Forests, Lands, and Resource Operations Deputy Minister, Doug Konkin, was final keynote speaker at the 5th International Bioenergy Conference in Prince George

Prince George, BC –  BC’s Deputy Minister of Forests, Lands, and Resources Operations says the key to thriving and surviving the energy challenges ahead lies in partnerships between the traditional forest industry, the bioenergy industry and the provincial government.

As the keynote speaker on the final day of the 5th International Bioenergy Conference in Prince George, Doug Konkin says, "We need to grow (the bioenergy industry) and become more significant, faster than what we’ve been doing."

"When I look to the future, I certainly see a lot of economic shocks coming at us and a lot of change coming at us," Konkin says.  "If we’re going to have resilient communities and resilient markets and a resilient industry, we need diversity."

The Deputy Minister admits the government has been a little slow in delivering some of what the industry needs.  He says the new forest sector strategy released in April realized many of the recommendations put forward by the MLA Bioeconomy Committee and "does plug into bioenergy" – with a clear bioeconomy vision and improved access to fiber.

"We’ve (sic) seen and heard the difficulty that the bioenergy businesses have in getting some of that fiber – it’s hard, people are holding onto something that they know and think might have value," he says.  "So we are trying to create some tenure forms that will be a lever, but the lever we want is actually around business partnerships because we all know the most effective thing is when – from the minute we look at this fiber – we understand what it can produce from an ‘all products’ point of view.  It’s not about adding bioenergy as an after-thought."

Konkin says the ministry is moving forward with the tenures, but realizes much more must be done to capitalize on the global bioenergy market.  He says BC is on the cusp and must work really hard in the next two to five-years to aggressively start to move forward – building upon the partnerships between forest sector companies, bioenergy companies, and government that are already in place. 

"We think there’s room for all, we think everyone needs everyone," Konkin adds.  "Many of them are already there, but we want to build more."