YOUR TAX DOLLARS NOT AT WORK

You may be aware of our affiliate magazine, Panel World, which covers the structural and non-structural wood panel industries in a similar way that Timber Processing covers the lumber industry.

Recently in Panel World we ran a news article on Huber Engineered Woods pulling out of a long-planned project to build a $440 million oriented strandboard (OSB) plant in Cohasset, Minn., which would have been Huber’s sixth OSB plant following ongoing operations in Maine, Georgia, Virginia, Tennessee and Oklahoma.

But this time Huber ran into the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, which collaborated with the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (MCEA) to cause Huber to back off the project. MCEA, in looking at its web site and personnel roster, is all about finding “environmental justice” through the courts in representation of various clients, such as Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, whose land base is the Leech Lake Reservation in north-central Minnesota. The tribe operates three nearby gaming casinos and owns two gas express and food stations.

Though it’s a panel mill project, paying close attention to its developments and roadblocks may prove enlightening to sawmillers looking to build a plant down the road.

Huber, which first announced it wanted to build the plant in June 2021, bowed out in response to a Minnesota Court of Appeals decision in early February that would have caused further delay in the construction of the operation, which would have created 150 direct jobs and positively impacted hundreds of others in logging, trucking, supplies and numerous retail sectors.

But in the ruling on an appeal from the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe (whose reservation is due west) and the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, the court of appeals said the Cohasset city planners’ earlier decision to only require an Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW) of the project, and not require a more detailed Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), needed to be readdressed by the city because of issues involving 10 acres of two “public waters wetlands” that the court said state law would require an EIS for. (The state of Minnesota requires a “responsible governmental unit,” such as a city planning body, to determine if a project requires an EAW or EIS, or both.)

Huber had initially submitted an EAW and then, at the city’s request—including providing more information about the health of Minnesota’s forests and their ability to sustainably supply the facility, and providing more detail on the project’s carbon footprint and the carbon sequestration effects of the finished wood products—re-submitted the EAW, which the city accepted while deciding an EIS wasn’t necessary.

Leech Lake Band appealed, and the appeals court agreed that the facility “falls into categories” for which an EIS is mandatory under Minnesota law, specifically as to the “elimination” of public waters wetland.

The court noted that the state’s definition of public waters wetlands is 10 or more acres in size in unincorporated areas and at least two and a half or more acres in incorporated areas. Huber’s EAW explained that its project would involve filling portions of two public waters wetlands, both in incorporated areas: 8.73 of 14.27 acres in one and 1.65 of 5.67 in another, and that while there would be a reduction in the size of each, it wouldn’t “eliminate” the public waters in question. The city agreed and noted that the partially filled public water wetlands would not fall below the 2.5 acre threshold after the partial filling.

Contact Rich Donnell, ph: 334-834-1170; fax 334-834-4525; e-mail: rich@hattonbrown.com

Spi Announces New Sawmills

Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI) plans to build a new sawmill complex, including two new sawmills located adjacent each other on the east side of its existing site in Eugene, Ore., eventually operating under one roof and ultimately replacing the existing sawmilling facilities.

The two sawmills will include a stud mill, patterned after SPI’s mill in Shelton, Wash. and consuming logs 516 in. diameter, and a cutting mill (large log mill) that will process logs 16 in. and larger.

The log mix will be similar to the current mix; however, the cutting mill is designed to extract greater value from each log, including dimension lumber, rough and surfaced timbers, shop, VG, clears, etc.— designed similarly to SPI’s four cutting mills in California.

The location allows SPI to complete the construction offline while continuing to run its three existing facilities and maintain full employment of more than 300, before moving into the new facilities as they are completed.

The new sawmill complex will become one of the largest single site lumber producers in the U.S with an annual production capacity of 650MMBF, compared with the existing capacity at Eugene of more than 350MMBF.

The new sawmill project timeline anticipates completion between 2025 and 2026, contingent on securing appropriate permits and approvals.

