NEWS

Four timber companies filed a federal lawsuit against three utility companies, alleging gross negligence and recklessness leading up to the 2020 Holiday Farm Fire in Oregon. The timber companies stated that the utility companies' actions led to a "catastrophic but preventable fire" that burned thousands of acres of their timber.

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Michigan's forest products industry, largely hardwoods, generated nearly $27 billion in 2022, an increase of $4 billion from 2019. Data shows that the state's forest products industry directly employed more than 40,000 people with an average salary of $80,000 in 2022 and supported a total of more than 88,000 jobs.

In July, the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee defined biomass as carbon neutral in its FY 2025 Interior funding bill. This was one day after the House passed its version of the same funding bill, which also classified forest products biomass as carbon neutral. This would maintain the current treatment of biomass by agencies that expires every year unless renewed.

The Senate has decided not to consider the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act. The legislation would have retroactively restored the 100% bonus depreciation tax credit, and extended the research and development tax credit that expired in 2022 and provided more favorable interest deductibility provisions. Tax will be a big issue in 2025 as more of the provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act expire.

DHA member Besse Forest Products closed three hardwood veneer and plywood plants in Wisconsin "due to an unprecedented industry downturn." More than 130 employees have been laid off. Besse Forest Products was acquired by the Hoffman Family of Companies earlier this year.

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