ALABAMA — Georgia-Pacific’s Brewton Containerboard mill in Alabama recently announced its plans to invest $160 million to modernize its operations. The project involves upgrades to the facility’s pulp processing systems that will reduce energy and chemicals consumption, other environmental emissions, and allow for more paper production. “This is a significant investment for Brewton and will build upon the transformative advancements that have been made here in the recent years,” said Mark Martin, mill vice president and general manager. …Construction is slated to start next year, with an estimated startup by Spring 2024.
METAIRIE, LA – The Southern Forest Products Association elected its new officers during the board of directors session at the association’s annual meeting October 21, 2022, in Nashville. The 2022-23 SFPA officers are:
Resolute Forest Products’ Menominee mill could remain idle until 2023. Following a fire at an adjacent warehouse on October 6, 2022, the 178k tonnes/year market deinked pulp (MDIP) mill at Menominee, Michigan has remained idle. Resolute 
EDENTON, North Carolina — Enviva is the largest maker of wood pellets burned for energy in the world. The company has, from its inception, touted its green credentials. It says it doesn’t use big, whole trees, but only uses wood waste, “tops, limbs, thinnings, and/or low-value smaller trees” in the production of woody biomass burned in former coal power plants in the U.K., EU and Asia. It says it only sources wood from areas where trees will be regrown, and that it doesn’t contribute to deforestation. However, in first-ever interviews with a whistleblower who worked within Enviva plant management, Mongabay contributor Justin Catanoso has been told that all of these Enviva claims are false. …These findings are especially important now, as the EU considers the future of forest biomass burning as a “sustainable” form of renewable energy.
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CENTRALIA, Washington — Last summer, our state’s wildfire season was below normal — a welcome relief for firefighters and smoke-choked Washingtonians, especially city dwellers. However, that all changed this fall. …The conflagration led The Columbian to editorialize for better forest management. “Reducing the (wildfire) threat requires not only addressing climate change and funding suppression techniques, but also properly managing forests,” the editorial board wrote. Twenty years ago, President George W. Bush signed the Healthy Forest Restoration Act of 2003 legislation into law. It was designed to reduce the threat of destructive wildfires, create jobs in rural communities and to improve air quality. It was to be the framework for land managers to cut through the mountains of red tape, stop interagency turf spats and streamline permitting. …Unfortunately, Bush’s plan drew fire from preservationists who dismissed it as another excuse to log. …Meanwhile, our air quality denigrates.
BETHESDA, Md. & THE PLAINS, Va.–Enviva, the world’s leading producer of sustainably sourced woody biomass, and GreenTrees, the market leader in reforestation and carbon removal in the U.S., today announced a nine-year partnership agreement that will contribute towards Enviva’s net-zero goals for its Scope 1 carbon footprint, equating to approximately 10,000 metric tons of carbon removal credits annually, or 90,000 metric tons throughout the duration of the contract. …The project will take place in the rural U.S. Southeast, on land formerly used for agriculture but has been deemed no longer suitable for farming and crop growth due to soil erosion and water damage. The afforestation of this land will not compete with lands used for agricultural and food sources, but will serve as permanent carbon removal. This partnership will provide a new source of income for rural landowners in the GreenTrees program who are no longer able to use the land for agriculture.