In 2006, an initiative passed which required electric utilities to use renewable resources from facilities in operation after 1999. The initiative language also excluded certain renewable resources,such as spent pulping liquors. If we are going to move toward energy independence in the future, we must use common sense in counting renewable energy produced from organic material in facilities that are capable of producing it. This legislation helps preserve the economic viability of the pulp & paper industry in Southwestern Washington.

Mark Doumit said: “We need to do everything we can to use our renewable natural resources efficiently, and not pick winners and losers along the way. If we want healthy working forests we must ensure that our rural resource lands remain economically profitable.”Doumit is the Executive Director of the Washington Forest Protection Association, representing nearly 4 million acres of private forest landowners.

“We commend Governor Chris Gregoire, Senator Hatfield, and the Washington State legislature for recognizing the value that biomass has as part of the renewable energy portfolio,” said American Forest & Paper Association President and CEO Donna Harman.”Our industry is a leader in the use of renewable biomass fuel as part of our manufacturing processes which helps reduce greenhouse gases. We are pleased that our facilities will now be recognized as a contributor to renewable energy use in Washington.”

About the Washington Forest Protection Association. Founded in 1908, WFPA members are large and small private forest landowners that grow and harvest trees on nearly 4 million acres in Washington State. Forestry provides nearly 120,000 family wage jobs in the state. www.wfpa.org

About the American Forest & Paper Association. AF&PA is a Washington D.C.-based national trade association that represents the public policy interests of the nearly 900,000 U.S. forest products industry workers. www.afandpa.org

SOURCE: Washington Forest Protection Association

The post Washington forest products workers applaud bill that qualifies biomass as renewable energy first appeared on The Paper Story (PAMSA).

Abstract

Type “paper versus plastic” into Google and you’ll find 14,000,000 hits, many of which seem to tell you that plastic is “superior” to paper in terms of environmental performance. Immediately one asks: “How can it be? The plastics industry is an industry that relies on non-renewable resources!”

In most of the reported studies, little is detailed regarding the boundaries chosen or exactly what data pertaining to paper have been included for comparison. “Paper” is compared in generic terms without reference to the grade, function or even the process producing that paper. Environmental impact, and notably carbon impact, depends on the specific process producing the paper. Given these considerations, the question must be asked whether the comparisons being drawn with plastic are meaningful? Yet, despite these uncertainties, the comparisons persist and continue to influence opinion.

A significant amount of information appears to exist with a pro-plastic slant with little on the positives of paper. In a time of declining markets, it is perhaps a critical time for the paper industry, particularly in South Africa, to start telling “The Paper Story”.  This paper examines the theoretical basis for the carbon side of “The Paper Story” and proposes the way in which the story might be told.

The post Selling the Paper Story – A Strategic Initiative for the Paper Industry first appeared on The Paper Story (PAMSA).