Investors put their hope in wood
pellets
Jane Brissett
Duluth News Tribune - 01/07/2008
MARCELL — Tink Birchem believes she has a solution to high heating prices as
well as all the pollutants they produce.
She and other investors are putting millions of dollars into making what they
believe is the heating fuel of the future: wood pellets.
European countries are far ahead of the United States in use of pellets fuel.
If Birchem’s new company, Valley Forest Wood Products, can’t sell at home its
50,000 ton capacity, she’ll sell the pellets abroad, she said.
Eventually, though, she’s sure there will be a big market for them
domestically. “The United States is going to catch on, but when?” Birchem said.
Opening of the plant in Marcell is a new chapter for Tink Birchem and her
husband, Jerry Birchem, who also own Birchem Logging of Mountain Iron and are
founding members of a logging cooperative, Forest Management Systems in Buhl.
The investors include other loggers, family members and a Spanish company. Tink
Birchem is the company’s CEO.
Not the last
Valley Forest Wood Products began producing pellets on Dec. 29 and is the
first of what Birchem expects will be several wood pellet manufacturing plants.
Already she plans to build an $8.5 million plant with a 100,000-ton capacity
from the ground up in Mountain Iron. Construction will begin when the state
approves air quality permits. That plant will have a 100,000-ton annual
capacity.
Both the Marcell plant, which was bought for $800,000 last summer, and the
Mountain Iron plant are in tax-free JobZ zones. The Marcell operation has been
updated with $2 million worth of equipment since it was purchased. It has 13
people on the payroll working around the clock and Birchem said wages are $14 an
hour and up, with benefits.
Birchem also said she is close to an agreement on a Wisconsin location, with
construction expected to begin this spring, and is considering another Minnesota
location for yet another pellet plant.
Her optimism about wood pellets stems only partly from their popularity in
Europe. Price is a big selling point, she said. Calculations vary, but there’s
general agreement that wood pellets could reduce residential heating costs by as
much as 30 percent to 50 percent when compared with fuel oil and propane. A
40-pound bag of pellets from Valley Forest retails for $3.50 and a ton of bagged
pellets is $175.
Proponents also point out that the fuel comes from a renewable resource.
Premium pellets produce little ash and are considered “carbon neutral,” meaning
that the wood in them consumes carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, while growing
and releases it when it is burned. The Valley Forest pellets produce less than 1
percent ash.
The pellets are made of wood from sawmill waste and wood species that have no
markets. Eventually, Birchem said, the plant also will take excess biomass from
logging operations. Nothing is added to the pellets, such as fillers or glues.
Birchem has plans to make pet bedding from waste wood and in 2009 Valley
Forest will begin working with Xcel Energy and North Dakota State University to
experiment with making methanol from waste wood to generate electricity.
Good deal
Pellets burn at 80 percent efficiency — the same as fuel oil but slightly
less than the 85 percent of propane, natural gas and kerosene. By comparison,
hardwood firewood burns at 60 percent efficiency. Wood-burning stoves create far
more smoke and particulates, said Chris Wiberg, chief operations officer of Twin
Ports Testing in Superior. Unlike firewood, pellets are burned in a controlled
environment that mixes the fuel with oxygen to minimize emissions, he said.
Valley Forest will make pellets for both residential and commercial heating.
Right now the market for pellets is mostly residential, but a special
residential stove, furnace or boiler is needed and the investment can be $700 to
$4,000.
Commercial heating also is a potentially large market for wood pellet
heating. The French River Hatchery, for example, has heated with wood pellets
since the early 1980s, according to Fred Tureson, hatchery supervisor. It also
has a fuel oil boiler that it uses when oil is cheaper, but that hasn’t happened
for several years.
Although burning pellets takes more labor, such as cleaning out ash twice a
day and doing further maintenance twice a week, it’s still cheaper than fuel
oil, Tureson said. Right now, the hatchery burns pellets 24 hours a day.
Valley Forest has contracts with several schools, a car wash and a YMCA,
Birchem said.
