British Columbia’s Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Minister Steve Thomson applauded today’s decision of the Legislative Assembly to form a Special Committee on Timber Supply to examine and make recommendations about mid-term timber supply in British Columbia, as a result of the mountain pine beetle infestation.

The committee will be conducting public consultations and has been asked to deliver a report by Aug. 15 this year.

The committee’s terms of reference are to specifically consider recommendations that could increase timber supply, including direction on the potential scope of changes to land-use objectives, rate of harvest and conversion of volume-based tenures to area-based tenures. The committee will also consider whether any changes to legislation are required.

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Newfoundland and Labrador‘s Minister of Natural Resources, Jerome Kennedy, is confirming that a company is interested in purchasing the old AbitibiBowater mill in Grand Falls-Windsor.

Kennedy would not specify who the company was, or where they were from, but he did say that the company is interested in acquiring part of the property to produce wood pellets for home heating.

The Grand Falls-Windsor mill has been closed for 3 years. The province assumed custody and management of the mill after expropriating the timber and water assets from AbitibiBowater.

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Recently, the most common question ForestTalk is asked is, “Whatever happened to that Boreal Forest Agreement?”, and “Have you heard anything about that Boreal Forest Agreement lately?”

To refresh our memories, the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement was signed 2 years ago.  21 forest companies, all members of the Forest Products Association of Canada, and 9 environmental organizations signed the agreement.  Through the agreement, the forest companies committed to the highest environmental standards of forest management and conservation, while environmental organizations commit to global recognition and support for the forest companies efforts.

Last year, in April 2011, the signatories of the agreement unveiled a Boreal Business Forum that would be a roundtable for the participants of the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement, as well as leading corporations and investors that have a strong interest in conserving the boreal forest.

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Kruger sent a letter to its employees recently to say the company has been falsely accused of holding back information regarding the pension formula.

On Monday, the CEP held a pair of emergency union meetings in Corner Brook to discuss the alleged discovery that the negotiated proposal to grant the company a 5 year extension to make up for a deficit in pension plans would change the benefit formula.

Bruce Randell, president of CEP Local 242, said the reduction in pensions of current employees could be as much as 25% in 2014.

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EACOM Timber Corp. is reporting an operating loss of $7.788 million on sales of $59.9 million in the first quarter of 2012.

EACOM Timber is reporting a net income attributable to shareholders of $6.3 million in the first quarter.

During the quarter, the company shipped 128 million board feet of lumber (159 million board feet in the previous quarter and 170 million board feet in the corresponding quarter of 2011) and 120,000 oven-dried metric tons of by-products (129,000 oven-dried metric tons in the previous quarter and 161,000 oven-dried metric tons in the corresponding quarter of 2011).

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Alberta

12 homes were evacuated yesterday when the wind direction changed for the Bonneyville fire. Bonnyville declared a local state of emergency on Tuesday, which allows officials to call in the RCMP to secure roads and homes, if necessary. The Bonneyville fire grew to about 800 ha yesterday.

The fire near Grassland is still out of control and measures about 1,000 ha.

The fire near Lodgepole is currently being held.

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Catalyst Paper has amended its proposed Plan of Arrangement under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act. The Plan as so amended will be considered by Catalyst Paper’s secured and unsecured creditors at the meetings scheduled for May 23, 2012.

“We’re pleased that over the past weeks, the various stakeholders, advisors and the company have worked diligently to craft an agreement that sizably reduces the company’s debt level,” said Kevin J. Clarke, President and Chief Executive Officer. “This agreement, with the support of creditors at the meetings on May 23, 2012, will enable Catalyst to emerge from creditor protection with improved liquidity and the capacity to return and sustain normal trade terms for the foreseeable period.”

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More than 50 unionized Kruger’s Corner Brook Pulp and Paper workers had a quiet demonstration at the gates of the mill at shift change this morning in Newfoundland.

The workers are drawing attention to the number of contractors Kruger is employing after laying off several dozen unionized workers.

While the main gate was the site of the demonstration, some workers also gathered at the east gate that is most often used by contractors. The workers didn’t disrupt the traffic flow.

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Under the terms of the 2006 Softwood Lumber Agreement (SLA), the trigger for a reduction in the export tax for Canadian softwood products going into the US has been reached. Starting June 1, the export tax will drop from 15% to 10% in western Canada, and to 3% from 5% for the rest of the country.

Should lumber prices continue to rise or remain firm in the next few weeks, that lower tax level will be maintained or could drop even further.

North American dimension lumber prices have been firming steadily in the past several weeks, according to trade journal Madison’s Lumber Reporter. Benchmark WSPF KD 2×4 #2&Btr reached US$304 per thousand board feet last week, a 28.3% increase over one year ago when the price was US$218, and a 9.6% increase over one month ago when that price was US$275 mfbm.

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WorkSafeBC is directing employers’ attention to similarities that have been observed during the course of the investigations at the Babine Forest Products sawmill in Burns Lake and at the Lakeland Mills sawmill in Prince George, British Columbia.

In both investigations, the ignition sources appear to have been located at the conveyor level, where electrical and/or mechanical equipment was in operation in areas contained by walls and equipment. These areas are at the basement or lower level of both of the mills under investigation.

Under the directive order that was issued to all sawmill employers on April 26, 2012, WorkSafeBC’s officers have been ensuring that sawmill employers are in compliance as outlined in that order.

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