Tom Vilsack: Unlikely Partnership for Our Clean Energy Future
In an opinion article published today in the Richmond Times Dispatch, Tom Vilsack, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, says the tremendous economic and environmental costs of the Gulf oil spill make more apparent than ever the need to make the president’s vision for a 21st century clean energy economy a reality. “America can no longer rely on energy sources that are growing increasingly difficult to find and utilize,” he writes.
Vilsack wrote, “At the same time, a failure to embrace renewable energy represents a lost economic opportunity for the nation, particularly for rural America. Our farms, forests, fields, and oceans are a wellspring of clean energy resources just waiting to be tapped. As we work to utilize alternative energy sources like biofuels, woody biomass, and anaerobic digesters, farmers and ranchers can benefit from new markets for bioenergy crops and agricultural byproducts — including those produced on land that is marginal for production of traditional crops.”
The American Forest Foundation is working with Congress for support of clean, renewable energy from America’s family-owned forests. Family forests can sustainably supply roughly 90 million dry tons of renewable material annually, mostly small diameter trees and harvesting byproducts. This can be converted into between 4-6 billion gallons of renewable fuel or enough electricity to power over 1 million homes.
In addition to the clean energy benefits, producing renewable energy from sustainable family forests gives family owners additional markets and revenue streams for their products. Harvesting renewable energy from forests will lead to cleaner water, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, improved wildlife habitat, and increased opportunities to keep families on the land and keep their lands forested.
Because of these benefits for family forest owners and the environment, the American Forest Foundation supports increased opportunities for the production of renewable energy from sustainably managed family forests. To learn more about what AFF is doing to promote renewable energy from America’s family-owned forests, visit http://www.forestfoundation.org/policy_energy.html
