I support Peter's line of thinking. It would be more work for the local economic development employees, but I'm not sure that they are up for it. Certianly this would not fly with the mayor.

Its easier for those people to bring in the multinationals and look good in the short term.

The Mayor?

We must not forget that the timber and the management of the forests in this province, and every province in Canada, is the responsibility of the provincial government through the ministers responsible for both the forests and the environment.

It is the minister of forests who is to ensure we have a viable and sustainable forest industry and thus entertains proposals from companies that will provide the capacity over a long period of time and in a credible fashion to achieve the goals of the province.

Not only is the province interested in that in today’s age, but so is the consumer side of the market. Companies can no longer operate without having a “greenstamp” on their product which assures the users of the forest products that the woods are being managed in a sustainable fashion, not only from a biological point of view but also a socio-economic point of view.

Thus, the companies in this region, and in the Interior of the province in general, operate under a CSA certified management regime. That process involves an important public advisory component and an auditing process from certified auditors.

In the case of the Prince George region, including the PG TSA, municipal representation from this City has been conspicuous by its absence.

So, from my point of view, it is time to come on board a system which is supposed to address local and regional social economic interests, community sustainability, forest sustainability, and maximize local jobs. It is time to become proactive rather than reactive for all those who should have an interest in this matter – both the minister of forests, who is doing little in my view, as well as municipal governments who have traditionally not been involved in assuring that the forests, which are typically responsible for their existence, are managed to maximize local benefits.

For the long range, the sooner the lights go on, the better for our communities. For the short range, lets deal a bit more with those who have a responsibility to maintain the forests for their many values.

Now, if we could just get Peter Ewart and Owl working together they could be a force for good in British Columbia. DuPont is scarey!

The Mayor?

We must not forget that the timber and the management of the forests in this province, and every province in Canada, is the responsibility of the provincial government through the ministers responsible for both the forests and the environment.

It is the minister of forests who is to ensure we have a viable and sustainable forest industry and thus entertains proposals from companies that will provide the capacity over a long period of time and in a credible fashion to achieve the goals of the province.

Not only is the province interested in that in today’s age, but so is the consumer side of the market. Companies can no longer operate without having a “greenstamp” on their product which assures the users of the forest products that the woods are being managed in a sustainable fashion, not only from a biological point of view but also a socio-economic point of view.

Thus, the companies in this region, and in the Interior of the province in general, operate under a CSA certified management regime. That process involves an important public advisory component and an auditing process from certified auditors.

In the case of the Prince George region, including the PG TSA, municipal representation from this City has been conspicuous by its absence.

So, from my point of view, it is time to come on board a system which is supposed to address local and regional social economic interests, community sustainability, forest sustainability, and maximize local jobs. It is time to become proactive rather than reactive for all those who should have an interest in this matter – both the minister of forests, who is doing little in my view, as well as municipal governments who have traditionally not been involved in assuring that the forests, which are typically responsible for their existence, are managed to maximize local benefits.

For the long range, the sooner the lights go on, the better for our communities. For the short range, lets deal a bit more with those who have a responsibility to maintain the forests for their many values.

Did it again. Went to refresh with the response still in the test box. ... sorry.

*growl*

There is another aspect to this and that is to realize what is driving this interest in biomass.

There is the “local” scene which encompasses the entire area of BC which is and will be affected by the MPBE. That “biomass” originally was included in the timber inventory upon which the annual allowable cut was based. That cut determination continues to be based on our best understanding of what inventory and age distribution would provide us with a renewable resource without drawing down on the inventory.

With the influx of the MPB that ideal system has been disturbed beyond what was previously contemplated, although foresters were certainly aware that natural disturbances had to be accounted for, but not quite at that level.

In essence, what we are faced with is an inventory overload of trees which are not only no longer growing, but also no longer participating in the photosynthesis activity of the carbon cycle. In fact, few are even bringing that topic to the table. Most are focused on how we can use the product before it will no longer be usable. Few are talking about the cost of cutting and removing timber which is not needed right now since the marketplace will be glutted. Some are beginning to look at how to use timber which will eventually be unusable for traditional forest products, but may still be useable for energy and other non-traditional (for this part of the world) forest products.

Coupled with that, we have two other key concurrent events: a new rise in fossil fuel prices; and a line of thinking from Kyoto pointing out that by using fossil fuels we have been putting CO2 and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere from resources which have acted as carbon sinks for millions of years. Conversely, biomass from vegetation is seen as having a “free pass” since we are simply speeding up the carbon cycle by burning vegetation currently in that cycle. That, as far as I am concerned, is a disputable notion, especially if one were to remove the use of considerable portions of biomass from the construction industry, of instance, where it continues to be sequestered for many generations.

Thus, we are suddenly inundated with internationals interested in biomass conversion into convenient forms of energy. It is not a local phenomenon. It is not even a new phenomenon. It is just that interest has increased considerably beyond a few countries such as Brazil and a few sectors such as corn and sugar cane farmers.

So, we have to take care about what we plan to do. Why?

Because if we think that the MPB killed wood will be the feedstock for a huge sustainable energy generation industry, we are mistaken. That will be relatively short lived. So, if we are to promote the construction of biomass conversion facilities and we wish those to remain for more than a 10 years or so period, then we must be prepared to give up producing lumber and panels for the construction industry or pulp for the paper industry once the MPB killed stands are harvested. Or, we must have other local feedstock ready to take the place of MPB killed stands.

