The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that US Coal Reserves are not quite as large as Government and Industry experts once believed. Rebecca Smith reported in her article June 8th titled, ‘US Foresees a Thinner Cushion of Coal’ that the cost of extraction has severely curtailed previous estimates of US Coal Reserves. Meaning that some of the massive reserves the US boasts are economically out of reach simply because the cost to extract them is currently too high. This is good news for US Timber producers as we move toward an energy future that features Biomass as a significant part of the total US Energy portfolio. If these concerns are legitimate, this could serve to buoy the price of US Coal Futures and significantly enhance the attractiveness of Biomass fuel and Biomass alternatives. Biomass fired power plants and Co-fired plants are already popping up everywhere as utility companies attempt to introduce larger quantities of renewable fuels in their total energy portfolio.
This movement is meant to take advantage of what is an abundant resource in some parts of the US, forestry waste and thinnings. It gives loggers another buyer for their product and it serves to bolster timber values and demand. A Carbon Emissions ‘Cap and Trade’ or tax program is a major Obama administration priority in 2009 and may add futher momentum to Biomass in the coming months. To read the full text of the Wall Street Journal article simply click on the graphs above to go to their website.
Until next time, God bless you and all our logging and sawmilling communities!
Jesse Sewell
Tags: biomass, Biomass Bailers, Buy and Sell, CAT Forestry, Coal Futures, Coal Reserves, Energy Portfolio, Komatsu Forestry, Morbark, Peterson Pacific, Tigercat Forestry, Timber Harvesting, US Timber Producers, Used CAT Skidder, Used Forestry Equipment, Used Hydro-Ax, Used Morbark, Used PEterson Pacific, Used Prentice, Valmet Forestry, whole tree chipping
