Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
audits of Forest Service policies to third-party certifi cation principles, criteria, and
indicators, or private leases in federal forests could be subject to actual third-party
certifi cation. A combination of both public and private requirements would ensure
that both whole forest and site-level sustainability are better achieved.
The Lacey Act and Imports of Forest Biomass from Illegal Logging
The Congress passed the Lacey Act in 1900 as a way to prevent illegal fi sh and
wildlife traffi cking. The 2008 Farm Bill expanded Lacey Act prohibitions to the
interstate or international trade in illegally harvested timber either under the United
States or any foreign law covering theft, taking from protected or offi cially desig-
nated areas, taking without prior authorization, or taxes. All imports must fi le a
declaration with USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) stat-
ing the scientifi c name of the tree, the quantity and value of the shipment, and the
country from which the tree is taken.
While the declaration does not require importers to maintain a chain of custody
regarding sustainability, it does carry stiff criminal penalties if the importer know-
ingly sources illegally harvested timber, including woody biomass for energy such as
pellets. If the importer does not knowingly import such products, but fails to exercise
“due care,” the importer is subject to lesser misdemeanor charges and civil penalties.
The US Department of Justice has stated that “due care means that degree of care
which a reasonably prudent person would exercise under the same or similar circum-
stances” and that it “is applied differently to different categories of persons with
varying degrees of knowledge and responsibility” [
54
]. The ambiguous nature of the
“due care” standard has lead industry groups to issue their own guidance that includes
a written company policy, standard operating procedures and checklists, asking sup-
pliers to explain the due diligence they exercised in sourcing wood products, and
knowing where the biomass is harvested from through third-party certifi cations.
State Sustainable Forest Biomass-to-Energy Initiatives
While federal policies can and do, in some instances, play a signifi cant role in sus-
tainable forest management (SFM) in relation to bioenergy, the lack of a coordi-
nated federal-level bioenergy policy has left a vacuum for states to fi ll. States can set
rules for activities within their jurisdiction. States can reach activities outside their
borders, but only if the substantial state interest in regulating does not overburden
interstate commerce. The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER)
fi nalized in 2012 a rulemaking specifi cally addressing the sustainability of forest
biomass feedstocks qualifying for the state's renewable portfolio standard (RPS).
The rules are based in part on the groundbreaking Manomet study, which assessed
the possible impacts resulting from the state's proposed transition from traditional
fossil fuels to a bioenergy model. The study analyzed three core energy and
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