Industrial boilers that burn coal often can be converted to burn pellets.
Interest high
Interest in wood pellet manufacturing apparently is high. “When you look at
the cost of propane, which a lot of people use, pellets are a good deal,” said
Bill Berguson of the University of Minnesota’s Natural Resources Research
Institute. “That’s what driving a lot of it.”
Valley Forest apparently is the only plant in Minnesota that is making fuel
pellets from sawmill and useless wood. However, Elkhorn Industries in Superior
has been making wood pellets from industrial waste since the fall of 2006, said
Erik Monge, the company’s president.
That plant uses pine, maple and oak shavings discarded by truss, molding, car
part and cabinet-makers within a 150-mile radius, he said. It produces 30,000 to
35,000 tons of pellets annually.
Advisers to the Kedco Group, based in Cork, Ireland, have talked with the
Duluth Seaway Port Authority about suitable sites for a wood pellet processing
facility at the port and shipping the product to Ireland. Monge said last week
that his company has been talking with Kedco to see whether they could work
together.
Great Lakes Renewable Energy Inc. of Rice Lake, Wis., expects to break ground
on a $6 million wood pellet plant this spring along Highway 63 in Hayward
Township. A group of loggers from Northwestern Wisconsin will own the plant,
according to Herb Seeger, general manager. It is expected to produce about
36,000 tons of pellets per year.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and his forest industry task forces have urged
the industry to find innovative ways to add value to wood products to lift up
the depressed industry and Birchem said pellets are one way to do that.
Conditions are so depressed that some logging and related businesses are
failing, prices are low and manufacturers are curtailing production. That’s why
Bill Jokela, owner of J&J Forest Products, invested in Valley Forest. “I
could see no future in logging in the size of company I was running,” he said.
“I think [Valley Forest] is … an opportunity to make a
living.” New Project Proposed for CVSF
Huge facility planned for Duluth to harvest state's trees for European power plants
By Ron Way
Monday, Nov. 12, 2007
Planning is under way to build a massive plant
in Duluth's inner harbor to produce 500,000 tons of wood pellets every
year to ship to Europe's power plants — at a time Minnesota utilities
are struggling to find enough wood to burn in their own boilers.
The facility would be Minnesota's largest wood-processing plant, creating as many as 400 permanent jobs.
The plant would be an economic boost to the ports region, especially
a logging industry reeling from a decline in home construction.
But the proposal — signaling rising interest in wood as a fuel
source for utilities seeking to reduce reliance on coal and oil — is
igniting a debate over the economic and environmental effects of using
wood for fuel on a grand scale, especially to ship off to Europe.
"It is not appropriate to overharvest a small
portion of the Upper Midwest forest for a feel-good fuel in Europe,"
said Don Arnosti, forestry coordinator for the Minnesota-based
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. "Do we really want to
become a resource colony of Europe?"
At full production the facility would convert each year 1.2 million
tons of fresh-cut wood into 500,000 tons of dried pellets for shipment
to power plants in Europe that, like those in Minnesota and around the
country, are intensely searching for alternatives to burning
carbon-spewing coal and oil whose gaseous emissions are linked to
global warming.
Increased truck traffic
The Duluth plant would be built by the Kedco Group of Cork, Ireland, an
international renewable-energy company with a specialty in large
wood-pellet boilers in Europe and elsewhere.
Through a local agent, Kedco has notified the Minnesota Pollution
Control Agency (PCA) that it will seek air-quality permits for
emissions from wood-drying operations associated with the plant.
Kedco told the PCA that it plans to harvest timber from forests
within 60 miles of Duluth and haul the wood by truck to the waterfront
plant, where the timber would be dried, pelletized and dried again
(water makes up half or more the weight of green wood). By one
estimate, the proposal would add 50,000 to 60,000 truck trips to
Duluth-area traffic each year. That's about 1,000 additional truck
trips each week.
