• The U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee recently passed the 2012 Farm Bill, which could potentially restore funding to the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP). The version passed by the committee includes an amended energy title which would reauthorize BCAP with mandatory funding of $38.6 million for each fiscal year from 2013 to 2017.
• The U.S. House Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans and Insular Affairs recently held a hearing on two bills that would amend the Lacey Act. The Retailers and Entertainers Lacey Implementation and Enforcement Fairness Act (H.R. 3210) would make changes to several 2008 amendments to the bill and the Freedom from Over-Criminalization and Unjust Seizures Act of 2012 (H.R. 4171) would repeal certain provisions of the Lacey Act relating to violations of foreign laws and criminal penalties. The Hardwood Federation testified against both of the bills, and said that they would undermine the Lacey Act and remove enforcement provisions that potentially open the way for an influx of illegally sourced forest products.
• Rehrig Pacific Logistics (RPL) is opening a new reverse logistics and recyclable plastics processing center in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. The facility will process post-industrial, recyclable plastic and convert it into regrind material that can be reused in plastics manufacturing processes. RPL already operates 10 reverse logistics and plastics processing centers throughout its nationwide network. The new facility will also offer pallet management and sales, pooling, asset exchange and tracking, reverse logistics, supply chain consulting, and transportation services.
• The combined Canadian and U.S. lumber industry shrunk by about 30% as a result of the 2007/2008 housing slump, according to a recent report in the 2012 Hardwood Directory. According to the report, businesses throughout the hardwood supply chain were forced to downsize operations, reduce employment, curb non-essential spending and delay capital investments by significantly lower sales. Most sawmills are still operating below capacity and the hardwood industry is much smaller today than it was just five years ago.
