Partnerships in Forestry - NC

NORTH CAROLINA

North Carolina Forestry Association

Dr. John Hatcher, Executive Director, North Carolina Forestry Association

NORTH CAROLINA GRANDFATHERED

Ensuring the Safe and Efficient Delivery of Raw Forest Products in North Carolina.

The forest products industry in North Carolina enjoys a 10,000 lb. variance on state roads for the transportation of a multitude of raw materials. This variance allows producers to deliver their goods safely and efficiently to market without having to be too concerned with the variability in the weight of raw materials due to tract characteristics, weather conditions, and tree species. Over the last couple of years, producers have been concerned about losing this variance on several state highways slated to transition into the federal interstate system. Thanks to a coalition of concerned interests, producers in North Carolina can now continue “business as usual.”

In 2011 the North Carolina Forestry Association (NCFA), its member companies, and other agricultural commodity groups worked with members of the North Carolina General Assembly to introduce and support legislation granting a 10,000 lb. variance for the transportation of raw forest and agricultural products on North Carolina state roads. The coalition was successful with their efforts when Governor Bev Perdue signed Senate Bill 749 into law on June 26, 2012. This bill was a huge win for North Carolina because, at the time, this variance was several tons higher than the variances for forest products in neighboring South Carolina and Virginia. However, producers would soon learn the lifespan of this variance could be in jeopardy due to an unintended consequence associated with the North Carolina congressional delegation’s good intentions to promote commerce in the state.

A few years after the forest products industry in North Carolina was granted a 10,000 lb. variance, several members of the North Carolina congressional delegation were successful in their efforts to have the roads (Table 1 below) slated to transition into the federal interstate system. While this was a win for commerce in North Carolina, it caused the forest products industry to lose its weight variance on these state roads once they transitioned unless they were “grandfathered” in at the federal level. While the North Carolina General Assembly has authority over state roads, congress must grant any modifications to interstate weight limits.

Table 1. NC State Highways Transitioning into the Federal Interstate System

Soon after the designation of the roads in Table 1, a similar coalition that helped pass the NC legislation in 2012 began working with members of the North Carolina congressional delegation to introduce language that would preserve the variance so that production would be able to haul up to 90,000 lbs. on these new interstates. In 2018, the NCFA and several members companies began meeting with members of the delegation and in the spring of 2019, the Carolina Loggers Association joined in these efforts.

The coalition quickly identified Senator Richard Burr, and Representatives David Price and GK Butterfield, as congressional members that really understood this issue and were able to help out. Inclusion of the grandfathering language by Senator Burr in the 2019 Infrastructure Bill was a huge victory, but it was not until 2021 when H.R. 3684: Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was passed out of the United States’ Senate with bipartisan support that the coalition gained the momentum needed to get the grandfathering language across the finish line.

When President Biden signed H.R. 3684 into law on November 15, 2021 his pen stroke ensured the safe and efficient delivery of raw forest products in North Carolina for today and future generations. ~FMIC