“2010 was a year of milestones,” said Tom Julia, president of the Composite Panel Assn. Julia’s speech kicked off the general session of the CPA’s semi-annual meeting, held Sept. 26-28. in Toronto.

Despite battling a weak economy, the composite panel industry made inroads on a number of fronts, most notably in helping set the standard for a national regulation for formaldehyde emissions and in directing efforts to ensure that composite panel manufacturers receive fair consideration under the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP).

“Truly the big issue for the broader wood products industry is what do you do with wood. Do you use it to make things or do you burn it. Is it for energy, for manufacturing or for both? Our argument is that it’s for both…. Otherwise we’re going to end up on a slippery slope and drive manufacturing jobs out of this country and that is bad for the national economy,”

Julia added that the association would continue to push for respectful treatment of existing wood industries by the U.S. Congress, particularly in energy reform legislation. “It is a choice between building our own destiny or waiting for that destiny to come to us,” Julia said. “We are mastering our own destiny.”

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