Maine logging industry counting on relief in latest federal COVID-19 aid package
Courtesy / Professional Logging Contractors of Maine
Maine's loggers and timber haulers have been hard-hit by the combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and the April mill explosion in Jay.
The state's loggers and timber haulers are hoping the federal aid package being hammered out in Congress keeps $200 million for their industry, which has been left out of other relief packages this since March.
Lawmakers said they are close on agreement on a $908 billion aid package. If it's approved as written, it would include aid for timber harvesting and hauling businesses that have experienced a loss of 10% or more in gross revenue between Jan. 1 and Dec. 1 compared to the same period last year.
The aid for loggers would be historic, not only for Maine’s timber harvesters and haulers, but for the entire industry, said Dana Doran, executive director of the Professional Logging Contractors of Maine.
“At no prior time in our nation’s history have loggers been offered formal support and relief from our nation’s government," Doran said.
Maine’s forest products sector is worth an estimated $7.7 billion annually, and the logging industry contributed an estimated $619 million to the Maine economy in 2017, the last year for which numbers are available. It supported more than 9,000 jobs directly or indirectly, generated $342 million in labor income and pumped an estimated $25 million into state and local tax coffers.
But this year Maine logging contractors who are members of the state’s trade association have reported a 30% to 40% reduction in wood markets, Doran said. The industry has had severe revenue losses, layoffs, loss of clients, reduced productivity and inability to plan for the future, he said in a news release.
The pandemic, combined with the loss of the Pixelle Specialty Solutions pulp mill in Jay in April's explosion "have created a perfect storm for the industry that is threatening its very survival," the release said.
Though loggers are “farmers of the forest,” harvesting a renewable crop, the news release said, the industry has been left out of this year's aid packages.
Neither the March CARES Act relief package or a second agriculture pandemic relief package included the timber industry. The $14 billion Coronavirus Food Assistance Package 2, announced Sept. 18 by President Donald Trump and USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue, added tobacco, hemp and Christmas trees to the list of eligible crops, but not timber.
After the announcement, Maine's congressional delegation joined a letter to Perdue seeking a change in the relief package that would allow loggers to qualify for aid, but the change was denied. On Nov. 18, Perdue replied to the request with a letter that said forest products are not covered under CFAP2. The application period for the program expired last Friday
The industry in July was heartened by a bill sponsored in the House by U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine 2nd District, and the Senate by U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, that would provide aid to the industry, but the bill stalled in the Senate.
“Logging has provided good jobs and supported rural communities in Maine for generations,” Golden said earlier this year. "But today, our loggers and truckers face two major challenges they have no control over: sinking demand from the coronavirus recession and a disruption in the market following the accident at the mill in Jay. Congress has recognized the unique role farmers and fishermen play in their rural communities, and taken action to provide relief funds to those industries. Loggers are taking a serious hit and deserve the same support."
Doran credits the congressional delegation for pushing for the aid and singled out Collins and U.S. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, for their pursuit of aid for the industry.
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