Daily Archives: December 18, 2019

Today’s Takeaway

Northern Pulp in jeopardy after Nova Scotia non-decision

December 18, 2019
Category: Today's Takeaway

Nova Scotia’s request for more info on Northern Pulp’s pipeline plan puts future of Pictou mill in jeopardy—CEO Brian Baarda. In related news: NAFTA-2 will close the WTO dispute-settlement loophole used by the US; BC’s working forests aren’t working for BC; and Fortress Global secures court protection to keep operating.

Meanwhile: the WFP/Steelworker negotiations break down (again); the BC Forest Safety Council on coping with the stress of BC’s forestry downturn; and stock market fallout after Jim Pattison abandons Canfor offer.

Finally, a 17-storey wood tower, 7 benefits of using timber and 7 shopping days to Christmas.

Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor

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Business & Politics

As US disables one forum for trade fights under WTO, it strengthens another under USMCA

By Naomi Powell
The Financial Post
December 17, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

In the same week it unilaterally disabled a key World Trade Organization body for settling trade disputes, the United States agreed to significantly strengthen Canada’s ability to pursue such cases under an amended North American free trade deal. …Canada is currently defending itself against U.S. appeals on cases concerning softwood lumber and supercalendared paper. While the latter case is among three of the remaining 14 outstanding appeals slated to be concluded before the appellate body ceases to function, the softwood lumber case will remain in limbo. Yet, just as the U.S. was paralyzing WTO dispute settlement, it gave Canada a better tool for settling trade gripes in the new NAFTA. The… removal of a loophole in the pact’s state-to-state dispute settlement mechanism that had enabled the U.S. to block the resolution of trade fights by refusing to appoint new members to arbitration panels.

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Campbell River City Council to give $20K to Loonies For Loggers

By Mike Davies
Campbell River Mirror
December 17, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

As its last official act of 2019, Campbell River City Council decided to make use of its remaining unspent “council contingency” to support struggling forestry workers. Coun. Ron Kerr presented the motion, saying he recognizes how important the forest industry has been, historically, to the community, and how critical it remains to so many in the region. …Kerr said, “I think this is a very challenging time for the logging industry and its employees in the North Island. I’ve never been a logger, but as a businessman, I’ve suffered alongside them when the community has gone through times like this. It doesn’t just effect them, it effects everyone, especially at this time of the year.” …Coun. Cornfield said, “the strike affects everyone in the forest sector on the coast … it’s going to get worse before it gets better. We need to support the industry that was there to help build this community.”

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Why the province’s working forests aren’t working

By Nelson Bennett
Business in Vancouver
December 18, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

…B.C.’s forest sector was beaten to a pulp in 2019, as a “perfect storm” of market, policy and natural forces converged, triggering multiple sawmill closures and curtailments, and spurring anger among laid-off workers towards politicians and conservationists. …“The companies are bleeding,” John Desjardins, forest products lead for KPMG in Canada. “They’re in the red.” …Forestry is cyclical, and B.C. is used to downturns. “This time it’s different,” Susan Yurkovich said. …Increased log exports have been blamed, in part, for the shortage of timber on the B.C. coast – something the NDP government has been trying to address with new regulations. Girvan doesn’t think any of the regulations that the government has adopted will address the fundamental problem of access to timber. “It’s not log exports – it’s because the cut went down,” Jim Girvan said. “The cut’s going down because they’re systematically preserving more and more timber for a variety of reasons.”

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Mediated bargaining breaks down for Western Forest Products workers

By Jeff Bell
Victoria Times Colonist
December 17, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Western Forest Products announced Tuesday that talks have broken down in mediated bargaining that had resumed Dec. 12 with the striking United Steelworkers Union. Mediators Vince Ready and Amanda Rogers were asked last week by Western to get involved. No future mediation dates have been scheduled. …United Steelworkers president Brian Butler said last week that the union had been requesting a return to the bargaining table since talks had broken off in late November. The total number of forest workers off the job reached about 5,000 when Mosaic Forest Management, which does forest management for TimberWest and Island Timberlands, curtailed its harvesting operations on Nov. 25.

