Biomass Magazine was not even one year old when Barack Obama was sworn in as president. The vast majority of the title&rsquo;s issues have unfolded under his administration, and this issue is unique because its planning, reporting and production straddled the election. Articles were decided upon and planned when the outcome of the presidential race was unknown, and they are being finalized, edited and laid out after the country elected to put President-elect Donald Trump in the White House. It is virtually impossible to read the stories in this issue, dedicated to biomass cofiring, conversions and colocations, without viewing them through the lens of a Trump administration. For instance, our power section is anchored by a story from Managing Editor Anna Simet about a planned test burn at Oregon&rsquo;s Boardman Power Station. The facility is the last coal power station operating in the state and our team has been tracking interest and efforts to convert the facility over to biomass feedstock for years. Planners at Boardman are hopeful that before the year is out, they&rsquo;ll be able to complete a 24-hour test burn on torrefied biomass at the plant. There are lots of questions about the feasibility of transitioning the plant to biomass, and this test burn is intended to answer as many of those as possible. The test burn will have little to say about a big, new question, however. Under a Trump administration, what will the appetite be for low-carbon, baseload power be? The Clean Power Plan, already bogged down in challenges to the Supreme Court, seems a likely target for an administration promising eased regulations. That said, was the promise of the Clean Power Plan really the catalyst for the efforts at Boardman? I think the CPP would have been welcomed by the team driving the initiative at Boardman, but I don&rsquo;t think anyone was banking on it. I think the best argument our industry has going for it in the context of a Trump administration is its ability to produce jobs, and for the next four years, we&rsquo;d be wise to build our advocacy efforts on Capitol Hill on that premise. Katie Fletcher&rsquo;s page-14 department, &ldquo;An Unconventional Biomass Conversion Facility,&rdquo; about Chip Energy is a great place to start. Paul Wever, CEO, has been rolling the biomass boulder up a hill for years, and his entrepreneurial zeal would impress and tickle Trump. The story of our industry remains a good one, but the manner by which we tell it likely will require some retooling. Author: Tim Portz Vice President of Content &amp; Executive Editor tportz@bbiinternational.com

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The best argument our industry has going for it in the context of a Trump administration is its ability to produce jobs, and for the next four years, we'd be wise to build our advocacy efforts on Capitol Hill on that premise.

Out With the Old, In With the New

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