by Web Editor | Jan 31, 2018 | News
American Forest & Paper Association President and CEO Donna Harman and American Wood Council President and CEO Robert Glowinski issued the following statement regarding the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) issuance of new guidance to reclassify certain major sources as area sources under the Clean Air Act:
Donna Harman, President and CEO of AF&PA
“For too long, the air permit process has been overly bureaucratic, slow and outdated, thereby causing unwarranted red tape, costs and delay for the regulated community. In some cases, these problems have been created by agency interpretations that are not even consistent with the plain meaning of the Clean Air Act as written by the people’s duly elected representatives in Congress. The old ‘Once In, Always In’ approach contradicted both the law and common sense by treating a source as major even if production process changes or controls permanently reduced emissions levels to the minor source level.
“We applaud EPA’s new guidance, which is faithful to the text of the Clean Air Act and will not only reduce unwarranted red tape but will remove disincentives to voluntary efforts and technical innovations that could reduce emissions.
“This action is consistent with our recommendations to EPA and the Department of Commerce in response to President Trump’s early directive on streamlining permitting and reducing regulatory burdens to promote domestic manufacturing.”
Robert Glowinski, President and CEO of AWC
“Reforming the cumbersome environmental permit system is essential to reviving the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturing. Eliminating the old ‘Once In, Always In’ policy is a step in the right direction to streamline the air permitting systems.
“We are pleased that EPA has returned to the plain reading of the Clean Air Act for air toxic regulations. The old policy arbitrarily put a facility into a regulatory time warp from which it could never escape.
“Eliminating the OIAI policy creates incentives for facilities to reduce emissions below the regulatory thresholds which is a win for the environment and a win for business.
“The regulatory burdens of complying with a MACT standard are significant, especially for smaller mills, which this policy could help. Mills that are able to reduce their emissions below the threshold, and this guidance gives them an incentive to do so, should be freed of unnecessary reporting, monitoring and recordkeeping requirements as long as they operate controls to stay below the cutoffs.
“Consistent with today’s action, we encourage EPA to make the appropriate changes to the regulations as soon as possible.”
From the American Forest & Paper Association: https://www.afandpa.org/media/news/2018/01/26/forest-products-manufacturers-applaud-epa-permit-streamlining
by Web Editor | Jan 29, 2018 | News
New mass timber products are becoming more widespread and encouraging builders, designers, and engineers to search for the best applications for mass timber initiatives. A few of the mass timber building products available today include:
• Cross-laminated timber
• Nail-laminated timber
• Glue-laminated timber
• Dowel-laminated timber
As they test the capabilities of these materials, designers are looking to existing mass timber buildings around the world for examples and inspiration.
Canadian and European researchers and architects began experimenting with the design of mass timber buildings in the 1970s. European timber projects have shown that weight matters with structural systems, and mass timber structures weigh up to one-third as much as their concrete counterparts. This fact has made wood construction a viable prospect in places where building height and weight are limited, such as city utilities, subway tunnels, and underground rail yards.
Due to their lighter weight, mass timber buildings are more resilient in seismic zones. They carry less inertia, so the possibility of destructive swaying goes down. This approach was recently applied in the Brock Commons tower, an 18-story college residence designed for the University of British Columbia by Canadian firm Acton Ostry Architects.
The 173-foot-tall tower combines glue-laminated columns, cross-laminated timber floor slabs, dual concrete cores, and steel connectors. The cores help to counteract wind-generated and seismic forces while anchoring the mass timber building in place. It meets structural and fire-safety regulations by utilizing a specially designed set of interdependent finishes and building materials.
From CRL: https://c-r-l.com/content-hub/mass-timber-buildings-credibility/
by Web Editor | Jan 24, 2018 | News
While heavy rains were pelting Santiam Canyon Thursday afternoon, Jan. 18, there was a warm bustle of activity at one brightly-lit site between Lyons and Mill City.
Albany Eastern Railroad pulled into a rail stall. Representatives from a German manufacturer were fine-tuning equipment inside a covered, 4-acre plant. Employees of Freres Lumber worked with the visitors in a month-old mill to test tools ready to crank out an innovative product.
It’s been a busy year for the 95-year-old Freres Lumber Company: the construction of one mill; a blazing destruction of a drying facility, which was promptly rebuilt and is back in operation; and the marketing of a new product, Mass Plywood Panel. “This past year has been a trial for all of us,” Tyler Freres, the company’s vice president of sales, said as workers eddied around him tending to tasks, tackling everything from computer inputs to judicial placements of mass-panel resins.
