From kevin.weeks at state.or.us Thu Jul 2 08:52:31 2009 From: kevin.weeks at state.or.us (WEEKS Kevin) Date: Thu, 2 Jul 2009 08:52:31 -0700 Subject: [Forest_Biomass] recent forest biomass news articles Message-ID: <2659B04496B9C544A0CB26155C1FD1B653DB536E@WPODFEXCL01.ODF.STATE.OR.US> Forest Biomass News list members -- These stories regarding forest biomass were recently in the news: 1) Biomass facility planned in La Pine By Kate Ramsayer / The Bulletin, July 01. 2009 A second company is taking a shot at building a biomass-fueled power plant at the La Pine Industrial Park. The Deschutes County Commission has agreed to sell about 10 acres of land to Biogreen Sustainable Energy Co., of St. Helens, which has plans to build a facility that will turn waste wood into enough electricity to power between 13,000 and 16,000 homes. "We're really excited about it," said Rob Broberg, the CEO of Biogreen Sustainable Energy. "I think La Pine is an ideal fit for us because of the resource area out there." The project would also employ about 20 people at the La Pine facility, he said, and even more as foresters and truck drivers, he said. "They need jobs down there, and it makes it a logical fit to bring industry down to La Pine," Broberg said. The $63 million plant, which would produce about 20 megawatts of power, could also attract other businesses to the La Pine Industrial Park, he noted. Biomass facilities work by burning wood to heat water into steam, which turns the turbines - and the steam could be reused by other businesses like a sawmill, a wood pellet mill, or a nursery that needs heat. The company plans to use the small woody material from private forestlands, Broberg said - Biogreen Sustainable Energy has bought about 33,000 acres of forestland southeast of La Pine, and is in the process of buying more to provide the biomass fuel. It also hopes to use recycled material diverted from landfills and transfer facilities, he said. The Deschutes County Commission hopes to see the project start soon and create jobs at the La Pine Industrial Park, said Commissioner Tammy Baney. The county has given the company two years to get the necessary permits and finances lined up for the project, and the final purchase price will be about $653,400. "We want businesses to come in and not speculate on the land. We want them to be able to get up and running right away," Baney said. The project could bring not only jobs to La Pine, she said, but add electricity to the grid and help in removing some of the small hazardous wildfire fuels in the forest. Phil Chang, with the Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council, said the challenge could be selling the power for enough money - electricity is relatively cheap in the Pacific Northwest, but the costs to cut and truck the biomass material from the forest add up. Silvan Power Co. had proposed building a biomass plant at the industrial park in 2006, but the project is held up because the company doesn't have adequate fuel for a power plant, said Lou Gillette, with the company. The U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management aren't putting enough small trees and woody material up for sale, Gillette said, and foresters with his company reported that even the private lands around La Pine don't have enough small trees and woody material to fire up a plant. "There's an awful lot of interest in biomass plants," Gillette said. "We're seeing a lot of new people coming into the market right now. We'll just wait and see what happens." Kate Ramsayer can be reached at 541-617-7811 or at kramsayer at bendbulletin.com. ### 2) Biomass Bounty Coos Bay World newspaper June 22, 2009 http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2009/06/22/news/doc4a3c8699ac242622975032.txt Some local timber industry folks see something more valuable going up in smoke. With the amount of logging still going on in Coos County, they also see an abundance of opportunity. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Kevin Weeks Public Information Officer / Agency Affairs Office Oregon Department of Forestry (503) 945-7427 kweeks at odf.state.or.us -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From kevin.weeks at state.or.us Thu Jul 23 10:16:50 2009 From: kevin.weeks at state.or.us (WEEKS Kevin) Date: Thu, 23 Jul 2009 10:16:50 -0700 Subject: [Forest_Biomass] Forest Biomass guest editorial Eugene Register Guard Message-ID: <2659B04496B9C544A0CB26155C1FD1B653EFD41A@WPODFEXCL01.ODF.STATE.OR.US> GUEST VIEWPOINT: No shortage of forest slash for biomass fuel projects By Joe Misek, ODF, and Mike Cloughesy, OFRI, for the Register-Guard, Jul 23, 2009 Forest biomass represents abundant renewable energy potential