Proposed federal legislation promotes use of timber products

WASHINGTON — Proposed federal legislation that would promote ways of using timber products in the construction of tall buildings was recently introduced in the U.S. Senate.

The Timber Innovation Act — co–sponsored by Senator Debbie Stabenow — would provide investment incentives for research and development of new methods for constructing wood buildings.

The act focuses on finding innovative ways to use wood rather than materials like steel in buildings surpassing seven stories in height.

Senator Stabenow has a specific group of people in mind when it comes to this legislation.

“I was thinking about the U.P. when I introduced this because we’ve got almost nine million forested acres in the U.P.,” said Stabenow. “This provides incentives to continuing those forests and for landowners to continue in forestry and to support harvesting of hard timber.”

Stabenow added that 75 public and private businesses and other organizations support this legislation.

The bill is currently under consideration by the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.