The new Mass Plywood Panel plant grew from conception to a running entity in roughly 2 ½ years, including meeting an ambitious construction timeline. “We broke ground in March of 2017, and we had our first panel out in December of 2017,” Freres said, “And, of course, there was that fire in between.”
He saluted the busy crew scattered around the facility. “We couldn’t have done it without these guys,” he said. “Overall, it’s complicated to figure out all the details in a new plant, and these guys have been able to figure it out. It’s not as easy as it sounds.”
From the Statesman Journal: https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/local/stayton/2018/01/20/freres-looks-future-production-mass-plywood-panels-santiam-canyon/1048864001/
by Web Editor | Jan 22, 2018 | News
Shipments of particleboard and MDF in 2017 totaled 5.560 BSF for the year, an increase of 0.9 percent over 2016, according to the Composite Panel Association. December shipments totaled 395 MMSF (3/4-inch basis), down 4.14 percent compared to the same month a year ago at 412 MMSF.
Particleboard shipments in December were 232 MMSF (3/4-inch basis) and 3.309 BSF for the year, a 0.1 percent increase from 2016. MDF shipments totaled 163 MMSF (3/4-inch basis) for the month and 2.250 BSF for 2017, a 2 percent increase compared to 2016.
Also, CPA reported that shipments of thermally fused laminate (TFL) in 2017 totaled 1.267 BSF, a decrease of 0.5 percent compared to 2016. Fourth quarter shipments were 303 MMSF, up 1.7 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2016. December shipments were 86.4 MMSF, down 0.2 percent from the same month in 2016.
Shipments were extrapolated based on data from 87.3 percent of the U.S. and Canadian industry. Quarterly, the TFL Monthly Shipments Report also includes data on shipments by substrate, country of origin, two-sided lamination and print pattern and color applications.
The Industry Snapshot Report is published each month and is available to members on CPA’s website, https://www.compositepanel.org.
From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-industry-news/final-cpa-numbers-show-panel-shipments-gain-2017?ss=news,news,woodworking_industry_news,news,almanac_market_data,news,canadian_news
by Web Editor | Jan 19, 2018 | News
Canada is in the appeals stage of its softwood lumber dispute after the U.S. Department of Commerce imposed final duties earlier this month.
“The Government of Canada will continue to vigorously defend our industry and its workers against protectionist trade practices,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland said in a statement. “U.S. duties on Canadian softwood lumber are unfair, unwarranted and troubling.”
“They are harmful to Canada’s lumber producers, workers, and communities, and they add to the cost of home building, renovations and other projects for American middle-class families,” Freeland said.
But despite duties, with record-high lumber prices and urgent demand from U.S. builders, Canadian lumber firms haven’t had to lay off staff or cut production at all. Canada’s softwood lumber exports to the U.S. have declined 8 percent since the duties were imposed, but because the wood itself is worth more, the industry hasn’t suffered.
VP of international trade and transportation for the Forest Products Association of Canada Joel Neuheimer said the higher price of wood and the insatiable demand from U.S. builders is helping keep the duties from pushing companies to lay off staff, cut production or even close down.
From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/canadian-news/canada-wont-back-down-vows-resist-softwood-duties?ss=news,news,woodworking_industry_news,news,almanac_market_data,news,canadian_news
by Web Editor | Jan 8, 2018 | News
Roseburg Forest Products has announced that Phil Odom has been named business manager for the company’s plywood and lumber business, a newly created role that consolidates the reporting structure of plywood and lumber sales organization. Reporting to Odom are the central planning manager, the plywood field sales team, and sales managers for lumber, softwood plywood, and hardwood plywood.
Odom has had experience at BlueLinx Corporation where he served as vice president of national business development, and at Georgia-Pacific. At both companies, Odom managed sales, distribution, manufacturing, and operations teams. Bringing a breadth of experience in organizational leadership and team development to the role, Odom has developed national sales strategies and built out new channels, markets, and product lines.
Odom holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and marketing from Georgia Southern University. He has served as a board member of the Construction Suppliers Association and as an active member of both the North American Wholesale Lumber Association and the National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association.
Founded in 1936, Roseburg Forest Products is a privately owned company and a producer of particleboard, medium density fiberboard, and thermally fused laminates. Roseburg also manufactures softwood and hardwood plywood, lumber, LVL, and I-joists. The company owns and sustainably manages more than 600,000 acres of timberland in Oregon, North Carolina, and Virginia, as well as an export wood chip terminal facility in Coos Bay, Oregon.
From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/roseburg-names-business-manager-plywood-and-lumber?ss=news,news,woodworking_industry_news,news,almanac_market_data,news,canadian_news
