~ Agencies will implement Forest Product Industry Competitiveness Task Force plan ~

Saint Paul – Governor Tim Pawlenty today announced the formation of the Forestry Subcabinet, consisting of state agencies that regulate or are stakeholders and partners in Minnesota’s forest products industry. The group will include Iron Range Resources, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the departments of Natural Resources, Employment and Economic Development, Agriculture and Commerce.

“The primary forest products industry in Minnesota is vital to the state’s economy,” Governor Pawlenty said. “We need to ensure that our forest products industry remains competitive in a global marketplace as we seize the opportunity presented by biofuels and renewable energy.”

The subcabinet is the recommendation of the Governor’s Forest Product Industry Competitiveness Task Force and will collaborate on efforts to address the challenges and opportunities related to forestry, coordinate the administration’s responses to emergency situations, and plan and undertake actions that anticipate and help avert such emergencies. The task force has also recommended increasing statewide annual timber harvest for all ownerships to 5.5 million cords by 2012.

In addition to implementing task force recommendations, Governor Pawlenty has also directed the NextGen Energy Board to work to ensure existing forest product industry facilities are a priority for state cellulosic biofuels and bioenergy policies, incentives, and research. The NextGen Energy Board was a product of the Governor’s Next Generation Energy Initiative, and will provide recommendations about how the state can most efficiently achieve energy independence through agriculture and natural resource sustainability.

The NextGen Energy Board will also work to:

• Ensure current raw material supplies of established forest product firms are sustained and the existing use of biomass by these firms for energy purposes is enhanced.
• Provide capital incentives for high-value biomass utilization, including gasification equipment to produce bio-gas, as an offset for use of natural gas and propane, and as a first step toward the next generation of biofuels.
• Structure incentives to enable partnerships to develop between electric utilities and the forest products industry.
• Provide state investment in pilot scale projects at existing forest products facilities to test next generation bioenergy technologies.

Governor Pawlenty said he would use his position as chair of the Land Exchange Board to develop a new state system to expedite public and private land exchanges in an effort to reduce the “checkerboard” forestland ownership pattern while increasing management efficiency and access.

At a recent meeting of the task force in Grand Rapids, the Governor expressed support for changes to policy which would foster a favorable climate that encourages investment by the industry, attracts secondary industries, and encourage both family forest and industrial landowners to retain and manage their lands as working forestlands.

The task force, originally convened in 2003 to address employment losses in forest-based industries, was reconvened in the fall of 2006 in response to economic factors that have challenged this vital industry. Last fall, the Governor instructed the task force to continue meeting into 2007 to develop long-term strategies for the industry. Their findings were presented to the Governor in July 2007.