Finally, we must consider the same thing that the CSA certification process demands – enhancing the local economy on a priority basis, rather than the provincial economy or that of the viability of multinationals that are not interested in local community stability. Cogen in the industrialized nations is not a labour intensive process. If it were, it would no longer be “economical” energy. So, what type of biomass conversion process should we be supporting?

One which minimizes the supply line from feedstock to plant; one which produces by-products which are not put into the air as pollutants but, as is done with the byproducts of the sawmilling industry, recovers such by-products to be re-used as feedstocks for another industrial process, thus not only reducing our reliance on fossil fuels, but also decreasing the actual amount of greenhouse gases going into the atmosphere, no matter what the source.

Finally, we must not lose sight of capturing energy from other sources, such as geothermal, wind and solar, in addition to avoidance through better, more energy efficient design.

The biggest mistake we can make is to believe that biomass is a panacea.

So, are “locals” up to tackling all that? I think they can be. Are multinationals up to that? I think they can be. It would not be prudent for any of us to discount anyone. But as with the recent story about the carpet cleaning scam, let us be cautious and make sure we are not being sold a false “bill of goods”. Let us not put all our eggs in one basket. Remember, diversity is the key to survival.

The present style of any governing body is too look for a quick fix.Hence we have these cycles of bust and boom. The first thing that a developer would look at would be tax breaks and the next would be to circumvent any green plans that we have. Or as Owl refers to them as CSA approval. Then there is that Northern Development fund that Dupont probably would like to use to reduce their risk.

If our Mayor gets involved he would probably try to borrow the money and saddle us with more debt. We always have great ideas and in the end it will become another problem. Currently we have an air quality problem. Why, because our leaders thought it was a great idea to have as much industrial development within the City limits as possible for tax purposes. So why not do another study to see how we can muddle through.

Cheers

Owl, I disagree with a few of your points.

1) The mayor is the key local guy here. He appoints the head of the economic development groups both for MPB and Initiatives PG, as well as chairing the regional district. If the mayor is not on board nothing happens. This is where we are at today. Mostly IMO because he has no viable plan or sequence of events that we could use as a road map to achieve any plan that he may have. It would be nice if all the power was not in one mans hands, but that is the way things are currently. It would be nice if the province had some leadership on the issue, but again we have to look no further than our local MLA's to see that is not going to happen.

2) Wind power and geothermal are laudable goals, but our main concern is with the MPB fibre and how best to use it to kick start diversification. The facts are for co-gen we will not run out of fibre in 10 years, as we could by then have shut down all beehive burners, and utilizing slash burn waste that is a very sustainable supply for large scale diversification. IMO future fibre shortage of waste fibre should not be a big concern.

Time Will Tell

Chadermando ...

Simple question to you.

Did the pulp mills locate here in the mid sixties because of the mayor of the day?

Did the railway come through here half a century bfore that because of the mayor of the day?

Did any of the larger sawmills, plywood plant, etc, locate here because of the mayors of the day?

Did the library get built because of the mayor of the day?

Did the university come here because of the mayor of the day? (this one is a bit gray possibly for some in the community, but those who were close to the action will know the proper answer to that)

"but our main concern is with the MPB fibre and how best to use it to kick start diversification"

Chadermando ... tell me how much the beetle killed wood will cost to cut, chip and haul for use as biomass if none of the timber is usable for any of the other products it normally gets used for leaving the hog fuel as something people will pay to get rid of. Once you figure that out, tell me how much you will have to sell the energy for in order to make a buck in the transaction.

BTW, just to show how much influence mayors have, what do Kitimat, Tumbler Ridge, Mackenzie and Houston have in common?

Industry located there because of location, not because of mayors. Pretty well the way it has been everywhere.

and the there is this little gem ... "If the mayor is not on board nothing happens".

So, is the reverse also true? "If nothing happens, then the mayor is not on board?"

What has happened in the last 10 years? MPB ... he must have been on board ...

;-)

Owl, you miss the point, as per usual. You can not deny our mayor makes a lot of appointments for organizations that are directly responsible for this regions strategic economic plan. That is the mayors primary responsibility. I would hope they do the SOWT analisys among others and then act upon their strategic analysis.

This would put the region one step ahead of the disaster/opportunity, and not one step behind the disaster.

Obviously the reverse is not always true. Thats an amature argument.

If industry locates because of a strength, then those sterenghts should be promoted as part of a comprehensive economic plan.

I think beetle kill wood will cost no more than $60 a ton delivered even if direct from whole tree in the forest trucked to town. 1000 tons a day will get you enough for a small city of 30,000.

Looks like Owl and Chatter chatter stay up all night to dream up some of the information we are getting. Your post of Dec 16 at 10:29 am had 800 words, Owl.

Cheers

"makes a lot of appointments" ... okay, that is called input ....

Where is the output? In other words, how effective are all those appointments?

Okay, so the reverse then should be "If nothing happens, then the actions have not been effective."

Okay, kimbo ... so that is input ... was there anything there of use? Or did you just count the words and not read them ....

Your terse response seems to say between the few lines that what I say is unreasonable. Not quite a fair repsonse to what I consider to be a serious discussion.

I hate one second sound bites when it comes to complex issues.

;-)