IN THE NEWS

ary 2015. Along with his Warnell classes, he also was an adjunct professor at the Terry College of Business, where he taught corporate finance. One of his proudest accomplishments was his lifetime affiliation with Warnell as a dean, professor, student, and the son of a professor at the school.

Desiring to return to the private sector, Clutter became a top executive with Forest Investment Associates Timber Partners, a timber and timberland investment fund. He worked there until 2021, when he was named Chief Analytics Officer at F & W Forestry, a position he held until his death.

Along with his academic and professional accomplishments, Clutter was the co-editor of a book on timberland investment, author of numerous articles and other publications, a recipient of several research grants, an editorial board member of the professional journal Forest Science, a member and past chair of the American Forest and Paper Assn.’s forest inventory committee, and a member of the U.S. Forest Service’s forest inventory and analysis review committee. He was an inductee of the Georgia Foresters Hall of Fame.

He is survived by his wife of 38 years, Catherine (Cathy) Nemetz, and their three children, Matthew, Emily, and Maggie. Clutter was predeceased by his father, Dr. Jerome Clutter, also a leading professor at Warnell for 20 years.

Visitation was held January 6 in Watkinsville, and a funeral mass was January 7 at The Catholic Center at the University of Georgia. Interment was at Oconee Hill Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests that donations be made to: The Dr. Michael L. Clutter Fellowship, University of Georgia Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, attention: Bridget Harden (bharden@uga.edu). In addition, donations may be made to Trout Unlimited, at gifts.tu.org.

Forest Industry Wins Black Hills Appeal

Officials with the Black Hills Forest Resources Assn. (BHFRA) have prevailed in an appeal of a 2021 decision to drastically reduce future timber harvests on the Black Hills National Forest. In February 2021, the Forest Service (FS) Rocky Mountain Research Station in Fort Collins, Colo., issued general technical report (GTR) 422. The report detailed timber inventory assessments and projected growth rates that led to FS officials reducing future timber harvests on the Black Hills NF by 50% during the next three years.

At issue is the GTR’s assessment that the forest had lost 50% of its timber inventory, requiring the drastic harvest cuts, and how FS officials came to that conclusion. The BHFRA argued that the GTR modeling and survey data reflected only certain areas and not conditions of the overall forest.

With timber harvests scheduled to go from 18 million cubic feet (CF) to roughly 9 million CF by 2023, BHFRA officials filed the appeal in late 2021. That action was initially denied by the research station, but a request for review by an interagency panel upheld several of BHFRA’s concerns. The interagency panel didn’t agree with all BHFRA’s concerns, but did find that the initial GTR had improperly reached its timber inventory assessment. The action doesn’t mean timber harvests will be completely restored, but FS officials have directed research station personnel to come up with a corrective action process and particularly a more collaborative and transparent approach going forward.

Drax Announces Aliceville Expansion

Drax has announced a $50 million expansion at its wood pellet plant in Aliceville, Ala., which will increase production capacity by nearly 50% from 250,000 tons to 380,000 tons.

Aliceville is well-positioned as a growing hub for sustainable forestry and the biomass industry, according to Drax. “The region boasts of a high concentration of existing sawmills that produce the residuals necessary to support sustainable wood pellet production.” The expansion will include upgrades to existing systems as well as new truck dumps and pelletizer units, which will allow for an increase in the amount of sawmill residuals processed. The additional capacity is expected to begin commissioning in 2024.

Drax also operates a wood pellet plant in Demopolis, Ala. and has 19 operational pellet plants and developments with nameplate production capacity of around 5 million tons a year in North America. Drax is targeting 8 million tons of production capacity by 2030.

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Drax gained the Aliceville plant upon the Drax purchase of Pinnacle, which had purchased it from the original builder and operator, Westervelt.

Arizona Operation Has New Name

Arizona-based NewLife Forest Products has rebranded itself as Restoration Forest Products, LLC (RFOR). In addition to the name change, the company announced changes to its senior leadership team.

“The new name more accurately represents what we do,” comments

Ted Dergousoff, CEO of Restoration Forest Products, LLC. “Our partners, customers and communities can still expect to see the same passion, diligence and commitment towards our mission of restoring the health of our forests, preventing wildfires and producing world-class lumber and building products. We are excited to lead the way in creating a sustainable model for forest restoration.”

With the rebranding, RFOR introduces additions to its senior leadership team, including: l Neil Calhoun as Chief Financial Officer: Calhoun brings more than 40 years of experience in the manufacturing industries both domestically and internationally. l George Stedeford as Senior Vice President, Forest Operations: He will focus on forest operations as the company builds out its harvesting and restoration efforts. l Bob Banchero as Senior Vice President, Sawmill Operations: Banchero will oversee the sawmills and engineered wood products. Banchero has 40 years in the lumber industry, demonstrating on several occasions the ability to manage multi-sawmill divisions in the U.S. and Canada.