“Sierra Pacific is energized about this opportunity to continue to provide quality, renewable wood products to meet the anticipated increased demand for housing and other societal needs,” comments Todd Payne, SPI President of Lumber. “This project will make our Eugene mill site one of the largest and most modern sawmills in the United States, continuing to build our momentum in growing our position in a critical market while maintaining our commitment to sustainably grown and manufactured wood products, and our talented, hard-working crew members.”

SPI acquired the Eugene site (formerly Seneca) as part of a larger 2021 acquisition and began plans for growth and expansion almost immediately. Construction of a new trucking facility and new engineering, technology and fabrication facility are under- way, with completion expected this fall. These new facilities will expand efficiencies for the site and support the design, fabrication and construction of the new sawmills.

“These investment decisions by SPI are a reflection of our confidence in the need for sustainable building products, as well as that of our Oregon crew members and communities,” says SPI CEO Mark Emmerson. “We pride ourselves in our partnerships with our communities and the positive community impacts of our operations.”

Canfor Plans New Bc Facility

Canfor Corp. stated that to better align manufacturing capacity in British Columbia with the available long-term fiber supply, it is restructuring its BC operations by permanently closing its Chetwynd sawmill and pellet plant and temporarily closing its Houston sawmill for an extended period to facilitate the construction of a new manufacturing facility. Project planning, scoping, preliminary engineering and budgeting are underway.

The company will undertake a comprehensive evaluation of the availability of economic fiber and a thorough project financial analysis, supporting a final investment decision by the end of the second quarter of 2023. Both facilities will be closed following an orderly wind down of operations that is expected to conclude early in the second quarter of 2023 and will remove 750MMBF of annual production capacity.

“We are making these difficult but necessary decisions to create a more sustainable operating footprint in BC,” comments Don Kayne, president and CEO. “Our goal is to match our mill capacity with the economically available fiber for harvest to enhance our ability to compete and to operate throughout the market cycles. This is what will ultimately create greater stability for our employees and communities, while ensuring we can continue to provide the high quality, low carbon products that are in demand by our customers around the world.”

Coalition Favors Duty Upgrade

U.S. Dept. of Commerce announced the preliminary determination of a combined anti-subsidy and anti-dumping duty rate of 8.24% in the fourth annual review of allegedly subsidized traded Canadian softwood lumber imports into the U.S. The review covers lumber imported in calendar year 2021.

“Continued enforcement of U.S. trade laws against unfairly traded Canadian lumber will maximize long-term domestic production and lumber availability produced by U.S. workers to build U.S. homes,” says Andrew Miller, Chairman of the U.S. Lumber Coalition and CEO of Stimson Lumber.

“A level playing field against subsidized and dumped imports is particularly important during times of down markets when U.S. mills can least afford to lose sales to Canada’s harmful unfair trade practices that endanger U.S. jobs and communities who depend on a vibrant U.S. forestry industry.”

The U.S. industry remains open to a new U.S.–Canada softwood lumber trade agreement if and when Canada can demonstrate that it is serious about negotiations, according to a Coalition statement.

“Until then, the U.S. Lumber Coalition fully supports the continued strong enforcement of the U.S. trade laws to address Canada’s unfair softwood lumber trade practices.”

Structurlam Looks To Reboot

The temporary closure of Structurlam Mass Timber’s Conway, Ark. cross-laminated timber (CLT) and glulam plant and the apparent severing of the plant’s relationship as a major supplier for Walmart’s new low carbon footprint and energy efficient corporate campus in nearby Bentonville marks yet another growing pain for an industry that’s just getting started realizing its amazing potential.

In 2019 Structurlam announced that the new campus project was to be fed by Structurlam’s new CLT facility that included a $90 million investment to up- grade a former steel mill and convert it to a CLT plant. Structurlam would become the “exclusive supplier of mass timber products” to the new Walmart home office campus, covering 350 acres, two million square feet of floor space and multiple office buildings.

