BCAP changes game for chips The USDA subsidy of woody biomass, including wood chips, as the feedstock for a variety of bio-energy outputs--syngas for engine fuel, electricity generation, ethanol, heat for boiler fuel, wood chips for energy pellets--has raised questions in the industry about both supply, and relative cost to users. The Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) is a part of the 2008 Farm Bill, which also includes a variety of payments for various agricultural, forestry, and environmental incentive payment programs. According to Willy Cooper, Director of the Louisiana Farm Service Agency in Alexandria, which administers the USDA programs, the 2008 Farm Bill is adopted for five years, which means provisions are in place through 2013. Under the BCAP rules, an approved Biomass Conversion Facility (BCF) may take advantage of the BCAP subsidy for two years from the time of each individual approval, or until the program ends. BCAP supports establishing and producing eligible crops, including wood chips, for conversion to energy--including use by manufacturing plants as boiler fuel for producing electricity, and for manufacture of wood pellets for use as fuel. Two major wood pellet plants within the Piney Woods wood basket area are under construction, including the Point Rio Energy Co. plant in Baton Rouge, and Nex-Gen in El Dorado, Arkansas. The Baton Rouge plant aims to produce 450,000 tons of pellets annually, requiring about 900,000 tons of chips. Nex-Gen aims at a beginning of 120,000 tons per year, to grow to 400,000 tons. According to FSA Director Cooper, these plants will be eligible for BCAP participation under the present rules. In a recent statement, Dr. Richard Vlosky, Director and Professor of Forestry Products Development Center at LSU School of Renewable Natural Resources, commented, "Given that the proposed 400,000 metric tons per year pellet manufacturing facility at the Port of Baton Rouge will have a stated effective reach of 150 miles for raw material, and if the El Dorado facility had the same effective reach, would there be an overlap? I ginned up a quick map with 50 mile, 100 mile, and 150 mile radii around 2 epicenters, Baton Rouge and El Dorado. There are many parameters that preclude any conclusions or inferences from being drawn but it does raise the question "How many pellet manufacturing facilities can a state/region sustain? And what are the raw material supply/price implications if other wood-based bio-sectors enter the picture such as woody biomass to electricity or woody biomass to ethanol?" Plants already approved as BCAP facilities in the
Piney Woods region of Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, and
Mississippi, which have been approved as Biomass
Conversion Facilities (BCF) are: Louisiana: Agrielectric Power, Lake Charles; Smurfit-Stone Container, Hodge; Lafourche Sugars, Thibodaux; Louisiana Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative, St. Martinville; Lula-Westfield Sugar Factory, Paincourtville; St. Mary's Sugar Cooperative, Jeanerette; M.A. Patout & Son, Jeanerette; Sterling Sugars, Franklin; Alma Plantation, Lakeland; Cora Texas Mfg. Co., White Castle; Raceland Raw Sugar Corp., Raceland; Lula Westfield Sugar, Belle Rose; Cajun Sugar Cooperative, New Iberia; Bayou Wood Pellets, West Monroe; TIN, Inc., Bogalusa; International Paper, Pineville; International Paper, Mansfield; Georgia-Pacific, Zachary; International Paper, Campti; Boise Packaging and Newsprint, DeRidder. Mississippi: Intrinergy, Wiggins; CKS Energy, Amory; Piney Woods, Perkinston; International Paper, VIcksburg; Georgia-Pacific, New Augusta; Georgia-Pacific, Monticello; Norbord, Guntown; Roseburg Forest Products, Louisville; Roseburg Forest Products, Taylorsville; Weyerhaeuser Columbus; Bowater Newsprint, Grenada; Weyerhaeuser, Bruce; Weyerhaeuser, Philadelphia; Weyerhaeuser, Magnolia; Kingsford Manufacturing, Glen; Scotch Plywood, Waynesboro; Hankins Lumber, Elliot. Texas: Rio Grande Sugar Manufacturers, Santa Rosa; Temple Inland Lumber, Diboll; Temple Inland Plywood, Diboll; International Paper, Queen City; Norbord, Jefferson; Mead-Westvaco, Evadale. |