The company is implementing sawmill and engineered wood products manufacturing at its plant Bellemont, Ariz., while also increasing forest restoration work in service of its Forest Service stewardship contract to thin and treat more than 300,000 acres at risk of wildfire on the Kaibab, Coconino, Apache-Sitgreaves and Tonto National Forests.

Forest Service awarded the contract in 2013 to Good Earth Power, which became NewLife Forest Products. The company had initially planned a greenfield sawmill at a site in Williams, Ariz., but switched to Bellemont after a large former paper products finishing industrial building became available.

The company reports it has tripled the size of its forest restoration operations.

PotlatchDeltic Sets GHG Emissions Targets

PotlatchDeltic Corp. has established a 2030 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction target for Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions of 42% and a Scope 3 value chain GHG emissions reduction target of 25% from a 2021 baseline. The targets are in accordance with the non-FLAG Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) to keep global temperature increases to less than 1.5°C compared to pre-industrial levels and a commitment letter will be submitted to SBTi for validation in 2023.

Key components of the initiative include increased utilization of wood residuals, electrification of mobile equipment, energy efficiency efforts, the purchase of green power from electricity suppliers, and working with the company’s value chain. The company also committed to a goal to achieve net-zero GHG emissions by 2050, including the development of non-FLAG SBTi 2050 GHG reduction targets.

PotlatchDeltic owns nearly 2.2 million acres of timberlands in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina. The company also operates six sawmills, an industrialgrade plywood mill, a residential and commercial real estate development business and a rural timberland sales program.

Enviva Adds Fuel Supply Contract

Enviva Inc. announced the signing of a new 10-year take-orpay off-take fuel supply contract with an existing European customer, extendable for up to five years. Enviva expects to supply 800,000 metric tons of industrialgrade wood pellets per year, with deliveries expected to commence during 2027.

Thomas Meth, President and CEO of Enviva, comments, “Deliveries under this new contract are

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expected to begin in about four years, which underscores how serious our European counterparties are in shoring up renewable energy feedstock from secure, sustainable, and trusted sources.”

Enviva’s total weighted-average remaining term of take-or-pay offtake contracts is approximately 14 years, with a total contracted revenue backlog of now over $23 billion. This contracted revenue backlog is complemented by a customer sales pipeline exceeding $50 billion, which includes contracts in various stages of negotiation.

Enviva owns and operates 10 plants with a combined production capacity of approximately 6.2 million metric tons per year in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Mississippi, and is constructing its 11th plant in Epes, Ala.

Britain Reveals Latest Electricity Dynamics

Britain generated a record amount of renewable electricity in 2022, but the rising cost of gas led wholesale power prices to almost double year-on-year, according to new data as reported by Drax.

Academics from Imperial College London for Drax Electric Insights, commissioned via Imperial Consultants, analyzed the data which highlights the turbulence that Britain’s electricity system has endured amid an unprecedented year for the energy industry.

Renewable power sources— wind, solar, biomass and hydro— generated 40% of the country’s electricity in 2022, up from 35% in 2021, helping to cut CO2 emissions from the power sector by 2.7 million tonnes compared to the previous year. Overall generation from renewables has more than quadrupled over the last decade.

At one stage during May, renewables provided 72.8% of power to the grid while wind farms generated a landmark 20GW of electricity for the first time—the maximum output from wind is

now up by a third compared to four years ago.

Despite the record supply of cheap renewable electricity, the unprecedented rise in the cost of gas following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent power prices to a new all-time high. Fossil fuel supplied 42% of the country’s power this year, its largest share of the fuel mix since 2016. Britain is on course to have annual average wholesale price above £200 per MWh for the first time ever in 2022—up from £113 the year before. This is nearly six times higher than the cost of electricity in 2020 (£34 per MWh).

Dr. Iain Staffell of Imperial College London, and lead author of the quarterly “Drax Electric Insights” report series, comments, “The lesson from 2022 is that we need to break our addiction to fossil fuels once and for all if we want lower cost and more secure energy supplies. If we had not invested in wind, solar and biomass over the last decade our energy bills would have been even higher, as would the risk of blackouts over winter. We need to turbocharge our investment in clean energy technologies to become Europe’s renewable electricity powerhouse, which will cut fuel bills at home and bring money into the economy by exporting power to our neighboring countries.”

