revenue generated from sales described in 
        paragraph (1) may not be transferred under that paragraph if 
        the revenue would, in the absence of that paragraph, be--
                    (A) deposited in the special fund established under 
                section 3 of the Act of June 9, 1930 (commonly known as 
                the ``Knutson-Vandenberg Act'') (46 Stat. 527, chapter 
                416; 16 U.S.C. 576b);
                    (B) paid to a State, county, or territory under the 
                Act of May 23, 1908 (35 Stat. 260, chapter 192; 16 
                U.S.C. 500); or
                    (C) paid to a county under the Act of May 24, 1939 
                (53 Stat. 753, chapter 144; 43 U.S.C. 2621 et seq.).
    (c) Use of Funds.--Amounts in the Fund shall be used by the 
Secretary to assist timber operators and biomass energy producers with 
the collection, harvest, storage, and transportation (including by 
rail) of biomass material, such as byproducts of forest health 
treatments and hazardous fuels reduction projects, removed from 
National Forest System land in high hazard areas.
    (d) Priority.--In providing assistance under subsection (c), the 
Secretary shall give priority to an electricity generating unit that is 
fired at least 80 percent by coal and that converts to a majority of 
biomass power operations.
    (e) Effect.--Nothing in this section affects the amount of a county 
payment under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination 
Act of 2000 (16 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.).
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