The project moved along, and many were surprised in January this year when Structurlam officials announced the plant would be closing due to a “customer” contract cancellation and that there are no plans to enter into a new commercial agreement with the “customer.”

Structurlam CEO Matthew Karmel refers to it as a “commercial dispute, but we cannot discuss the specifics.” More specifically, according to a source in the CLT industry, the plant may have “overcommitted” to Walmart while dealing with startup issues, and there may have been dispute over product quality or composition.

Following the 2021 bankruptcy of Katerra and its CLT plant in Spokane, Wash.—which set out to revolutionize the construction industry using pre-fab building and mass timber construction principles but couldn’t get out of its own way—the mass timber industry had regained the momentum, and is definitely expanding as designers, engineers and architects learn more about it.

Karmel says the state-of-the-art Conway plant has met the vigorous startup challenges “with flying colors—its crosslaminated timber and glulam production capabilities already exceed its plan objectives and its processes have been validated repeatedly by the APA to exceed U.S. regulatory standards.” Karmel adds that Structurlam is in a strong position to resume Conway operations and support new customers as the rapid growth of mass timber across North America continues to drive demand for manufacturing capacity.

In May 2022 Structurlam named Karmel as CEO. Prior to joining Structurlam, Karmel served as the CEO of Crenlo Engineered Cabs. Previously, he led other companies in North America and Europe in a broad range of industries, including Klenk Holz AG, the largest sawmills group in Germany, as the company’s CEO & Chairman. He earned a Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering from Princeton University and completed a generalmanagement executive program at INSEAD Business School in France.

Structurlam operates mass timber manufacturing operations at its home base in Penticton, BC.

Mendocino Companies Expands In Utah

Mendocino Companies purchased the assets of Utah Wood Preserving (UWP) and portions of its affiliates. UWP’s manufacturing facility in Woods Cross, Utah, is a well-maintained preservative treating plant on a large, fully paved site with dry kilns and rail service. A distribution yard, operating as ABS in Denver, Col., is included in the asset purchase.

Robert Moore, UWP principal architect and partner, has agreed to join Mendocino.

The Mendocino Family of Companies includes Allweather Wood, Humboldt Redwood Co., Humboldt Sawmill Co.,

Mendocino Forest Products, Mendocino Redwood Co. Mendocino Companies owns 440,000 acres of FSC certificated timberland. Mendocino Companies also owns and operates a 25 MW biomass cogen plant and wood pellet plant in California.

Sawmill In Camden Has New Life

Executives at Astara Capital Partners, a middle-market private equity firm, along with Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders and other state and local officials gathered to mark the opening of the Camden Timbers sawmill in early February.

Astara Capital Partners earlier formed Camden Timbers to acquire and restart the former Victory Lumber SYP sawmill in Camden. Camden Timbers is Astara’s second sawmill investment for its ACP Lumber Holdings platform, following its acquisition of Cross City Lumber in Florida in April 2021.

“Astara is proud to invest in American manufacturing companies, and today’s ceremony highlights the wonderful team at Camden Timbers and its special partnership with the state of Arkansas,” commented Astara Managing Partner Michael Ranson, who came to Astara in summer 2020 from Blue Wolf Capital Partners.

Camden Timbers will create more than 50 jobs in the area. The company expects the sawmill to produce more than 50MMBF of timbers and dimension.

Court Halts Logging Plan

Ruling that the Forest Service is violating environmental laws, a federal court in Boise, Id. has halted the Hanna Flats Logging Project in the Idaho Panhandle National Forest, citing potential harm to grizzly bear habitat.

FS officials relied on Bonner County’s wildfire protection plan that designates the area as a wildland urban interface in claiming the logging project qualified for a categorical exclusion under the Healthy Forest Restoration Act since it’s in an area where homes and structures are vulnerable to wildfire.

The court disagreed and halted the project until it can hear the case on its merits. The 2,500 acre project has roughly 1,100 acres of mechanical treatments that include clear-cutting, thinning and other work.