Northeast Texas Has Timber Damage

A series of tornadoes that struck northeast Texas in early November damaged timber on more than 10,000 acres; the timber was worth an estimated $13 million.

Storms that tracked across north Texas on November 4 resulted in seven tornadoes, five of which impacted timberland in Bowie, Cass, Henderson, Morris and Red River counties, according to a Texas A&M Forest Service assessment of the damage. One person died as a result of the storm in Morris County.

The damage assessment used forest inventory data collected by Texas A&M Forest Service foresters and technicians as part of the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program. The data, including forest health, tree numbers, size and condition, was used along with satellite imagery from before and after the storms to estimate damage to timber.

Damaged trees were uprooted, snapped off below the crown or leaning significantly. Most of the damage to timber was on private property.

Damage was estimated for sawtimber—trees at least 9 in. in diameter at breast height; and pole timber—trees smaller than sawtimber but at least 5 in. in diameter at breast height. The value was determined using the most recent Texas Timber Price Trends report. l In Bowie County, an EF-2 tornado with peak winds around 125 MPH stretched for 15.7 miles and was 1,200 yards across at its widest point. The tornado damaged 2,279 acres of timber: 624 acres of pine forest, 1,327 acres of hardwood forest and 328 acres of mixed pine-hardwood forest. The total value of damaged timber in the county is estimated at $2.7 million. l In Cass County, an EF-1 tornado with peak wind speeds of 110 MPH damaged 3,250 acres of timber along its path of more than 20 miles. The damage included nearly 1,626 acres of pine forest, 1,149 acres of hardwood forest and 476 acres of mixed forest. The total value of damaged timber in the county is estimated at $4.1 million. l Damage in Henderson County was linked to an EF-2 tornado with estimated peak winds of 115 MPH. That tornado tracked more than 16 miles and damaged 194 acres of predominantly hardwood forest with an estimated value of $235,120. l The tornado in Morris County, an EF-2 with estimated peak winds of 125 MPH, tracked 16.9 miles and damaged 1,216 acres: 384

acres of pine forest, 645 acres of hardwood forest and 187 acres of mixed forest, with an estimated timber value of $2.1 million. l In Red River County, an EF-3 tornado with estimated top winds of 150 MPH cut a half-mile path at its widest point and had a 58-mile track of damage, stretching into Oklahoma. The tornado damaged 3,606 acres of timber—816 acres of pine forest, 2,217 acres of hardwood forest and 573 acres of mixed forest— worth an estimated $3.9 million.

American Truckers Cite Fuel Prices, Drivers

American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), recently released its 18th annual top industry issues report, identifying the leading industry concerns including fuel prices, driver shortage, truck parking, driver compensation, the economy and for the first time, speed limiters.

According to American Trucking Assn. Chairman Harold Sumerford of J&M Tank Lines in Birming-

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ham, Ala., “High fuel prices and finding drivers were two of our industry’s biggest challenges,” and those issues were made more difficult by the economy.

In a year that saw record high fuel costs, fuel prices were ranked as the top industry concern, replacing the driver shortage, which had been the number one issue for five years in a row. In 2022, the driver shortage was the secondranked issue, followed by the lack of available truck parking. Rounding out the top five this year were driver compensation and the economy.

With the release earlier this year of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Notice of Intent to enter into a speed limiter rule making in 2023, speed limiters ranked in the top 10 this year for the first time, coming in ninth overall and fifth among commercial driver respondents. More than 4,200 trucking industry stakeholders participated in the survey, including motor carriers, truck drivers, industry suppliers, driver trainers, law enforcement, and others.

Dieffenbacher Acquires BERTSCHenergy

Germany-based Dieffenbacher has acquired the key assets of BERTSCHenergy, based in Bludenz, western Austria, through the newly formed Dieffenbacher Energy GmbH subsidiary. Dieffenbacher states that the acquisition accelerates its ability to support its customers while helping to shape Europe’s rapidly evolving energy future.

Dieffenbacher, a longtime equipment and technology provider to the wood-based panel industry, now adds to its portfolio fluidized bed combustion systems for solid fuels (e.g. biomass), gas and steam turbines for power and steam production, and industrial waste heat systems. In addition, the acquisition further extends Dieffenbacer’s long-time use of conventional grate firing in energy systems.

Dieffenbacher will continue to use the existing company headquarters in Bludenz (province of Vorarlberg), maintain the existing product portfolio and plans to take on all 150 employees.

BERTSCHenergy and Dieffenbacher operate in some of the same markets and have successfully implemented customer proj-

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ects together.

