[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 168 (Thursday, November 1, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2309-E2310]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 A TRIBUTE TO LAKEVIEW BIOMASS PROJECT

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. GREG WALDEN

                               of oregon

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, November 1, 2007

  Mr. WALDEN of Oregon. Madam Speaker, I rise today to tell you about a 
very significant event taking place in Lakeview, OR, today. Because 
this event is the culmination of unselfish hard work by a dedicated 
group who shared a vision of a better tomorrow for Lake County, I am 
very proud to stand to tell you that a model for future management of 
our natural resources is becoming a reality today.
  Three Saturdays ago, I traveled to Lakeview to tour a visionary 
effort, the Lakeview Biomass Project, which has become the talk of 
energy and natural resource organizations throughout the Nation. The 
dedicated people behind the Lakeview Biomass Project have found an 
innovative way to move us swiftly in the direction toward our rich 
national heritage of healthy forests, vibrant local economies, and 
energy independence.
  As our forests become choked and overgrown to the point that they are 
being decimated by fire and insect infestations, the people in Lake 
County made a decision to reverse that downward spiral through an 
amazing partnership of business, Federal and State agencies, and the 
local community.
  Madam Speaker, the word ``synergy'' has been used for years as a 
buzzword to denote a process that creates a whole that is greater than 
the sum of the parts. This is certainly the case in Lakeview. Although 
their concept was innovative, it was also founded on plain old Eastern 
Oregon common sense.
  At the risk of minimizing the massive scope of the effort that went 
into this project, let me boil it down to its simplest elements. Brush 
and small diameter trees will be taken out of the local forests in the 
process of making them healthier and fire resilient. That material will 
either be cleanly burned in a plant that produces steam and electricity 
or milled into dimension lumber at the Collins Fremont Sawmill. The 
steam will heat the mill's kiln dryer and will turn the turbines of the 
generator. Jobs at the mill will be more secure, and new jobs will be 
generated to operate the biomass plant and to treat our forests.
  Madam Speaker, I toured the new mill and was very enthused to see 
that small trees that likely would have burned in inevitable 
catastrophic wildfires can now be put to clean and productive use 
through state-of-the-art technology. I salute the Collins family for 
their vision and for their unflagging support of the Lakeview area in 
making a significant investment in the future, at a time when lumber 
producers throughout the Northwest have gone out of business.
  I am very impressed with Marubeni Sustainable Energy for their 
commitment to build a 13 megawatt plant at the site of the mill at a 
cost of over $30 million. My colleagues will be pleased to know that 
the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management participated 
extensively in this process and worked with Lake County Resources 
Initiative to provide a 10-year supply through stewardship contracting, 
and they are working toward a 20-year memorandum of understanding that 
will pave the way for productive use well into the future. Madam 
Speaker, you can take pride in knowing that the energy incentives 
provided by this body and signed by the President have been a 
significant stimulus in making this concept work.
  There are so many people to recognize for this success, but certainly 
I must mention the Lake County Commissioners who were so very proud to 
show me this project earlier this month. Jim Walls of the Lake County 
Resource Initiative has been tireless in his efforts to move this 
project forward. My friend, Governor Ted Kulongoski, saw the merit of 
this project early on and designated it as an Oregon Solutions Project 
that brought all of the stakeholders together and, with the direction 
of Steve Greenwood, kept the focus on target. Hal Salwasser of Oregon 
State University served as the driving force in his role as convener. I 
also want to acknowledge local leaders in the environmental movement 
who have worked hard to develop a project that will have

[[Page E2310]]

a long term beneficial impact on our federal forests.
  I know, Madam Speaker, that time allows me to only mention a few of 
the many who made this project a success, but the most exciting part of 
the whole story is that this is just the beginning. The City of 
Lakeview and Lake County are hard at work at putting other renewable 
sources of energy to work. They plan to expand on their already 
successful use of geothermal and are working toward solar generation at 
a former Air Force radar site in the small community of Christmas 
Valley.
  We can all take pride in knowing that communities like Lakeview are 
taking their destiny into their own hands and creating models for the 
future that can sustain both Northwest communities and forests.

                          ____________________