make sure there are no unintended consequences,” he said.
Further to the theme of complex policy issues, he surprised some attendees by suggesting they were at least indirectly in the energy business, and that cheap natural gas was causing problems for fiber residuals.
“We are indirectly in the energy business,” he said. “Guess what, fracking has been a wonderful development for the economy of our country over the last few years. It has also allowed us to get $2.25 diesel, which is great. It has brought down prices around the globe. But when you pull liquids out of the ground, what do you get? You get natural gas, and it is incredibly cheap. There are companies out there who might have used wood pellets or wood fiber in their boiler. It’s cheaper to just burn natural gas, now. Those biomass plants can’t compete with natural gas generated electricity. It is just cheap, which is both a good thing and a bad thing for our industry.
“As an industry we have to understand how these external things can affect us.”
NWPCA is also working to eliminate potential restriction on the use of recycled fiber in pellets that has been pushed by EPA. “We do not need government saying that our residuals are unusable,” Hachtman said. “So we have submitted comments to EPA that there is nothing wrong with wood pallets being used for wood pellets.” In fact, he noted, because the material is so dry, the BTU content is much higher.
Hachtman also touched on more general business concerns, including tax, immigration, health care, labor, and OSHA.
Of note, NWPCA formed its PalletPac in 2018. (A Pac is a political action committee.) “It is designed solely to support the wooden pallet and container industry,” Hachtman said. “It’s one more arrow in our quiver that allows us to find friends in Washington, D.C., and keep friends in Washington, D.C. We need friends on both sides of the aisle, senate and house.”
To find out more about PalletPac and how you can support it, visit https://www.palletcentral.com/page/PalletPAC.
Hachtman submitted the title of his presentation, Politics and Pallets in a Crazy Time: What the Heck Is Going On? back in October. That, he observed, was before things really got crazy in Washington.
JANUARY 2019