I've spent the past few days listening and speaking to a wide range of people in the woods product industry about the biomass energy proposals being considered in Berlin. I must admit that even after spending hundreds of hours studying these issues during the past 3 to 4 years, I feel that I've only seen the tip of the iceberg. My latest conversations have been with wood industry representatives who on the whole, don't believe the Laidlaw project will ever be completed due to financial and wood supply issues. However, they also say that if completed, the Laidlaw project is a serious threat to the wood product industry of the region. The most vulnerable industries to the Laidlaw project are the existing biomass power facilities in the region and the pulp producers who receive their wood from northern New Hampshire and western Maine. I was surprised to learn that roughly 20% of available low grade wood is being exported to Canada. I was also surprised to learn that most of the industry people are of the opinion that the Laidlaw LandVest study is seriously flawed. They cite two areas where the data used by LandVest isn't reflecting the true conditions of the surrounding forests. First, the raw data showing the existing consumption is underestimated by over 30% and, the acreage available for harvesting is exaggerated significantly since 200,000 to 300,000 acres of the land in question is under "Wood Supply Agreements"and not on the open market. These agreements were put in place when these large tracks of land were sold to the present owners. I questioned them about the fact that they haven't come forward in the State Site Evaluation Process in light of the threat to their operations. Their answers were consistent; it's the cost of legal representation they told me. One of the largest user of low grade wood in the region said; "These are difficult times, money is short and management made the decision not to spend our money fighting this project since we believe the project will fail on its own merits". These wood product representative also believe that the people who might finance the project will not accept the conclusions of the Laidlaw LandVest study because of the obvious flaws in the data. Without enough fuel and at the right price, nobody will put their money on the project they told me. They agreed with my conclusion that they're gambling their future on the outcome of the SEC process. Politics and PSNH influence being what it is; I'm not very comfortable with the wood industry's conclusions about the outcome, I hope they're right.
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