Legislation led by U.S. Rep. Kevin Kiley (I-CA) on July 16 would provide investment and production credits for open- and closed-loop biomass facilities, more of which are needed to help reduce wildfires and produce energy.
“Our forests are overgrown and in desperate need of cleanup,” Rep. Kiley said. “A large contributor to this heightened wildfire risk is the buildup of limbs, leaves, shrubs, bushes, and dead wood, otherwise known as biomass. When biomass accumulates in our forests, it creates more fuel for wildfire.”
The congressman sponsored the Biomass Facility Construction Act, H.R. 9746, to create a tax credit totaling 30 percent of the cost of construction for biomass facilities, which also would be allowed to concurrently receive the existing tax credit for energy produced via biomass.
According to a bill summary provided by Rep. Kiley’s staff, a large part of wildfire mitigation efforts requires cleaning up biomass, but contractors struggle with disposing of it because there aren’t enough biomass facilities to bring it to.
To help spur the development of more biomass facilities, H.R. 9746 would provide a tax credit for biomass facility construction and energy production, in turn leading to the availability of more biomass facilities, creating more access for contractors to offload the material, and lowering the costs of wildfire mitigation efforts, the summary says.
The measure has been referred for consideration to the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee.