For anyone who cuts firewood, burns firewood, or has forest that they would like to harvest in the future, please review Bill 0584 currently being considered by the Vermont legislature.
Anyone who is concerned about unnecessary government growth and expenditure, please review this bill as well.
https://legiscan.com/VT/bill/H0584/2015 This bill requires land owners to apply to the state and obtain a permit number if they plan to have 20 or more cord of firewood or an equivalent amount of timber or woodchips harvested from your land.
Firewood cutters must have this permit number in hand prior to cutting timber/wood. The number must be documented on every truck load of material leaving the sight to the final point of sale, The permit/transactions numbers must also follow all material through primary processing (sawmill) to the sale of the lumber, or to the final buyer of firewood/chips.
The requirements of this bill will create a new fee for property owners who must apply for the permit, and increase paperwork / legal requirements for timber / firewood processors resulting in unnecessary increase in cost for consumers of these goods, and make forestry companies in VT less competitive with neighboring states, potentially resulting in loss of jobs and reduced resources for forest management.
Additionally, the permits are issued by the State, therefore additional state resources are being committed to unnecessary activities and unnecessarily increasing state government regulations with little to no benefit to the public.
Please review this bill and let your local legislators know your feelings. Please pass the word far and wide to all who might be concerned about this.
Carl LaShomb