Kedco spokesmen declined comment on plant specifics, including its
estimated cost and construction schedule. But a company consultant
acknowledged that "there have been several discussions" with the
Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and PCA about the company's plans
and that Kedco "is diligently moving ahead with this project," which
would occupy 80 acres in the harbor area. The plant would be built in
three phases over several years with limited production after each
phase is completed.
Ronald L. Johnson, trade development director with Duluth's Seaway
Port Authority, acknowledged that "a lot of people are involved" in
planning the Kedco plant. He declined further comment.
Extrapolating from published numbers from wood pellet plants planned
in Wisconsin and Michigan, the Duluth plant likely would cost between
$85 million and $100 million to build. At full production it would
directly employ at least 250 full-time plant workers and at least 150
loggers.
Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society
Workers load a logging train near Duluth around 1885. Logging has long
been an important part of Duluth's economy, and now a huge new
wood-processing plant has been proposed for the area that would process
1.2 million tons of fresh-cut timber each year.
Lowest value for wood
A full-scale environmental
impact statement (EIS) will likely be ordered. The last time a major
wood processing plant was proposed — UPM/Blandin's Thunderhawk paper
machine in Grand Rapids — it took a year to complete an EIS. The
Thunderhawk plant — not yet under construction — would consume an
additional 300,000 cords of wood, far less than would be processed at
the Kedco facility.
"We will be very interested in this plan," said Matt Norton, an
attorney for the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy. The
prominent St. Paul group monitors a broad range of environmental issues
and recently went to court to challenge an EIS for the Minnesota
Steel's taconite plant near Nashwauk.
The DNR has publicly favored increasing commercial harvest of the
state's timber. An industry-dominated forestry task force co-chaired by
DNR Commissioner Mark Holsten recommended to Gov. Tim Pawlenty in July
that commercial production from forests in the state be increased 50
percent, from 3.7 million to 5.5 million cords annually within next
five years.
But a "generic environmental impact statement" warns that increasing
timber production to that level could significantly harm the state's
woodland environment.
"Burning wood for fuel is the lowest value you can assign for wood,"
said the Sierra Club's Clyde Hanson. "We denuded the forest once for
home heating and railroad locomotives."
Hanson, a forestry specialist with the influential environmental
group, predicts the proposed plant will have to harvest beyond 60 miles
from Duluth for its wood, in part because it will be competing for
timber with paper-making plants in Duluth and nearby Cloquet.
"Harvesting that much wood in such a small area is simply not sustainable," Arnosti said.
Seeking clean energy
DNR Commissioner Holsten could not be reached for comment, but the
agency's biofuels coordinator, Mark Lindquist, said, "We're very
interested in the renewed desire of the governor and the forest
industry to increase timber production."
Minnesota recently adopted the Next Generation Energy Act, an
aggressive renewable fuels law that was eagerly signed by Pawlenty, who
has made clean energy a signature issue in his role as chairman of the
National Governor's Association.
The "Next Gen" law mandates that utilities produce 25 percent of
their power with fuel other than carbon-ladened coal and oil by 2025,
and that over-all carbon emissions be cut by 80 percent by 2050. This
has touched off a rush to search out alternate fuels, including wood,
to stoke boilers.
"Biomass (wood) has a role to play in renewable energy," Arnosti
said. "The problem here is that a fundamentally good idea is being
supersized to an inappropriate and unsustainable degree."
Ron Way, a former reporter for several Midwest newspapers,
covers the environment and energy issues. He can be reached at rway
[at] minnpost [dot] com. What is a forest, and what kind is the Cloquet Valley State Forest?
DNR Ecological Classification System
Ecological Subregions of the US Laurentian Mixed Forest
http://www.fs.fed.us/land/pubs/ecoregions/ch14.html#212M
What is a sustainable forest? How is sustainable forestry accomplished while providing access to the forests for people to recreate?
Our County values the sustainable certification it's forests have.
Learn More here : St. Louis County Sustainable Forestry.
