The American Wood Council (AWC) Fly-In has gathered industry leaders from across the country to advocate on behalf of members’ interests regarding environmental regulations (such as Boiler MACT), building energy performance, and fair marketplace treatment for bio-based building products.

“It is important that the leaders in our industry have this opportunity to tell our elected representatives what we do, why it’s important, and what they can do to help us continue to operate in what is a complex and ever-evolving regulatory and legislative environment,” said AWC President Robert Glowinski. “The products that AWC members make help support hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country and are among the most environmentally responsible and structurally sound out there; additionally, their use in housing and other construction will contribute greatly to economic recovery. Legislators need to understand this, and we’re here today to share our story.”

From The American Wood Council: http://www.awc.org/NewsReleases/2012/newsreleases2012.html#capitol

He’s a new hire, not a worker called back from one of the layoffs and shutdowns that have dogged the wood products industry for a generation. His is one of two added positions at the plant. And in the past year, the company replaced six other workers who retired, rather than let the positions go dark.

It may sound modest, but plant Superintendent Mike Henderson calls the hirings a “significant pickup.” The plant’s 50 employees produce thin layers of veneer, which are trucked to Medford and pressed together to make plywood and beams used in housing and other construction. No one is calling it a boom, but a slow rebound from the recession may be unfolding in the decimated wood products industry. That’s why the company replaced the retired workers and approved the new hires. “I wanted to have some experienced hands on board so we’re ready when things turn around,” Henderson said.

Industry observers see signs of improvement. While single-family home construction lags, wood products are increasingly used in multi-family projects and multi-story commercial buildings, said Tom Partin, president of the Portland-based American Forest Resource Council, which advocates on behalf of manufacturers.

Northwest mills aggressively sought new markets in Europe and Asia, Partin said. Also, raw log shipments from the Northwest to China and Japan have slowed, which makes more timber available to domestic mills.

From The Mail Tribune: http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120508/BIZ/205080306/-1/rss05

Flavelle Sawmill in Port Moody was forced to shut down last week after the company was told insurance premiums were jumping from $300,000 a year to $1.1 million.

“We have one thing after the other, we have markets collapsing, and now this,” Flavelle’s David Gray said. “That order of magnitude, we’re just not able to absorb it.”

Flavelle has found another insurer, but the company is still paying substantially higher rates. Gray says he’s worried that if premiums continue to climb, many sawmills will be forced to simply close.

A Vancouver-based insurance company told CTV News that sawmills across the country are facing rising premiums, but the crisis is biggest in B.C.

Rates have been climbing for years, but they spiked in January after two men were killed in an explosion at Babine Forest Products in Burns Lake. After a second fatal blast in Prince George two weeks ago, and no answers on the cause of either tragedy, undertakers aren’t willing to take on more risks.

From CTV News: http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20120504/bc_sawmill_insurance_rates_120504/20120504/?hub=BritishColumbiaHome

Until we receive the investigation conclusions from WorkSafeBC, we cannot say for certain what caused the events at those two facilities. We feel strongly that the severity of the two incidents demands an immediate and comprehensive safety response. Four members of our sector lost their lives and we will not wait to take action.

Recently, CEOs from the major wood products manufacturing companies in British Columbia gathered to create an plan for improving safety. Companies including Ainsworth, Interfor, Dunkley Lumber, Western Forest Products, Tolko, Sinclar Group, Hampton Affiliates, Conifex, West Fraser Timber and Canfor resolved to establish a CEO-led task force that will quantify combustion risks related to dust from processing of both green and dry wood and identify best practices for dust mitigation from other industries.

We also committed to developing a set of clear and auditable standards that will be utilized to independently assess the safety of mills across the industry. We will work with experts and other stakeholders to ensure these standards are comprehensive and provide assurance that conditions in mills across B.C. are safe for workers.

Finally, we will be reaching out to every forest products manufacturer in the province, large or small, to expand this initiative to every mill in B.C.

From The Vancouver Sun: http://www.vancouversun.com/Forest+industry+leaders+establish+safety+task+force/6584150/story.html

During an investigation update Wednesday, Roberta Ellis, vice-president of investigations, said sawdust samples have been sent to a lab in the U.S. for analysis, primarily to determine if the concentration of dust prior to the blast could have served as a fuel source.

