TexAmericas Center is seeking manufacturers to use Northeast Texas’s surplus pine pulpwood and thinning material. A new AA BDO Zone rating supports that effort, assessing a woody biomass supply of 800,000 bone dry tons per year.
The recruitment effort targets wood-based manufacturing, biofuels, renewable chemicals and advanced materials. Announced September 15 by TexAmericas Center, Ecostrat (a firm specializing in biomass supply due diligence) and the BDO Zone Initiative, the rating evaluates feedstock supply and infrastructure within a zone extending 75 miles by road from Texarkana.
Forest resources available for new uses
According to the announcement, annual net timber growth substantially exceeds removals within the assessed region, leaving a surplus of pine pulpwood and thinning material.
The Bowie County assessment provides prospective developers with information on the scale of the woody biomass resource, supply risks and supporting infrastructure. Within the Biofuel Development Opportunity (BDO) Zone framework, an AA rating indicates very high prospective viability of feedstock supply and infrastructure, with low expected default risk.
Eric Voyles, executive vice president and chief economic development officer of TexAmericas Center, said the assessment gives manufacturers a quantified basis for evaluating the resource alongside the industrial capacity available at the site.
TexAmericas Center is using the findings to support discussions with companies that could bring new demand and manufacturing uses to the region’s underutilized wood supply.
Rail-served site anchors the zone
The zone is anchored by Boone-Copeland Industrial Park, a 140-acre site in Hooks within TexAmericas Center that accommodates light and heavy industry.
The site has utility services, on-site rail access and connections to US Highway 82/Interstate 30 and US Highway 59/Interstate 369.
TexAmericas Center CEO Scott Norton said Northeast Texas’s timber resources, combined with transportation infrastructure and industrial assets across the greater Texarkana region, could support investment in new bio-based industries.
Jordan Solomon, chairman of the BDO Zone Initiative, identified the combination of surplus wood and existing infrastructure as a basis for discussions with developers evaluating the Gulf South.
Located on the Texas side of the Texarkana metropolitan area, TexAmericas Center owns and operates an industrial park encompassing approximately 12,000 acres. It provides industrial property, rail and logistics services, along with options to lease facilities, develop customized buildings or accommodate owner-built projects.
