S. 2221 — SAWMILL Act

This section establishes the Timber Production Expansion Guaranteed Loan Program, under which the Secretary of Agriculture (Secretary), in coordination with the Secretary of the Interior, must within one year of enactment—and not less frequently than every five years thereafter—review federal lands under their jurisdiction and identify as eligible those units determined to be high or very high priority for ecological restoration involving vegetation removal (eligible Federal land). The Secretary must provide loan guarantees under the program to eligible entities (i.e., owners or operators of sawmills or other wood-processing facilities located in rural areas) seeking to establish, reopen, retrofit, expand, or improve such a facility within a 250-mile radius of eligible Federal land, if the facility would substantially decrease the cost of restoration projects on that land; guarantees are subject to conditions set by the Secretary and may total not more than $220 million.