As of 2020, 22 per cent of Europe’s energy came from renewables. But 60 per cent of that is bioenergy – much of it wood biomass. It’s an industry that has come under intense scrutiny and criticism of late from environmentalists. …Despite what IPCC scientists say about bioenergy’s role in shifting the world’s energy generation away from fossil fuels like coal and natural gas, environmentalists say bioenergy’s climate benefits no longer add up. …As biomass energy demand grows, they say the industry is running out of wood waste and increasingly resorting to harvesting forests. BIV put that question to five scientists:
- Generally, biomass as an energy source is much better than coal, said Joana Portugal Pereira, senior scientist for the IPCC’s Working Group 3 on Mitigation of Climate Change. …However, there may be genuine concerns about the carbon deficit – the time it takes for regrowing trees to absorb the CO2 released on combustion. The deficit may widen the more whole lives trees are used, instead of wood waste that is already being generated through forestry anyway, especially if the forests are not sustainably managed.
- As long as wood waste that is already being generated is used to make wood pellets, the carbon deficit is less of an issue, said Chris Bataille, adjunct professor at Simon Fraser University and a lead author for the IPCC Working Group 3’s sixth assessment.
- Mark Jaccard, an SFU sustainable energy economist and contributor to the sixth assessment of the IPCC Working Group 3, says, “… even if it was dedicated biomass plantations managed for soil conservation and sustained annual allowable cut, it would still be fine to use bioenergy and it would still be net-zero emission.”
LANGLEY, BC – The San Group announced it is expanding the company’s flag ship value added division, San Forest Products in Port Alberni and the newly acquired Acorn Sawmill in Delta, BC. The $23 million dollar investment will help develop new markets with a focus on high quality shelving products for big box stores such as Ikea. The expansion process expects to break ground in Q4 and extend to 2023. The San Forest Products value-added expansion will focus on installing an Anthem Line, a fully automized system designed to develop edge glued panels extending to eight feet. …The Acorn Forest Products expansion will focus on installing a new auto grader and dry kilns to modernize the sawmills efficiency. Explained John Langstroth, San Group’s Senior Vice President: “We are highly integrated and these advancements allow us to add efficiencies and realize economies of scale.”
Richmond, BC – Paper Excellence today announced a production curtailment at its Crofton paper facility. The curtailment will coincide with scheduled annual maintenance of key utility assets. The outage will reduce the site exposure to higher cost energy through this period. The curtailment will commence September 10th, 2022 and is expected to last approximately two weeks. It is estimated that approximately 95 employees will be affected with temporary layoff notices. We remain committed to our impacted employees and servicing our paper customers’ needs during this curtailment. 
Vernon, B.C. — Tolko Industries Ltd. (Tolko) has submitted the detailed environmental site investigation report for the former Kelowna mill site to B.C.’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy. As previously noted, the third-party investigation at the site encountered a light non-aqueous phase liquid (LNAPL) at a test hole located approximately 150 metres away from the lakeshore. Laboratory analysis indicates that this hydrocarbon contamination is consistent with a lubricating oil. This substance was found to be limited to the area around two adjacent test holes. Tolko is planning to have this area remediated in September along with one other small area under the supervision of a third-party Environmental Professional. …Tolko is committed to addressing these contaminants and appreciates the ongoing support and collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy.
VICTORIA – The Forest Practices Board will audit the forest planning and practices of Yucwmenlúcwu (Caretakers of the Land) on non-replaceable forest licence A89359 in the Okanagan Shuswap Natural Resource District, during the week of Sept. 19, 2022. Auditors will examine whether timber harvesting, roads, silviculture, fire protection and associated planning done between Sept. 1, 2020, and Sept. 23, 2022, met the requirements of the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Wildfire Act. The audit area is located near the communities of Salmon Arm, Enderby and Sicamous. The area provides an abundance of outdoor recreation with several provincial parks, such as Enderby Cliffs, Silver Star, and Monashee, as well as the Kingfisher Ecological Reserve. Once the audit work is complete, a report will be prepared, and any party that may be adversely affected by the audit findings will have a chance to respond. The board’s final report and recommendations will then be released to the public and government.
Two years into a three-year process to defer the logging of some of B.C.’s grandest trees in its most ecologically diverse wilderness so that forestry stewardship could undergo a vast transformation, First Nations and conservationists are decrying a lack of progress and transparency. “Clearcutting of irreplaceable, endangered old growth continues, even in the most-at-risk stands,” said Jens Wieting with Sierra Club B.C. as part of 
The summer season is slowly transitioning into fall, but the BC Wildfire Service says this isn’t the time to let up when it comes to awareness around wildfire risk. Shaelee Stearns, BCWS fire information officer, said the Kamloops Fire Centre … still generally has a high fire danger rating. This means forest fuels are dry, and new fires could easily start. “The summer is not over, fires are still burning, there is still chances for ignition,” Stearns said. “So just be aware of that, and especially if there’s storms that pass through the area, the public is our eyes and ears on the ground. They’re the ones who report it. It’s super beneficial.” Temperatures throughout the Kamloops area have started cooling to more of a seasonal average which can help to decrease wildfire activity, but the forecast still shows some hot days ahead.
At Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries Inc. (Al-Pac), we understand the value of being a good neighbor and have a strong tradition of supporting communities within our Forest Management Agreement area and our mill site. …Al-Pac invests in initiatives that focus on education, culture, environment, and health and wellness. These funding priorities reflect our commitment to being actively engaged in the development of sustainable communities where we live and operate. In 2011, we introduced our Community Enhancement Program (CEP). The program supports small-scale projects that include, but are not limited to: small scale non-profit facility upgrades, expansion and development projects within a 100 km radius of our Mill Site and communities within our Forest Management Agreement (FMA) area. Since 2011, the CEP provides a grant of up to $25,000 to two qualified non-profit organizations each year. Applications for October close September 15.
The Province has released provincial greenhouse gas emissions numbers for 2020 as part of its most recent annual provincial inventory. The provincial emissions inventory is produced every year by B.C.’s Climate Action Secretariat and is based primarily on the federal government’s National Inventory Report on greenhouse gas emissions. In 2020, net emissions in British Columbia totalled 63.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) after considering 1.1 MtCO2e of carbon offsets from forest-management projects. This represents a net decrease of 3% (-2.0 MtCO2e) from 2007 levels, the baseline year for B.C.’s official emissions targets, and a net drop of 4% (-2.7 MtCO2e) from 2019 levels. Emissions data is published with as much as a two-year lag to allow time to assemble and analyze a wide range of information. …Quick Fact: Forest-management carbon offsets in B.C. reduce emissions by sequestering more carbon in forest ecosystems than would have occurred without the project.
Large areas of Southern British Columbia and Alberta are under air quality advisories, as smoke from several growing forest fires blots out the sun and rains ash particles on the region. Environment Canada’s air quality health index listed Cranbrook, Squamish and Whistler as “high risk” as of late Monday morning, while the Eastern Fraser Valley region was considered “very high risk.” The risk level had lowered somewhat by Monday evening, but was forecast to be high again in Eastern Fraser Valley on Tuesday. …Environment Canada meteorologist Danielle Desjardins said it’s hard to know when the smoke will clear, because that depends on how long the wildfires last, as well as ever-changing weather patterns. …Lori Daniels, a professor at the University of British Columbia’s department of forest and conservation sciences, said the fire season continuing well into September is “a little bit unusual.”
As smoky skies fill much of British Columbia’s Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley, 191 wildfires continue to burn across the province, leading to hundreds of people on evacuation alerts, as well as evacuation orders in the Peace region. Right now, five of the active wildfires are considered notable: the Flood Falls Trail and Heather Lake wildfires in the Coastal fire centre; the Fry Creek wildfire in the Southeast fire centre; and the Battleship Mountain and Bearhole Lake wildfires in the Prince George fire centre. An air quality advisory has been issued for Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley because of high concentrations of fine particulate matter from wildfire smoke in B.C. and the United States.
With assistance from the Courtenay Fire Department and BC Wildfire, Cumberland firefighters battled a blaze on the old Souther homestead on Wednesday, Sept. 7, successfully containing the blaze before it could spread into the forest. Cumberland Fire Chief Mike Williamson said the fire started in a shop next to the main house, and embers from the shop jumped to the main structure. Other embers were causing additional fires among the trees. “When I arrived, the flames were shooting all the way to the top of the trees,” said Williamson. “Then the stuff flying off the trees was causing other spot fires, so BC Wildfire showed up… I told them I needed them to walk through the forest and find any hot spots flaring up. They did a really good job.” An unusually windy afternoon created the potential for a devastating wildfire, as the homestead sits amidst the Cumberland Community Forest.
JASPER NATIONAL PARK — The mayor of Jasper, Alta., is asking visitors to stay away from the town and national park as a nearby wildfire is expected to grow and crews work to restore power. Richard Ireland says the restoration of electricity through temporary generators has been rife with technical problems and the Chetamon Mountain fire, about 15 kilometres away, has made the situation precarious. Ireland says 
B.C. wildfire crews will be in a “tight crunch” tonight and Tuesday to bring in heavy equipment and establish guard lines to help stifle the Battleship Mountain wildfire near Hudson’s Hope. “We’re ramping things up to begin to really start going at this thing over the next number of days,” said incident commander Scott Rennick said. The Battleship fire is now at an estimated 11,949 hectares, or about 120 square kilometres in size, roughly five times the size of the city of Fort St. John. …There are now 25 firefighters assigned to the blaze, who have access to the area over the W.A.C. Bennett dam, which can’t take heavy equipment. Sixteen helicopters are assigned to the broader Battleship complex of six fires burning in the region, with bucketing operations at the sides of Battleship Mountain ongoing to “buy time” until the heavy equipment arrives, Rennick said.