for Oregon, and the proposed Seneca Sustainable Energy project is sized appropriately to address that company's excess woody biomass from its timber harvesting practices and its sawmill. Oregon has 30 million acres of public and private forest land. These lands are among the most productive in the world for forest growth. However, for almost 100 years, it has been public policy to suppress forest fire, a natural part of forest ecology. Today, Oregonians are beginning to understand that this has resulted in a landscape of densely stocked forestlands choked with excess woody biomass. In the southern and eastern portions of the state, especially, this has created fire control issues that should not be ignored. In 2005 the Oregon Legislature approved Senate Bill 1072, creating the Oregon Forest Biomass Working Group. The working group includes representatives from the energy industry, the Legislature, conservation groups, state agencies, federal agencies, the forest industry and entrepreneurs. Among its most important functions has been to determine where the state's energy policy for renewable resources could be enhanced to promote thinning of overstocked forest lands and the use of slash from harvest operations to fuel biomass energy generation projects. In SB 1072 the Legislature defined woody biomass. During the same session, lawmakers established a renewable portfolio standard and a renewable fuels standard, both of which include woody biomass as a renewable energy feedstock. Legislation requires Oregon's largest utilities to acquire 25 percent of their electricity from new, homegrown renewable sources by 2025. The biomass group submitted its report to the governor's Renewable Energy Working Group. Among other things, the report concludes that using woody biomass to produce renewable energy should be supported at the state and federal levels. The working group also reviewed and backed the recommendations of a 2006 report by the Oregon Forest Resources Institute, which concluded that using woody biomass for combined heat and power is the best possible use of woody biomass for energy in the near term. The report encourages the use of woody biomass to produce steam to do two jobs at the same time - generate electricity and dry lumber. This promotes energy efficiency. The owners of the Seneca Sawmill in Eugene have proposed the Seneca Sustainable Energy project - a combined heat and power woody biomass development - next to their mill. One concern raised regarding biomass-fired energy facilities is that there will not be enough available fuel supply from sawmill residuals alone, and the owner's harvesting practices will need to be changed in order to meet the facility's fuel needs. Information summarized in the OFRI report indicates that an 18.8-megawatt generating plant, such as Seneca proposes, would burn approximately 132,000 bone-dry tons of woody biomass annually. The OFRI report goes on to identify forest restoration thinning, juniper rangeland restoration and logging residuals as prime sources of woody biomass in Oregon, in addition to mill residuals that have long been used by industry. Studies summarized in the OFRI report estimate that about 1.8 million bone-dry tons of residual biomass from harvest activities is produced in Oregon annually, about 85 percent of which is on private timberlands. While we acknowledge people may have concerns about siting biomass energy plants, the growth of biomass in Lane and Douglas counties is so great that concerns about supply are not well founded. The working group also reviewed and responded to a report submitted by the state forester to the governor and the Legislature in December 2008. One of the report's conclusions is that use of woody biomass as power plant fuel, instead of disposal in burn piles, reduces the smoke and particulate emissions associated with its disposal in the forest and reduces the volumes of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons released to the atmosphere. The Forest Biomass Working Group does not support or oppose individual projects, and it is not our intent to do so here. However, we do believe that sustainably harvested woody biomass can play a role in addressing Oregon's needs to generate renewable energy while it provides social, ecological and economic benefits to the citizens of the state. Mike Cloughesy is the Oregon Forest Research Institute's director of forestry. Joe Misek is a forest policy analyst for the Oregon Department of Forestry. Both are members of the state Forest Biomass Working Group. ### For the Forest Biomass News Service: Kevin Weeks, Oregon Department of Forestry (503) 945-7427 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: