AWC supports House passage of “Regulatory Accountability Act”

American Wood Council (AWC) president and CEO Robert Glowinski has issued the following statement regarding the passage of the Regulatory Accountability Act of 2015 (H.R. 185) by the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill would modernize the 69-year old Administrative Procedure Act and improve how federal agencies write the regulations that most significantly affect the U.S. economy.

AWC was among the more than 100 organizations who signed onto a letter of support for H.R. 185.

“The wood products industry has spent hundreds of millions of dollars over the years as part of its efforts to meet regulatory requirements and to protect the environment. It’s common sense to ensure that agencies accept and consider comments from affected industries on proposals that could have a significant impact on them and their customers. Another critical provision of this legislation requires agencies to verify and substantiate threats to the public’s health and safety before imposing new costly rules, which would increase industry’s confidence in the system.

“AWC thanks Congressman Goodlatte for sponsoring this bill and kick-starting the regulatory reform debate this year.”

For more information on the Regulatory Accountability Act of 2015, click here.

Coalition for Fair Trade of Hardwood Plywood files complaint to review ITC decision

The Coalition for Fair Trade of Hardwood Plywood has filed a complaint against the United States in the U.S. Court of International Trade seeking judicial review of the International Trade Commission decision regarding the antidumping and countervailing duty of hardwood plywood from China. The complaint alleges the decision was not supported by substantial evidence on the record or in accordance with the law.

Determinations on the substitutability of Chinese and U.S. plywood, price depression from Chinese imports, the severe economic harm to the U.S. industry from Chinese hardwood plywood dumped into the U.S. market, the use of illegally sourced wood in these Chinese products are raised in the complaint.

“Troubling to the U.S. industry is that the final determination by the Department of Commerce that these Chinese plywood products were dumped into the U.S. at the range of 55.76 percent to 121.65 percent and had no impact on the U.S. industry to compete fairly according to the ITC,” said Jeff Levin, counsel to the U.S. producers’ coalition.

The complaint asks the Court to remand the decision back to the ITC for reconsideration.

For more information on the petition and investigation, visit www.hardwoodplywoodfairtrade.org.

Industry regulation seminars on sustainability, safety to be offered at AWFS

AWFS Fair will offer a variety of seminar topics to keep industry professionals working within the bounds of industry regulations. Seven sessions dealing with dust, sustainability, safety and maintenance will be presented under the Safety & Environment and Small Shops Ten & Under education tracks.

Three sessions are planned for Wednesday, July 24:

“Dust Collection 101 for the Small Woodworking Shop” is a practical workshop on the basic design and rules of thumb to assist in the specification, operation and maintenance of an efficient and safe dust-collection system. The session is geared to small shops and led by Robert Williamson, technical director for Nederman LLC.

“Combatting Combustible Dust” will be delivered by Jamison Scott of Air Handling Systems. Scott will explain what combustible dust is, how to prevent explosions, who should be in charge of dust issues and tips to mitigate an OSHA inspection. This seminar is valuable for plant managers, maintenance staff, operations directors and woodworking facility owners.

“Strategies for Reducing Citations in the Woodworking Industry” is a free session that discusses common citations and the key items to be addressed to avoid future citations, as well as includes information on I2P2 Illness and Injury Prevention programs. Don Evans, safety & health trainer with Safety Consultation & Training Section in Nevada, will provide “A Guide to Written Workplace Safety” to all attendees.

Two sessions will also be offered on Thursday, July 25:

“Regulations and Certifications Impacting the Woodworking Industry” is a free panel session, comprised of individuals from Composite Panel Association, Green Building Initiative and Hanes Fabric Co., who will share information on an eco-friendly certification for panel producers and the manufacturers using them; explore Green Globes, a growing green-building sustainability rating system; and give an update on Cal OSHA, CARB and other pending changes at the Bureau of Home Furnishings and Thermal Insulation. “Green Globes and LEED: What Woodworkers Need to Know,” will offer a side-by-side comparison of these green building rating systems, covering differences in approach, cost, points and more. The program is led by Sharene Rekow of the Green Building Initiative and Rob Ziegelmeier of O’Keefe, Inc. Two final sessions in this track will be held Saturday, July 27:

“Marketing to an Increasingly Green Marketplace,” presented by Dr. Jeffrey Howe, president of Dovetail Partners Inc., will examine various green market segments and provide marketing ideas based on the concept that marketing is not a cluster of random events but a sequence of events designed to result in the fair exchange of value.

“Implementing a Maintenance Plan” will be presented by former millwork shop owner and current college instructor, Patrick Molzahn of Madison Area Technical College. Molzahn will provide tools to set up a maintenance plan using a simple spreadsheet, as well as discuss best practices for cleaning, lubrication and calibration.

To view the full 2013 CWWK schedule and to register, go to www.AWFSfair.org. For information, contact AWFS at 800.946.2937 or e-mail nancy@awfs.org.

N.C. House passes anti-LEED bill

The N.C. House of Representatives approved 70-43 a bill that is expected to bar public projects from using the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED program, according to the Charlotte Business Journal online. The bill will now move on to be considered by the state senate.