Lowlands in our forest :
In spite of numerous attempts at drainage in the early 20th century,
lowland conifer forests still cover vast areas, primarily in large
peatlands in the northern part of the Laurentian Mixed Forest
Province. Drainage efforts continue today, albeit at a smaller scale.
Peat mining and mineral development occur in some existing
lowland conifer forests. Roads and access routes for timber and
decorative tree harvests may alter the hydrology of these wetlands,
potentially altering the vegetation. These forests are particularly
sensitive to off-road vehicle use, and even a single incident of
vehicle use can change the hydrology and hamper the recovery of
the slow-growing species for many years afterward.
http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/assistance/nrplanning/bigpicture/cwcs/habitats/02.pdf
Sustainability is a major success for St. Louis County!
As part of their efforts towards sustainability the county Land Department will:
- Maintain a web-site that provides the public with information on land management activities and performance.
- Provide employees with access to all procedures, self-assessment activities and monitored results.
- Report to the St. Louis County Board in the following areas:
- Summary results of inspections, internal and external audits and corrective actions taken;
- Performance against objectives and targets and key performance indicators; and
- The change in land management strategies as a result of monitoring activities.
St. Louis County Land Certification Report
06 Sustainability Form
National Hardwood Organization
Groups challenge forest certification
March 8, 2006
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2006/03/02/forestcertification/
Late last year, two international organizations
certified the Minnesota DNR for managing state forests responsibly.
The designations indicate the state is using best
practices to keep the forests healthy and productive.
Now two environmental groups are challenging the
certification. They say the DNR isn't doing enough to prevent damage to the
forests from off-highway vehicles.
Duluth, Minn. — The criteria for certification cover a wide
range of issues. Everything from minimizing the use of chemical pesticides, to
keeping the forest diverse, to following standards for planting and harvesting
trees.
Tom Baumann supervises the certification process at the DNR. He
says the study that led to the certification helped the agency identify its
strong points, and areas it needs to work on. He says certification also helps
Minnesota forest products firms stay competitive.
"Companies that buy stumpage are looking to bring wood into
their mills that have been certified," he says. "They can pass along to their
customers the idea that the wood that's being used to create paper that they're
using for their magazines and newspapers come from forests that are sustainably
managed."
Time Warner prints its magazines on 60 percent certified paper,
and it's moving to 70 percent by the end of this year.
The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy and the Izaak
Walton League are challenging the certification of the DNR. They say the agency
is responding too slowly to the sudden popularity of off-highway vehicles, and
the damage they do to the forests.
The MCEA's Matt Norton says recent decisions at the DNR have
been making the OHV problem worse, not better. He points to the decision to
maintain some state forests as "managed" -- meaning off-road vehicle riders can
assume any trail is open for riding unless it's posted as closed.
"They're not making these decisions on the basis of sound
science," he says. "They're doing it based on where the political forces are
pushing them."
And Norton says state laws get in the way of controlling ATV
damage. Like Minnesota's policy allowing hunters and trappers to ride across
country, off established trails.
"When people drive cross-country, it creates tracks on the
land," he says. "The next person who comes along can ride on those trails, those
are legal until the DNR can get out there, find the fact that there are new
trails, look at them along their entire length and make a determination if
they're appropriate for motorized recreation, and if they're not, put signs up."
Two organizations certified Minnesota's state forests. One of
them, the Forest Stewardship Council, included several caveats. They're called
Corrective Action Requests, and they require the DNR to do certain things to
remain accredited. The first one relates to off-highway vehicles.
Robert Hrubes is with Scientific Certification Systems, the
group that conducted the audit prior to certification. He says ATVs are a
challenge for all forest managers. He says the Minnesota DNR may not have the
resources to deal with the problem:
"To stay on top of this challenging, this vexing management
task and to make sure policies that are developed are properly followed over
time," he says.
One of the Corrective Action Requests calls on the DNR to
analyze whether it has enough staff to complete its trail designation process.
It also requires the DNR to come up with a better enforcement strategy to cut
down on ATV damage to the forests.
