Projects: Here, There and Everywhere

by Brad Jackson | Aug 10, 2017 | Taking Stock

Article by Rich Donnell,
Editor-In-Chief

You may recall that the major theme of the Panel & Engineered Lumber International Conference & Expo (PELICE) held last year in Atlanta was “new plant development and construction.” Several speakers addressed ongoing plant projects that were in various timeline stages. We featured the startup of one of those plants, Winston Plywood & Veneer in Louisville, Miss., in the last issue of Panel World. We hope to write about a couple of others that were addressed at PELICE in upcoming issues, such as Swanson Group’s new plywood mill in Springfield, Ore. and RoyOMartin’s new OSB plant in Corrigan, Texas.

You may be aware that Panel World is the host magazine of PELICE and its editors are heavily involved in the planning of PELICE. So when the subject of PELICE 2018 came up recently, it took about two seconds to come up with a major theme: New Plant Development and Construction, Part II.

How could it be anything else? For example, this issue of Panel World reports on Roseburg’s announcement to build a new LVL mill in Chester, SC, and Egger’s plan to build a particleboard mill in Lexington, NC. And for a different (non-wood) twist, how about the Calag rice straw based MDF plant in Willows, Calif. that is approaching construction following 20 years of trying to get there?

There’s plenty more going on: Arauco’s construction of a particleboard mill in Grayling Mich.; Swiss Krono’s construction of an HDF plant in Barnwell, SC; Kronospan’s construction of a particleboard plant in Oxford, Ala. And for another different (product) twist, how about Freres Lumber’s construction of a MPP line in Oregon. MPP? That stands for Mass Plywood Panel, a veneer-based competitor of lumber-based cross-laminated timber.

Then there are the “re-starts” that will require considerable investment, such as Huber’s OSB mill in Spring City, Tenn.; Tolko’s OSB mill in High Prairie, Alberta; and possibly Norbord’s OSB mill in Chambord, Quebec, among others.

And these don’t take into account the dozens of mills that are making incremental upgrades.

So, New Plant Development and Construction, Part II, it is.

By the way, PELICE 2018, which is scheduled for April 13-14 again at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center in Atlanta, will be the sixth PELICE, and it will mark the 10th year since the first one was held in spring of 2008.

You remember the spring of 2008 don’t you? The theme of that first PELICE was definitely “not” New Plant Development and Construction.

Ten years later, and not surprisingly, the resiliency of the wood products industry and the American economy has won the day. Panel World and PELICE don’t mind riding those coattails at all.

OSB Producers Looking Up

by Brad Jackson | Apr 10, 2017 | Taking Stock

It May Have Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time

by Brad Jackson | Feb 20, 2017 | Taking Stock

Article by Rich Donnell,
Editor-In-Chief

The world’s largest producer of oriented strandboard isn’t holding back on its criticism of United Kingdom electricity produced with wood biomass.

Norbord’s European operation, which has been dogging biomass power for several years, has ramped up its attack in recent months, saying it’s not fair for UK taxpayers to have to foot the bill; that the burning of wood is not a sustainable source of energy but rather creates more carbon emissions than burning coal; that the diversion of wood raw material for this purpose distorts the traditional wood market and drives up prices for timber and residues; and that the wood pellet procurement chain poses a threat to bottomland forests especially in the Southeastern U.S.

It’s no secret that our publishing operations also produce Wood Bioenergy magazine, in addition to Panel World, and that we organize back-to-back conferences every two years in Atlanta, Georgia—the Wood Bioenergy Conference & Expo and the Panel & Engineered Lumber International Conference & Expo. Dozens of exhibitors participate in both conferences. You see many familiar faces at these conferences who have switched from one industry to the other. We tend to view this dichotomy as a family affair.

Norbord’s arguments above are valid, but we’ve all read counterpoints to each one of them. If a government is pushing for renewable energy, shouldn’t it be expected to provide some measure of subsidization at least for a period of time? Shouldn’t the fact that forests have been sucking in carbon for years be figured in the carbon emissions equation? Didn’t the emergence of OSB divert wood raw material away from the traditional pulp and paper industry? How much timber that’s to be used in wood pellet production is really coming out of bottomland forests?

The arguments on both sides of the fence seem to have lots of merit. We should know, since we have to straddle that fence.

We do have one concern, however. As we note in an article on page 8, Norbord teamed up with several organizations and signed a letter to the UK secretary of energy, registering their criticisms and asking that the UK review its bioenergy policy.

The letter is signed by a Norbord officer, as well as an officer from the Wood Panel Industries Federation, which represents several European structural and non-structural board manufacturers, including Norbord. Fair enough. But also signing the letter were representatives of the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Dogwood Alliance.

When I think of the Natural Resources Defense Council and Dogwood Alliance I think of organizations whose mindset is against real forest management and timber harvesting.

We have no problem with Norbord and forest products companies voicing their concerns about wood biomass power. That’s what’s in their best interests. We also understand that signing the dotted line along with preservation organizations in this matter is a temporary political alliance. But it still makes us uncomfortable. We all know that tomorrow these preservationist groups will be signing the dotted line in protest of our industry.