House Bill 628, Protect/Promote NC Lumber, says public projects may use “a nationally recognized high-performance environmental building rating system” if that green building program doesn’t use a credit system “disadvantaging materials or products manufactured or produced” in North Carolina.

Rep. Ruth Samuelson (R-Mecklenburg) said during the debate on the House floor recently that the bill would prevent the state from using the USGBC’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system, the Charlotte Business Journal reports.

“Will it make LEED ineligible?” Samuelson asked. “The answer is yes.”

She unsuccessfully fought for the bill to be killed because of the potential risk to the green-building industry. In particular, Samuelson cited the affects to Nucor Corp. among companies that could be harmed. The Charlotte-based steel company supports the use of LEED.

Rep. Samuelson said her research found that the bill would create no new jobs, but that jobs could be lost instead. She called the bill part of a “turf war” between the timber industry and USGBC. Many people in the wood products industry have characterized LEED standards as not being particularly friendly to wood products.

LEED —the USGBC’s third-party program for vetting green-building design and construction — awards one of its points to projects that use wood that’s certified under the Forest Stewardship Council. Both the Sustainable Forestry Initiative and the American Tree Farm System have unsuccessfully fought for consideration in the LEED program as a certification system for wood materials.

Members of the USGBC voted against inclusion of the other rating programs. The LEED program, however, does award points for materials that come from local sources, which can include wood that hasn’t been FSC certified.

California favors new flame retardant regulations

California proposed regulations on Friday would set new flammability standards and allow furniture manufacturers to stop using chemical flame retardants, Manufacturing.net reports. The change was proposed after decades of complaints about the spread of chemicals known as PBDEs and TDCPP into the environment, chemicals listed as carcinogens under California’s Proposition 65. Animal studies have shown PBDEs can affect brain development, but human health effects are still unknown, according to the CDC. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say people are being exposed to the chemicals by eating fish or breathing dust that has been contaminated. People tested in the U.S. had levels of the chemicals in their bodies several times higher than people tested in Europe, the CDC said. In June, Gov. Jerry Brown ordered the state Bureau of Electronic and Appliance Repair, Home Furnishings and Thermal Insulation to re-examine the standard to reduce manufacturers’ reliance on toxic chemicals. Regulators say the new rules would cut fire danger by focusing protection efforts on actual ignition sources such as cigarettes, radiant heaters, extension cords and fireplace embers, rather than on outdated sources such as candle flames.

California is the only U.S. state with a mandatory flammability standard for residential furniture, a standard often achieved by the use of chemically treated foams.

The current standard requires that foams and other furniture filling withstand exposure to an open flame for 12 seconds. The new rules call for cover fabrics and foams to be tested instead with a smoldering cigarette — the leading cause of furniture fires — but would no longer require that the interior padding or foam be able to withstand an open flame for 12 seconds. Studies show that more often, furniture covers tend to burn up faster than the foam inside, and there are ways to make those covers flame-resistant without the use of toxic chemicals.

Instead of banning the chemical retardants, the new rules seek to allow manufacturers to stop using the chemicals in treating foam. The proposal came after a federal study found no significant difference in the flammability of foams treated with chemical retardants and those that were not treated.

AWC change to International Building Code approved

A proposed code change by the American Wood Council (www.awc.org) to expand the use of cross-laminated timber through the building code’s heavy timber construction classification has been approved by the International Code Council.

The newly approved code will be published in late 2014 and will be immediately available for jurisdictions to adopt in 2015. The International Building Code is one in a series of codes that is being updated by the ICC for 2015.

Prior to the ICC hearings, as part of a project to produce a U.S. design manual for cross-laminated timber, AWC conducted a successful ASTM E119 fire endurance test on a CLT wall at NGC Testing Services in Buffalo, N.Y. The wall, consisting of a 5-ply CLT (approximately 7 inches thick), was covered on each side with a single layer of 5/8-inch Type X gypsum wallboard. The wall was loaded to the maximum attainable by the test equipment and was then exposed to a standard fire that reaches a temperature of more than 1,800 F in the first 90 minutes of exposure.

“While only seeking a 2-hour rating as required by the building code provisions, the test specimen lasted 3 hours 6 minutes. This may also open up additional possibilities in a few specialized locations where a 3-hr fire resistance rating might be required,” said AWC vice president of engineering, Brad Douglas.

For more information, contact Buddy Showalter at 202.463.2769.

Deal reached to drop Gibson Guitar exotic wood imports case

Federal prosecutors say they have reached a deal with Gibson Guitar Corp. to drop the criminal case against the instrument manufacturer after it acknowledged its exotic wood imports violated U.S. environmental laws, the Associated Press reported.

Under the agreement, Gibson must pay a $300,000 penalty, forfeit claims to about $262,000 worth of wood seized by federal agents and contribute $50,000 to promote conservation of protected tree species. The agreement comes after 2011 raids at Gibson’s Memphis, Tenn., and Nashville, Tenn., facilities by federal agents.

