Partners Release Results of Montana Biomass Feasibility Project

Montana Community Development Corporation (MCDC) has released “Developing a Business Case for Sustainable Biomass Generation:  A Regional Model for Western Montana.”  The report, funded in part by the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities (the Endowment), was a joint-venture by NorthWestern Energy and seven Montana saw mills and others.  The purposes was  to look at the potential of meeting a portion of that state’s future energy needs from domestically-produced green energy while also serving to enhance the viability of the region’s traditional forest products industry and provide markets for low-value wood that would improve forest health.

“While this project identified significant economic hurdles to competitiveness of woody biomass as an energy source for Western Montana,” said Endowment President Carlton Owen, “what encourages us the most is the process and potential to look at issues in new ways that link the needs and interests of not just energy producers but the forest products industry and forest landowners as well.”