biomass industry today,” says McKay, “is the fault of no one.” Rather, he says, it is the lack of clear definition of where the provincial and municipal governments wish to drive biomass usage and the as-sociated industries. “There is a lot of green wash,” he says, adding that, while intentions are good, they don’t always translate into sustainable solutions and job creation. “We have had the highest rate of in-crease in employment insurance claims in the province,” McKay points out. Over the past decade, the town has lost a few major employers: BC Rail, the In-terfor sawmill, Western Forest Product’s Woodfibre mill, a major chemical plant, a bleach plant and various smaller saw-mills. McKay estimates that as many as 2,000 jobs have been lost in the forest industry, leaving the town with only a few remaining mills and logging op-erations. In fact, a 10% increase in em-ployment insurance claims has been reported, which is the highest in B.C., although some of that increase was at-tributed to the falloff in construction due to the 2010 Olympic Games. Two biomass sectors have benefited from a government push, according to McKay. Metro Vancouver, the regional district, made it a priority to keep con-struction material from the landfill, and B.C.’s government focused on construc-tion meeting a LEED Gold standard, with points earned for recycling waste wood. The other region benefiting has been the B.C. Interior, where sawmill and bush residuals are transported down to HSPP on the coast. In addition to that, large volumes of mountain pine beetle-dam-aged wood are being harvested and uti-lized in pellet mills and cogen facilities. District heating systems have also been established in the B.C. Interior and the University of Northern British Columbia is supplementing its heating system with biomass. McKay says there is little evidence on the B.C. Coast that the same kind of push will occur. Triack has set up its headquarters at the old Interfor sawmill site, awaiting the completion of a site re-mediation. McKay has been attempting to grind waste wood such as pallets and other debris, but with no source for the hog fuel and only limited amounts that can go to composting, he’s stymied. His barge-loading ramp, which cost more than $200,000 to build, sits idle. It raises the question of whether B.C. needs an inquiry into the biomass sector, searching for answers to issues such as municipal waste, biomass collection, uti-lization and fire suppression. “Absolutely,” McKay believes. “We should be asking questions such as what is the net gain and who is getting the gain?” He points out that the shelf life of mountain pine beetle wood is only 17 years, but what is really needed is long-term planning both in the Interior and the Coast to determine how to achieve sustainable utilization of biomass fibre. There also needs to be a hard look at what opportunities exist for smaller contrac-tors compared to the larger operations. “Otherwise, people like me, who have given it six years, are just not going to be here,” he says. • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012 24 Canadian BIOMASS
Canadian Biomass January/February 2012: Page 24