Republicans previously supported CEO Henry Juszkiewicz when he denounced the raids as overzealous federal regulation that threatened American jobs, according to AP.

Gibson Guitars CEO criticizes Lacey Act as a “job killer”

Henry Juszkiewicz (pronounced JUSS-kuh-witz), CEO of Gibson Guitar, wrote in a recent opinion essay published by The Wall Street Journal that the current version of Lacey Act – a set of laws banning commerce in illegally sourced plants and their products – is an example of overcriminalization and federal overreach. Proponents of the law say it helps fight global illegal logging while protecting U.S. wood products manufacturers from unfair competition abroad.

In the essay, Juszkiewicz said his company was raided by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) because it imported unfinished guitar fingerboards from India, presumably violating an Indian law that forbids exporting unfinished products, according to HardwoodFloorsMag.com. In Juszkiewicz’s view, FWS “decided to enforce its own interpretation of Indian law … In effect, the agency is arguing that to be in compliance with the [Indian] law, Gibson must outsource the jobs of finishing craftsmen in Tennessee,” he wrote.

Juszkiewicz said his company created 580 jobs in the last two years. He said the FWS raid “is an overreach of government authority and indicative of the kinds of burdens the federal government routinely imposes on growing businesses.” He also characterizes the current version of Lacey as a “job killer.”

Juszkiewicz publicized H.R. 3210: the Retailers and Entertainers Lacey Implementation and Enforcement Fairness Act, or RELIEF Act. He said the bill “could reduce the chances of citizens accidentally running afoul of the Lacey law.”

In opposition to H.R. 3210 are The Hardwood Federation, a lobbying group of which the NWFA is a part; the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA); The American Forest & Paper Association; and National Hardwood Lumber Association. They believe it would weaken Lacey enforcement, and put the wood product industry’s 900,000 jobs at risk.

Flame retardant chemicals no longer needed in furniture?

As furniture is becoming more environmentally friendly, the use of noxious flame retardant chemicals may no longer necessary, according to the chief of the California state agency.

The agency is responsible for introducing the rule that made these chemicals common in American furniture, according to the Chicago Tribune. Tonya Blood, chief of the California agency that regulates furniture, committed to scrapping that rule on Tuesday. She said she wants to replace it with fire-safety tests that will require furniture to resist a smoldering cigarette.

Most furniture is sufficient to meet a smolder standard, making it unnecessary to add chemicals to the foam underneath, according to Federal safety officials.

Furniture industry representatives who spoke to the Chicago Tribune agreed and said they are eager to see the change. However, the rule technically only applies to furniture sold in California. Many manufacturers still retain the right to add flame retardants to products sold nationwide.

“This standard provides protection while reducing reliance on toxic chemicals,” Blood told lawmakers in the California Assembly Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials.

Research has shown that the addition of these chemicals to our furniture puts children and pregnant women at risk. Flame retardant chemicals have been shown to increase exponentially in the bodies of Americans.

Some flame retardants have been linked to cancer, neurological deficits, developmental problems and impaired fertility. They migrate out of products into dust, wind up in the bodies of people and animals and linger in the environment for years.

Firefighters explained how their on-the-job exposure to flame retardants put them at risk for rare cancers normally found in chemical workers.

Blood’s public commitment to major change comes a week after California Gov. Jerry Brown called for an overhaul of the state’s rule. Blood cautioned that it could take a year to move the changes through the state’s administrative process.

California bill would ban most table saws

Delta Power Equipment Corp., manufacturer of the iconic Unisaw table saw, has put up a notice on their website (www.deltamachinery.com) warning about proposed legislation in California that would require flesh-sensing safety equipment on all table saws sold in that state.
Introduced by California Assemblyman Das Williams (D-Santa Barbara), Assembly Bill 2218 would ban the sale of any new table saw in the state after Jan. 1, 2015, if the saw is not equipped with “active injury mitigation technology.”
Delta is urging people to contact California legislators to oppose the bill. “As you have seen in many cases before, California legislative decisions quickly pass to other states, and most products are designed for national distribution, so if this law passes, it may affect the design of products sold in every state,” said a Delta spokesman.
The safety system that would be required under the proposed California law is defined in the bill as “technology to detect contact with, or dangerous proximity between, a hand or finger and the teeth of the blade above the table top of a table saw, and to prevent the blade from cutting the hand or finger deeper than one-eighth of an inch when the hand or finger approaches any portion of the blade above the table top at a speed of one foot per second from any direction and along any path.”
The only such technology that currently exists is the patented SawStop system.
The legislation also provides for temporary deactivation of the safety system “so that a saw can cut material which would otherwise be detected as a person.”
Interestingly, the legislation defines a table saw in part as having a 12-inch blade or less, thus exempting larger blade industrial saws.
The bill would make a seller who sells a saw not equipped with the device subject to a civil fine of up to $5,000 per sale.
Delta’s notice about the proposed legislation urges people to contact the bill’s author (http://asmdc.org/members/a35/) or other California legislators (http://192.234.213.69/amapsearch/). “Even if you aren’t in California, California needs to hear from you,” says Delta’s notice.