New Hampshire is heavily forested.

• More than 84 percent, or 4.7 million acres, is forested
• Of those forested acres, 4.5 million acres (93 percent) are classified as timberland by the USDA Forest Service

The forest products industry is important to New Hampshire's economy.

• One of the top three manufacturing sectors in the state
• Provides thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in payments to loggers, landowners, and communities
• Provides critical incentives to private landowners, who own 80 percent of the state's forests-the backdrop to New Hampshire's vital tourism industry

Biomass energy production helps to maintain this industry by providing a market for low-grade wood and promoting sustainable forestry practices.

• Low-grade wood accounts for more than 50 percent of the standing timber volume and the timber harvested in the state
• Biomass materials (such as wood chips, stumps, brush, and smaller low-lying vegetation) are unusable in timber or paper production
• Providing a market for low-grade wood encourages loggers to remove biomass materials from the forest floor after timber harvesting, which promotes the regeneration of healthy trees
• A 2002 report commissioned by the NH Department of Resources and Economic Development concluded that "no other market exists to replace wood-fired electricity as an outlet to consume significant volumes of low-grade wood."
• In 2003, revenue from the sale of biomass chips totaled $12.4 million in NH

Biomass helps to protect the health and well-being of our state.

• Provides a local, renewable fuel source that doesn't contribute to global warming
• New biomass facilities (such as PSNH's Northern Wood Power) are among the lowest emitting power plants operating in New England today
• Biomass plants help to meet renewable portfolio standards, as well as state and federal environmental protection laws

Biomass is an economic and stable fuel source for producing electricity.

• By increasing our biomass energy production, we reduce our reliance on foreign-bought fossil fuels, as well as our vulnerability to volatile price fluctuations in the global market for oil and natural gas
• With responsible management, forests can be harvested, regenerated, and re-harvested within 15 to 20 years. By contrast, coal and oil have finite supplies
• The use of biomass helps to diversify the state's overall fuel mix, which promotes lower costs and price stability