Import:Export Wood Purchasing News - August/September 2017

Maureen “Moe”
Hart
Who ’s Who in
Import/Exports
Maureen “Moe” Hart handles export sales at
R. J. Williams Inc., located in Apalachin, New York.
R. J. Williams is a concentration yard with capacity to
air-dry 3 million board feet of lumber under cover, and
a further 725,000 board feet of American Wood Dryers’
kiln capacity. All lumber is end-waxed to prevent splitting
and R. J. Williams can stamp lumber with its own
logo, or a customer’s custom logo.
The company has 35 employees and operates on 60
acres.
Species offered by R. J. Williams include Ash, Basswood,
Cherry, Hard and Soft Maple, Poplar, Birch and Hickory (all No. 2
and Better, 4/4 to 8/4). The company also offers Red and White Oak (all
No. 2 and Better, 4/4).
Continued on page 28
Mark Schumann is sales manager for Alan McIlvain
Company, located in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania.
Alan McIlvain offers imported wood, domestic
hardwood and softwood lumber and custom
mouldings. The company has a total inventory of 7
million board feet, as well as offering custom sorts
and custom mouldings.
Since 1798 Alan McIlvain has specialized in
sourcing domestic and imported grade lumber Mark Schumann
from sawmills. With state-of-the-art kilns the
company can dry lumber up to 16/4 in thickness. Automated sorting
equipment allows Alan McIlvain to produce a wide variety of
width, length and grade combinations to offer customers the lumber
they need to complete projects with minimal waste.
Schumann holds a Bachelor of Science degree in forest products,
which he earned from Pennsylvania State University, located
Continued on page 28
Jason Dishman is responsible for purchasing green
lumber at Hermitage Hardwood Lumber Sales Inc.,
located in Cookeville, Tennessee.
Hermitage Hardwood has 1.1 million board feet of
dry kiln capacity and offers surfacing and grading. The
company has 4.5 million board feet of capacity of sheds
for air-drying lumber and currently maintains 5 million
board feet of storage for kiln-dried lumber. Additionally,
the company offers ripped strips.
Jason Dishman
Species offered by Hermitage Hardwood include Red
and White Oak, Walnut, Hard Maple, Poplar, Cherry,
Ash, Hickory and Basswood. Truckload and container shipments are
offered.
Dishman is a graduate of the National Hardwood Lumber Association’s
115th Inspector Training School, located in Memphis, TN.
Hermitage Hardwood is a member of the American Hardwood Export
Council, Hardwood Manufacturers Association, Appalachian Hardwood
Manufacturers Inc., and the National Hardwood Lumber Association.
In his spare time, Dishman enjoys being on the lake and camping with
his family and is also an avid sports fan.
Dishman and his wife have been married 41 years and the couple has
three children.
For more information, visit www.hermitagehardwood.com. ■
Jack Bowen is vice president of sales and business
development for Hancock Lumber Co. in Casco,
Maine.
Established in 1848, Hancock Lumber is a 6th generation,
family-owned business operating a timberland
company, a sawmill division and a network of retail
lumberyards and home design showrooms across
Maine and New Hampshire. The fi rm has 460 employees
and exports approximately 25 percent of its
Jack Bowen
production. This includes Eastern White Pine lumber as
well as framing lumber, windows, doors, mouldings and
fl ooring, among other products.
Bowen is a graduate of Mt. Blue High School in Farmington, ME, and
received a Business Certifi cate from Auburn University in Auburn, AL.
A New Take On Sustainability
U.S. hardwood is now
backed with a comprehensive
set of data and systems
to provide legality and sustainability
assurance, without
certifi cation.
The American Hardwood Export
Council (AHEC) has pioneered an innovative
approach to demonstrating
the sustainability of U.S. hardwood
products.
It has combined independent
region-wide risk assessment of forest
governance, regular forest monitoring data,
assessment of product life cycle environmental
impacts and a provision of a detailed American
Hardwood Environmental Profi le (AHEP) with
every export consignment.
AHEC’s strategy is a response to the fact that there are insurmountable
technical barriers to widespread forest certifi cation in the U.S.
hardwood sector, leading to effective discrimination against it. The critical
certifi cation barrier is that over 90 percent of products derive from
non-industrial private forest land and the more than nine million U.S.
private forest ownerships, averaging under 15 hectares, fi nd the cost
and complexities of certifi cation prohibitive.
Ownership fragmentation also results in complex supply chains, increasing
wood tracking system costs.
WASHINGTON
SCENE
By Michael Snow, Executive Director
American Hardwood Export Council
Reston, VA
703-435-2900
www.ahec.org
Continued on page 13
EPA Withdraws Formaldehyde Direct Final Rule On
Compliance Date Extension, New Rule Moves Forward
The Federal Register recently included a notice from the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) that the agency is withdrawing the Formaldehyde Emission
Standards for Composite Wood Products regulation from the Direct Final Rule On
Compliance Date Extension. This was an unexpected withdrawal and once EPA
determined they received an adverse comment, in this case the commenter asked
for a longer delay in the compliance timeline.
In the notice, EPA makes clear that they are now moving forward with the Proposed
Rule on Compliance Date Extension that was published in tandem with the
Direct Final Rule.
EPA’s staff have been assured that they understand the importance of moving
as quickly as possible to address the comments received and go Final with the
Proposed Rule.
The Proposed Rule states the following:
“EPA is publishing this proposed amendment to extend the Toxic Substances
Control Act (TSCA) Title VI final rule compliance dates including: extending the
December 12, 2017 date for emission standards, recordkeeping and labeling provisions
until March 22, 2018; extending the December 12, 2018 date for import certification
provisions until March 22, 2019; extending the December 12, 2023 date for
provisions applicable to producers of laminated products until March 22, 2024.”
For more information on EPA, visit www.epa.gov.
Congress Gets Notified By USTR About
NAFTA Renegotiation
Michael Snow
Recently, newly confirmed U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer issued
a letter from Democratic Leader Charles E. Schumer stating that, NAFTA was
negotiated 25 years ago and since then, both the economy and businesses have
changed tremendously over the years, but NAFTA still remains the same. It was
noted that many chapters had been outdated and are not reflecting modern standards.
The goal for NAFTA is to be modernized and to include new provisions to address
intellectual property rights, regulatory practices, state-owned enterprises along with
several more modernized changes.
President Trump has announced he intends to establish negotiations with Canada
and Mexico in order to modernize the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Through the inclusions of the new provisions that address all of the major intellec-
Continued on page 29
Continued on page 10
Page 2 Import/Export Wood Purchasing News August/September 2017