WASHINGTON – Tucked away in the voluminous energy bill that Congress passed last week is legislation that could improve the health of the nation’s forests, while encouraging the use of woody debris as an alternative source of energy.

There are ”millions of tons of debris found on the floors of our forestland (and) this woody material, if not put to productive use, simply creates a tinderbox in our forests or is piled up in landfills,” said Rep. Greg Walden, a member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Seeking to increase the use of biomass, Walden and other legislators backed provisions in the energy bill to provide incentives for companies looking to use woody biomass for power production, including a possible federal investment of up to $500,000 in new facilities built to generate biomass energy. The legislation also authorizes an investment of $20 for every green ton of biomass delivered.

”The major cost for (producing) biomass energy is the fuel, whether you are bringing it in yourself or buying it at the plant gate,” said Scott Aycock, a program administrator at the Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council in Redmond. ”The $20 per ton will help the bottom line” but the subsidies ”won’t do it by themselves.”

The bill includes the extension of production tax credits for companies developing renewable, alternative sources of energy, including biomass. Tax credits and grants help companies that use biomass by covering some of the cost of making transitions from larger production to smaller production and from using larger trees to smaller trees, Aycock said.

”If you want to go into the biomass power business, there is a lot of change involved, but most companies are doing it in conjunction with solid wood production,” he said.

Some industries make use of woody biomass by burning it to generate electricity or turning it into products such as road signs or animal bedding, according to Robin M. Nazzaro of the Government Office of Accountability in a statement to the House Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health in May.

”Using woody biomass in these and other ways can have several beneficial side effects, including stimulating local economies and potentially facilitating fuel-reduction efforts by creating a demand for (the) material,” Nazzaro said.

Because the cost of harvesting and transporting the material is high and the value of the products produced is often relatively low, woody biomass has not been used as much as Walden and others interested in alternative energy sources would like.

The legislation, which was passed on the eve of the August recess, awaits President Bush’s signature.