The pending US omnibus bill affirms forest bioenergy’s carbon neutral status. In related news: New York State forces Fort Drum biomass plant to close; and Australia reverses biomass policy on native forests. In other Business news: US Commerce amends their 2020 CVD administrative review on softwood lumber; Port Hawkesbury Paper/Unifor reach labour deal; and a positive end to 2022 for Canada’s inflation rate, US GDP and US consumer confidence.
In Forestry/Climate news: US omnibus bill includes money for wildfire recovery; a BC judge denies old growth protester conditional discharge; and the Parks Society says Albertans want more conservation.
Finally, viewed as a pagan symbol, New England forbade Christmas trees in the 1800s.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor
GREENWICH, New York — It is Christmas time and many people have been busy decorating their Christmas Tree. But how did this somewhat strange practice come to be? To start, several ancient cultures practiced religious festivals around the time of the winter solstice that involved the use of evergreen boughs. … The first written record of a “Christmas tree” was in 1510 in Riga, Latvia. …The Christmas tree eventually made its way to the United States, mainly by way of German immigrants. However, the tradition did not catch on for a while. The Christmas tree was viewed as a pagan symbol, particularly in Puritan New England where laws forbade the practice for a long time. Eventually the greater prevalence of German and Irish immigrants in the first half of the 19th century made the practice more accepted. 
The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) is amending its notice of final results for the 2020 administrative review of the countervailing duty (CVD) order on certain softwood lumber products from Canada. On March 4, 2021, Commerce published its Initiation Notice for the administrative review of the CVD order on softwood lumber from Canada covering the period January 1, 2020, through December 31, 2020. In the Notice, Commerce inadvertently omitted the following companies, for which we had received timely requests for an administrative review: Brink Forest Products Ltd.; Deep Cove Forest Products, Inc.; and Vanderhoof Specialty Wood Products Ltd. …With the issuance of this amended notice, we confirm that Brink Forest Products Ltd. and Vanderhoof Specialty Wood Products Ltd. are included among the firms subject to the CVD administrative review … and are among the non-selected companies subject to a subsidy rate of 3.83 percent, effective August 9, 2022. …Deep Cove Forest Products, Inc. will not be subject to the assessment and cash deposit rates covering the 2020 POR. 
Canada’s inflation rate cooled to 6.8 per cent last month as prices for gasoline and furniture went down, but the cost of food and rent went up. Statistics Canada reported Wednesday that gasoline prices across the country fell by 3.6 per cent during the month. They’re still up by 13.7 per cent compared to where they were a year ago, but that’s down from the 17.8 per cent annual increase clocked the month before. The price of a fill-up may be inching down from record highs, but the cost to fill up a belly continues to increase at an astonishing pace. Grocery bills increased at an 11.4 per cent annual pace last month, up from the 11 per cent increase seen in October. …The cost to keep a roof over one’s head is also increasing at a rapid clip, with overall shelter costs up 7.2 per cent in the past year.
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On December 15, Australia became the first major economy to reverse itself on its renewable classification for woody biomass burned to make energy. Under their new policy, wood harvested from native forests to produce energy cannot be classified as a renewable energy source, while the U.S., Canada, Eastern Europe, Vietnam and others continue to harvest their woodlands to supply biomass-fired power plants in the UK, EU, Japan, South Korea and elsewhere. In the EU, forest advocates continue with last-ditch lobbying efforts to have woody biomass stripped of its renewable energy designation, and end the practice of providing subsidies to the biomass industry for wood pellets. Science has found that biomass burning releases more carbon dioxide emissions per unit of energy produced than coal. Australia’s decision, and the EU’s continued commitment to biomass, creates a conundrum for policymakers: How can major economies have different definitions of renewable energy when it comes to biomass?
A federal magistrate Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit against Oregon Occupational Safety and Health (Oregon OSHA) that claimed the state agency’s new heat and smoke rules violated the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution and were unenforceable. In an oral argument to Magistrate Mark D. Clarke, attorneys for Oregon Manufacturers and Commerce, Associated Oregon Loggers, and Oregon Forest and Industries Council contended air quality fluctuates due to a number of factors, not just wildfire smoke. “Most times, it’s not obvious,” attorney James Anderson said in a December hearing. “There’s no method to determine that air quality is due to wildfire smoke, or prescribed burn smoke, or other things that make up particulates.” Clarke was not convinced. …The suit claimed OSHA’s permanent rules meant to protect workers against extreme heat and wildfire smoke were too vague to be reasonably enforced and therefore violated employers’ 14th Amendment rights.