And the audit team worried that even if the DNR develops
stronger policies, Minnesota politics might override the agency. After all,
Hrubes says, the legislature has flip-flopped on ATV issues several times in
recent years.
"Legislatures get involved, politicians get involved,
etcetera," he says. "And so our concern here is that the planning processes not
be trumped by some after-the-fact political decision."
He plans to respond to the challenge of the certification
within a month.
How is Minnesota doing with regard to sustainable forestry? Here it the most recent report : MN DNR Certification Evaluation Report
What is the State of America's Forests?
DNR Ecological Classification System
Ecological Subregions of the US Laurentian Mixed Forest
http://www.fs.fed.us/land/pubs/ecoregions/ch14.html#212M
What is a sustainable forest? How is sustainable forestry accomplished while providing access to the forests for people to recreate?
How is Minnesota doing with regard to sustainable forestry? Here it the most recent report : MN DNR Certification Evaluation Report
What is the State of America's Forests?
Global Warming and Forests
The Timber Industry
The Friends of the Cloquet Valley State
Forest respects and supports the timber industry in Minnesota. We
know the Timber Industry has worked hard to sustain the forest, and to
go about the work of harvesting trees in a responsible manner.
Our State Forests are presently certified as sustainable.
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/forestry/forest_management.html
The Minnesota Society of American Foresters has taken
a position with regard to Off Highway Vehicles which reads as follows
and can be found on the Minnesota Society of American Forester's Website and in PDF format at http://www.mnsaf.org/pdf/OHV-ATV_Position.pdf A Citizen's Guide to DNR Forestry pdf
What is a forest, and what kind are we?
Ecological Subregions of the US Laurentian Mixed Forest
http://www.fs.fed.us/land/pubs/ecoregions/ch14.html#212M
What is a Forest?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest
Areas of High biodiversity in our forest
What kind of forest is the Cloquet Valley State Forest?
Our forest is best characterized as Sub-Boreal
Cloquet Forestry Center
Who is responsible for the forest, what government agencies?
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/forestry/citizensguide.html
Our Forests are presently certified as sustainable.
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/forestry/forest_management.html
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has been awarded the Forest Stewardship Council  (FSC) and Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) third-party certification on 4.84 million acres of state-administered forestlands.
Certified lands include the DNR's state forests, administered by the Division of Forestry, and wildlife management areas,
administered by the Division of Fish and Wildlife. Certification will
increase the social, economic, and environmental value and
marketability of the state's forest resources.
Forest Information Resources
http://fr.cfans.umn.edu/extension/Links/relatedlinks.html
5th Annual Forest and wildlife Research Review Jan 11, 2006
What are foresters thinking about?
http://sfec.cfans.umn.edu/summaries/2006agenda_review.html
The Minnesota Society of American Foresters has taken
a position with regard to Off Highway Vehicles which reads as follows
and can be found on the Minnesota Society of American Forester's Website and in PDF format at http://www.mnsaf.org/pdf/OHV-ATV_Position.pdf
"The use of OHVs has seen a dramatic increase in
recent years. OHVs include off highway motorcycles (OHMs), all terrain
vehicles (ATVs), and four wheel drive off road vehicles (ORVs-
generally 4 x 4 trucks). These are well defined in Minnesota state
statute. ATVs account for most of the increased use. The ATV can be a
valuable tool when used in a manner that does not exceed capacity of
soils and vegetation to maintain stability and profile integrity. A
single ATV on its own is relatively
benign with a single pass; however the cumulative effect of repeated passes does represent a major impact to vegetation and the
land. The use of aggressive aftermarket ATV equipment increases the chance of accelerated damage.
It would be hypocritical for forestry and
related natural resource professionals to oppose all use of ATVs, as
they use them on a routine basis. However, we oppose unrestricted use
of ATVs on lands prone to damage. The use of ATVs for crosscountry
travel should be narrowed to the point of near non-existence, with
special circumstances by permits only."
This ends the quotation of the Minnesota Society of American Foresters
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