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May-June 2019

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R ight before this article went to print, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois) reached out to the NWPCA for a meeting, and with short notice, a few NWPCA members accepted and came to our nation's capital to meet with her. NWPCA Board Chair Jordan Piland, Atlas Pallets; was joined by Illinois-based (and a past NWPCA Board Chair) John Swenby, Paltech Group-Paltech Enterprises; along with Debra Berry and Peter Berry, Berry Industrial Group, who serve as Pallet Foundation Trustee and NWPCA Board Members, respectively. NWPCA President/CEO Brent McClendon participated along with our advocacy team to represent the industry and raise the profile of the organization – a key component of NWPCA's strategic Plan. The NWPCA delegation met with the Senator at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee headquarters, across from the Supreme Court. Tammy Duckworth is an Iraq War Veteran, Purple Heart recipient and former Assistant Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs. She was among the first Army women to fly combat missions during Operation Iraqi Freedom. On November 12, 2004, her helicopter was hit by an RPG and Duckworth lost her legs and partial use of her right arm. Duckworth was the first Thai-American woman elected to Congress, the first woman with a disability to be elected to Congress, the first female double amputee in the Senate, and the first Senator to give birth while in office. She is a first-term senator who represents the state of Illinois. As a veteran, she supports jobs for veterans and is an advocate for small businesses. The meeting was timely, as NWPCA was able to speak in detail about clarifying a regulation at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which hinders the use of recycled wood pallets as wood pellet fuel. The effort is a bi- partisan issue, and we are gaining support from Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle to engage and contact the EPA to move forward with a clarification of the rule, if not changing the regulation out right. Policy at Play Senator Duckworth is Champion of Jobs and Small Businesses By Patrick Atagi, Vice President, Advocacy & External Affairs 10 PalletCentral • May-June 2019 palletcentral.com CAPITOL HILL CORNER iStockphoto.com/Tanarch

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