WASHINGTON – American Wood Council (AWC) Vice President, Government Affairs Andrew Dodson issued the following statement regarding the introduction of The Energy Savings and Building Efficiency Act (H.R. 3586). The bill encourages product neutrality in building energy codes and defines the role of the Department of Energy (DOE) as a technical advisor in the development of model energy codes and subsequent state adoption. It is co-sponsored by Reps. Kurt Schrader (D-OR), Bill Flores (R-TX) leading the bill, and Tom O’Halleran (D-AZ), Lou Correa (D-CA) and Collin Peterson (D-MN).

LEESBURG, VA. – The American Wood Council (AWC) has released an updated version of Design for Code Acceptance (DCA) 1 - Flame Spread Performance of Wood Products Used for Interior Finish.

WASHINGTON – American Wood Council President and CEO Robert Glowinski and American Forest & Paper Association President and CEO Donna Harman issued the following statement regarding the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) issuance of a new rule to reclassify certain major sources as area sources under the Clean Air Act. EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler announced the proposed rule on “Once In, Always In” on June 25, 2019.

LEESBURG, VA. – The American Wood Council (AWC) has launched its Fire Service Advisory Council, a national group of fire service experts that will provide AWC and the wood products industry with broad-based advice and guidance on fire safety strategies and tactics regarding wood construction, wood products, and the wood product industry’s engagement with the fire service. The Fire Service Advisory Council provides the opportunity for a productive dialogue with the nation’s Fire Service to address reducing fires in wood construction. The Fire Service Advisory Council is also intended to help identify effective training materials for the Fire Service and enhance the relationship between the Fire Service and wood products industry. The first Fire Service Advisory Council conference call took place on April 30th. This will be followed by a fall in-person meeting during which AWC and the Fire Service Advisory Council will solidify an action plan to drive council activities into 2020 and beyond.

LEESBURG, VA. – The American Wood Council this week relaunched WoodAware (www.woodaware.org), an informational website on wood construction for the fire service. New additions to the WoodAware site include a section on the International Code Council (ICC) tall mass timber code changes recently approved for inclusion in the 2021 ICC building codes.

LEESBURG, VA. – The American Wood Council (AWC) has released an update to "Design for Code Acceptance (DCA) 3 - Fire-Resistance-Rated Wood Floor and Wall Assemblies." The updated DCA 3 can be found on the AWC website: https://www.awc.org/codes-standards/publications/dca3.

LEESBURG, VA. – American Wood Council (AWC) President and CEO Robert Glowinski issued a statement following the Governor’s signature on legislation to require the state’s Uniform Building Code Commission to recommend building standards for use of mass timber in residential and commercial building construction. The Utah House of Representatives passed the bill (H.B. 142) on February 12th and the Senate passed it on February 22nd. It was signed into law by Governor Herbert on March 22nd

LEESBURG, VA. – The American Wood Council (AWC) has released the 2018 Manual for Engineered Wood Construction, which contains design information for structural lumber, glued laminated timber, structural-use panels, cross-laminated timber (CLT), poles and piles, I-joists, structural composite lumber, and connections.