Pushing for fibre supply policy

That is the message being sent by WPAC executive director Gordon Murray as he and other pellet industry stakeholders continue to lobby Forest Minister Steve Thomson’s forestry fibre working group.

According to a report from the Vancouver Sun, Murray and other members of the B.C. pellet industry believe there is a unique opportunity for the biomass industry in the wake of the devastation caused by the mountain pine beetle, but that opportunity can only be seized with support from government policy.

The biggest change requested by the pellet industry is the introduction of a lower stumpage rate for residuals, which would make it financially-viable for contractors to haul fibre for pellet production out of the forests. They have also requested a change to policy that would restrict loggers from burning slash within a certain radius of existing pellet plants.

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