New Hampshire burn ban moves forward.

A proposed ban on burning wood from construction and demolition debris has moved closer to becoming law in New Hampshire, according to a report in the Concord Monitor (Concord, N.H.).

The state Senate has approved a bill already passed by the House that would create a permanent ban on burning the material, replacing a moratorium that will end Dec. 31.

Gov. John Lynch has said he will sign the bill into law, according to the report.

William Turley, executive director of the Construction Materials Recycling Association (CMRA), has said the ban could slam the door shut on an important market for recycled C&D debris in New England. "Currently, there are no wood fuel power plants, except for some that use residues from the logging industry, in New Hampshire, so there is nobody using C&D wood fuel now in the state, although a couple such facilities have been proposed," he said in an earlier news report. "We might see these ideas that C&D wood is in some way unsafe spread to other states and we don't want this untrue concept to take hold."

The CMRA, through its Issues & Education Fund, has been working with the University of New Hampshire on research to present to the state government that would provide evidence that C&D wood can be used as wood fuel with comparable environmental impacts to other fuel products.