Legislation that would allow producers to make cellulosic ethanol out of waste wood from federal forest land was re-introduced last week in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) and Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD) are co-sponsoring the Renewable Biofuels Facilitation Act, legislation that would
fix a provision in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 that prevents producers from making cellulosic ethanol out of nearly all federal forest waste. The legislation’s current definition of renewable biomass prevents almost all federal land biomass, such as trees, wood, brush, thinnings, chips, and slash, from counting toward the mandate if it is used to manufacture biofuels.

The bill would significantly broaden the definition of cellulosic ethanol within the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) to include biomass gathered from federal lands.