Summer 2018

W V L O G G E R S C O U N C I L N E W S Summer 2018 |  West Virginia Forestry Association Mountain State Forestry 23 Workers Comp Premiums, Going Down IN GREAT NEWS for loggers and all employers, workers’ comp premiums will be reduced with the passage of HB 4628. This Bill will terminate the nine percent (9 percent) surcharge on workers comp insurance premiums which are directed towards the Workers Compensation Old Fund Debt, which was created back in 2005 when the state’s workers comp system was privatized. Now that the Old Fund debt is actuarily funded to pay all future claims, HB 4628 provides that this surcharge will be eliminated after the last day of the year (December 31, 2018).  www.wvfa.org CLT Plant Ready to Open NEWS FROM APPALACHIAN HARDWOOD MANUFACTURERS, INC says that the first and biggest cross- laminated timber (CLT) manufacturing plant in the eastern U.S. is nearly operational here. Florida-based International Beams (IB) has built a 227,000-square-foot highly- specialized CLT manufacturing facility which will open in June. The $19.6 million plant will make panels from southern yellow pine lumber and sold mainly in the U.S. market. Advocates of CLT say it can be used to construct buildings of equal strength and fire-resistance as those made of steel and concrete. CLT has the interest of architects and the wood products industry who know it is a much greener method for housing the world's growing population. AHMI will have a presentation on the second eastern US plant under construction in Maine at the 2018 Summer Conference in July. LignaTerra USA and Argent Timberland's Michael Shearer will discuss the company's construction of its CLT plant and plans for the future. The meeting is July 29–31 at The Homestead in Hot Springs, VA. 