State officials are looking into a possible upside of the pine-beetle infestation that has been devastating Colorado forests–using the dead trees as an energy source.

The wood chips recovered from the trees are considered “biomass”–anything derived from living or recently living materials that can be used for fuels, power production, and products that would otherwise be made from fossil fuels.

State Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, framed the issue with an eye toward the economy today when he said at a hearing of a legislative panel, “We could put a lot of good people to work. There’s 8 percent unemployment in this state. Every one of them could grab a chain saw and be up there within 30 days.”

Romer emphasized that few companies are able to invest in the necessary capital to convert biomass into energy without a guarantee of a long-term supply of biomass materials, specifically wood chips. Of the 22 million acres of forested land in Colorado, 16 million acres are publicly owned.

The discussion over the possibility of using the pine beetle-affected trees as a commodity was raised by Romer during a Joint Budget Committee hearing at which committee members heard from the Department of Agriculture. Romer suggested that the department should be playing more of a role rather than the Department of Natural Resources, which manages the forests, due to agriculture’s experience in commodities.

“The markets will work but we need more, sooner,” said Romer in making his case for a stepped-up effort initiating in the Department of Agriculture.

Colorado Commissioner of Agriculture John R. Stulp agreed.

“There is more that we could be doing,” Stulp said, and he mentioned federal biomass grants as a likely avenue to begin that process.

Using wood chips from Colorado trees is an idea that has won support in many local communities. A Vail City Council member told the Colorado Independent last February that the dead trees could provide nearly 100 percent of the ski-resort town’s hot water and electricity needs, and he said such an effort could become a model for the rest of the state.

According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, wood is the largest biomass energy resource that we have today.