Instead of just using mill-ends as fuel for steam-powered equipment, the industry is looking at spurring a new source of electricity that could be used statewide.

Allyn Ford, president and CEO of Roseburg Forest Products, is spearheading an initiative by the Oregon Business Council to promote the concept of using debris from forest clearing to fuel electricity-generating facilities located at the site of timber products manufacturers.

"Here in Oregon we have a unique asset in the form of millions of acres of timberlands in need of thinning," said Ford. His company, with upwards of $1 billion in annual revenue, is one of the state's largest integrated forest products companies.

Ford's idea isn't completely new.

As long as 80 years ago, lumber mills got their power from steam generated by burning sawdust and scraps of wood. As electricity became available to even the most remote mill locations, the practice died out.

Fast-forward to today, when energy prices are climbing rapidly and global competition is pushing heavy industrials to innovate.

In addition, after more than a century of suppressing forest fires, much of Oregon's public forests are jammed with overcrowded trees.

Much of the timber is "stunted like carrots in a patch that didn't get thinned," said Ford.

The result is timber below grades needed for lumber and forests that aren't much like their natural predecessors.

"A sweep of fire was normal. But now we are out of balance and prone to unnaturally severe wildfires and disease," said Russ Hoeflich, Oregon director for environmental group The Nature Conservancy. "We have a huge volume of biomass that has been building over the years."

He, along with industry officials, testified early this month before a state house committee in support of clearing forests for biomass.