Ellis added investigators are also looking at other possible fuel sources, including natural gas and propane, and are also looking at several possible ignition sources such as hot surfaces, electric arc from switches and motors.

“We are not looking at one single element in isolation,” Ellis said. “We are looking at all of these elements and we are looking at how they could have potentially caused this catastrophic event.”

The type of wood being milled prior to the incident is also being examined, amid growing speculation that the processing of beetle-kill wood and/or green wood, known to produce a fine, powdery sawdust has been responsible for a string of recent mill blasts.

From The Province: http://www.theprovince.com/news/Sawdust+samples+sent+help+determine+cause+sawmill+explosions/6555280/story.html

The company laid off 760 employees before shutting down the roughly 80-year-old plant earlier this month.

It will tear down the mill this summer and has retained Kidder, Mathews & Binswanger to market the property, Kimberly-Clark said.

The site, at 2600 Federal Avenue, has more than 2,500 linear feet of deep-water shoreline area and is next to Naval Station Everett and the Port of Everett main terminal, the company said.

From The News Tribune: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/04/28/2124102/everett-pulp-mill-to-be-demolished.html

The edict, issued last week by WorkSafeBC, comes after a devastating blast recently leveled the Lakeland Mills in Prince George, killing two workers. In January, a sawmill exploded in Burns Lake, claiming two victims.

Investigators are focusing on high levels of sawdust from the cutting of wood killed by pine beetles as a possible trigger.

Two WorkSafeBC inspection reports disclosed last week showed earlier concern over dust at the Lakeland Mills. One of the inspections took place in February, just two weeks after the Babine Forest Products Mill blew up in Burns Lake.

From The Globe and Mail: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/sawdust-ordered-removed-from-bc-mills/article2414398/

The investments announced are concentrated on the Radium Sawmill, located in the community of Radium Hot Springs, B.C. Approximately $38.5 million will be invested in a new planer facility, the installation of a biomass energy system and modifications to the existing sawmill. The balance will be invested at the company’s Canal Flats sawmill to improve drying capacity.

“These investments are critical to support the restart of our Radium division, which was indefinitely closed in May 2009,” said Don Kayne, Canfor President and CEO. “The fiber in the Kootenay region is amongst the best in the world, and these investments will secure our ability to make top-quality products here to supply global markets.”

The capital project at the Radium mill will commence in May 2012, with start up anticipated in the fourth quarter.

Cariboo North MLA Bob Simpson found a confidential draft version of the report that was mistakenly made public on the ministry’s website. It estimates that without opening up protected areas and harvesting lower-volume stands, as many as half of the forest industry jobs in the Cariboo and northern region will disappear.

The draft report reviews the sharp increase in the annual allowable cut in the affected region, and the “drastic” decline that would occur without changes. The Lakes timber supply area around Burns Lake would see a 67% drop, and the Quesnel area would see its allowable cut reduced by 51%. The beetle impact is less in the Prince George and Williams Lake areas, which would drop 32% without changing rules.

In the legislature last week, Simpson called on the government to announce what changes it will make to ease the impact of the timber supply loss. “In those technical appraisals it points out that in my area, in Quesnel, we have one and a half years of commercial timber left, and we may see 1,600 jobs lost if mitigation measures are not taken,” Simpson said. “But those mitigation measures are highly controversial and will completely change the face of forestry in this province, and yet the same report isn’t sure if this government wants to consult.”

From Houston Today: http://www.houston-today.com/news/147961885.html

“We are issuing orders immediately to all sawmill employers in British Columbia and directing that they conduct a full hazard identification risk assessment and safety review, and we’re asking them to focus on combustible dust and dust accumulation and potential ignition sources,” WorkSafeBC vice-president Roberta Ellis said Tuesday.

The order came after a massive explosion and fire at the Lakeland sawmill in Prince George Monday night.

In January, a similar explosion and fire at Babine Forest Products killed two men and injured 19 others.

From The Vancouver Sun: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Explosions+trigger+safety+review+sawmills/6514954/story.html