West Fraser notified the state Jan. 9 it will shut down and clean up its Maxville sawmill plant, eliminating 79 jobs. The termination date is March 19 but the effective closure is Jan. 19. West Fraser notified the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity through a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification notice. West Fraser said the employees were provided 60 days’ notice of the date of termination and that the closure is permanent. It said it will shut down and clean up the site over the next two months “due to business justifications.”…“High fiber costs at Maxville and the current low-price commodity environment have impaired the ability of both mills to profitably operate. The closure of Maxville and the indefinite curtailment of the Huttig sawmill better aligns our U.S. lumber capacity with demand,” said the West Fraser news release on its website.
The Vermont Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation (FPR) is beginning an innovative project in the Camel’s Hump Management Unit, as outlined in the 2021 Long-Range Management Plan. This project …is designed to demonstrate an important approach in increasing forest resilience to climate change and invasive pests. Collaborating with the University of Vermont (UVM) and the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science, this project is part of a series of forest adaptation experiments being implemented across the Northeast. Tony D’Amato, Professor and Director of the Forestry Program in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at UVM, is a lead researcher on the project. “This project aims to address the dominance of poor quality American beech suffering from beech bark disease and use forest management tools such as timber harvests to allow other species to thrive,” said Oliver Pierson, FPR’s Director of Forests.
LOUISIANA — State leaders rejoiced Thursday over the federal government’s decision to give Louisiana authority to permit and regulate the wells needed to store industrial carbon dioxide emissions underground, labeling it an important economic development milestone. Environmental groups have taken a notably different view and vow to remain vigilant against what they feel is an unsafe process. They snub proponents’ claims that carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) projects will allow Louisiana to make major strides toward achieving a green economy. …Most of the roughly 30 proposed for Louisiana have backing from the fossil fuel and petrochemical industries. The companies insist carbon can be safely contained underground using time-tested methods. …Louisiana became the third state to receive primacy over permits for Class VI wells, the type used for carbon storage, from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 
WILMINGTON, N.C. – Driving through Wilmington’s Sunset Park neighborhood, you may notice two large white inflatable domes built by wood pellet manufacturer Enviva Biomass. The domes have been in operation since 2016. That’s when residents said they began to see sawdust on their property and in the air. They claim the sawdust blows from the domes onto their property and in the air. “Days within them firing up these things, that’s when we started noticing all the dust in the air. Cars getting covered. Plant life getting covered. Our houses. I mean, everything,” Dane Larson, a neighbor in Sunset Park, said. …The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality calls it fugitive dust, and, according to Hillaker, it’s been linked to premature death and heart disease.
FLORENCE, Wisconsin — A federal agency wants to fine a northern Wisconsin sawmill more than $1 million after inspectors said they found “egregious” violations at the site following a June accident that killed a teenage worker. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Tuesday that it proposed fining Florence Hardwoods $1.4 million for numerous violations of federal safety and health regulations, including for “the most serious violations the agency issues.” Florence Hardwoods previously agreed to pay nearly $191,000 and stop hiring children under the age of 16 to settle a federal lawsuit labor regulators filed against the mill. …OSHA said it has cited Florence Hardwoods for eight willful, six repeat, 29 serious and four other-than-serious violations of federal safety and health regulations. Five of the willful citations were categorized as “egregious — the most serious violations the agency issues.” Florence Hardwoods said Tuesday that it plans to appeal the findings.