“BERTSCHenergy and Dieffenbacher are both family businesses with a similar spirit. We very much look forward to working with our new employees and to our shared future,” comments CEO Christian Dieffenbacher.

Red Rock Biofuels Put Up For Auction

The Red Rock Biofuels facility and property in Lakeview, Ore. is for sale, following the recording of a notice of default and foreclosure as placed by the lender and trustee.

The default for which the foreclosure was made was due to the failure to pay when due the principal-of and interest-on certain Economic Development Revenue Bonds issued by the state of Oregon, acting through its State Treasurer, its Oregon Business Development Commission and its Oregon Business Development Dept. The principal is nearly $299 million and the interest is nearly $56,000 for a total default amount of nearly $355 million. The interest rate on the various series of OBDC bonds ranges from 6.5% to 10.5% per annum.

Consequently, notice was also given that on the morning of February 9 at the Lake County Courthouse the property would be offered for sale at public auction to the highest bidder for cash.

The sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) operation, founded in 2011, was designed to produce drop-in fuels from woody

biomass and manufacture approximately 20 million (US) gallons (approx. 75.7 million liters) per year of low-carbon intensity renewable biofuels. The facility finally broke ground in summer 2018 but remains incomplete and construction has been halted at times, though it appeared to be nearing completion.

Its development was supported by tax-exempt economic development bonds issued in 2018 through the state of Oregon, and from a funding grant from the Dept. of Defense and other sources.

As recently as last August, Red Rock Biofuels and Frontline BioEnergy LLC, a provider of waste and biomass gasification solutions, announced they had successfully tested their technology that gasifies Red Rock’s residual woody biomass feedstock into a high-quality syngas for the production of SAF and renewable diesel.

The test runs, which the companies completed at Frontline BioEnergy’s headquarters in Nevada, Iowa, used Frontline’s “TarFreeGas” and “PMFreeGas” technologies.

The tests demonstrated TarFreeGas gasifier production of high-quality syngas with excellent tar conversion, as well as PMFreeGas removal of char and ash from the syngas. The resulting syngas was shown to be suitable for further processing into SAF and renewable diesel.

Last February, Red Rock Biofuels announced it was working with GLC Advisors & Co. to source a development partner to finance the completion of its biofuels facility, and had put in place new management and new engineering teams.

Previously Red Rock reported that it and Shell had entered into a cellulosic fuel purchase and sale agreement in which Shell would purchase SAF and cellulosic renewable diesel fuel from Red Rock’s biorefinery for distribution and marketing.

Woodville Pellets Steps Up Its Game

Graanul Invest’s Woodville Pellets plant in Texas celebrated an important milestone a few days before Christmas as they started loading the MS Nemea with 50,042 tons of wood pellets in their logistics hub in Port Arthur. The cargo will head across the Atlantic to the UK.

“We are proud to set a new milestone in loading capacity and fuel efficiency,” comments Jason Ansley, Vice President of Graanul Invest U.S. Operations. “It is equally important for our customers and us to achieve the minimal possible fossil carbon footprint for our wood pellets. With larger shipments, we can raise the fuel efficiency per tonne of shipped pellets remarkably.”

Ansley thanked partner Drax for being flexible as the shift from handy size vessels to supra size required some preparations and was not without its challenges. “Larger shipments are a crucial milestone for us towards improving the bestof-the-class logistics efficiency even further,” Ansley says.

The MS Nemea is 199.9 m long and 32.4 m wide; the ship’s maximum load capacity is 61,300 t DWT. The ship’s destination is Immingham port close to Leeds. Graanul Invest’s largest ever wood pellet shipment was 61,778 tons in 2021, transported from Muuga, Estonia, to the UK.

Biochar Plant Nears Completion

Standard Biocarbon Corp. is building a biochar plant in Enfield, Maine, on a two-acre parcel purchased from adjacent Pleasant River Lumber, whose sawmill will provide chips for the biochar operation.

Foundations for the prefabricated building were raised in early January and a shipment of machinery arrived just before Christmas. The company intends to move machinery into the building in February and start production in the spring.

The plant will produce 100 tons of biochar monthly initially, selling to local farms for agriculture use. Also, the waste heat steam from the biochar plant can be supplied back to Pleasant River Lumber for lumber drying.

PYREG of Germany manufactured the machinery for the plant, composed of the reactor chamber, furnace and filter.

Standard Biocarbon has received grants from the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture and Maine Technology Institute, in addition to raising equity funding.

PYREG has formed a subsidiary in Portland, Me.

MS Nemea loading over 50,000 tons of pellets produced by Woodville Pellets at the Graanul Invest logistics hub in Port Arthur, Texas

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