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Forestry rally held in Campbell River, despite heavy criticism from union

By Troy Landreville
My Powell River Now
December 17, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

We’re behind the striking forestry workers. That’s what the organizers of yesterday’s rally and fundraiser at Campbell River’s Robert Ostler Park are saying, after coming under fire from the United Steelworkers union.  Last Saturday, USW  Local 1-1937 warned that the rally “is supported by a group calling itself ‘Taking A Stand,’ which is just a front for contractor owners trying to trick USW members into thinking it is a rally for them.” The union added that this event was “an underhanded attempt to convince USW members that they should give up their rights and agree to WFP’s last substandard, concession-filled offer.” During the rally, however, co-organizer Michelle Downey said the group was formed to raise awareness about how important resource jobs are to the North Island and the economy, and how much they value the workers.

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In limbo: Pictou County residents desperate for answers from premier

By Adam MacInnis
The Chronicle Herald
December 18, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

PICTOU, N.S. — One way or another, people in Pictou County want an answer. Municipality of Pictou County Warden Robert Parker said people are frustrated by the fact that Premier Stephen MacNeil has once again punted the decision about whether or not he will extend the Boat Harbour Act – this time until Friday, Dec. 20. “It leaves people in a terrible position,” he said. As head of the Pictou County’s largest municipality and one that encompasses both forestry lands and fishing harbours, Parker is well aware of both sides of the debate when it comes to Northern Pulp’s future. “Everybody knows the full story here.” Unfortunately, he said the province can’t seem to make up its mind. …He believes that the province needs to come up with a solution that will allow both forestry and fishing to continue.

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Northern Pulp says company and Nova Scotia forestry industry in jeopardy following decision

Cape Breton Post
December 17, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

ABERCROMBIE, N.S. — Northern Pulp says the company’s future is in jeopardy. Brian Baarda, CEO, Paper Excellence Canada, the parent company of Northern Pulp, said the company is disappointed in the government of Nova Scotia’s decision re: granting an environmental approval to build a new treatment facility …He said, “our team put forward an in-depth plan based on sound science that showed no meaningful environmental impact, represented a significant operational improvement, and ensured Nova Scotia’s forest sector and the thousands its employs could remain a vital part of our economy.” …“Until we have a decision …the future of Northern Pulp and Nova Scotia’s Forestry Sector remain in jeopardy.”  …Unifor National President Jerry Dias said, “today’s decision by the environment minister is incredibly disappointing for the 350 workers of northern pulp in Pictou and frankly the 2,700 direct jobs that are impacted by the no decision today,” he said.

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Fortress Global Enterprises Announces the Issuance of a First Day Initial Order Under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act

By Fortress Global Enterprises
Cision Newswire
December 17, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

VANCOUVER — Fortress Global Enterprises announces that the Superior Court of Québec has rendered… a first day initial order granting the Company and certain of its material subsidiaries creditor protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act in order to restructure their affairs. The First Day Order provides for a broad stay of proceedings preventing third parties from exercising  enforcement of rights and remedies against the Fortress Parties. The First Day Order also authorizes the Fortress Parties to enter into an interim financing agreement with  Investissement Québec, one of its senior lenders, and to borrow thereunder an amount of up to $1,000,000… which is expected to permit the Fortress Parties to be able to continue. …Trading in the common shares of the Company has been halted.

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Five things to know about Northern Pulp’s controversial pipeline plan

By Michael MacDonald
The Canadian Press in the National Post
December 17, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

HALIFAX — The Nova Scotia government decided to withhold its approval of a pulp mill’s plan to build a pipeline to dump 85 million litres of treated effluent daily into the Northumberland Strait. However, the fate of the Northern Pulp mill near Pictou, N.S., remains unclear:

  • A key deadline is looming – In 2015, the province’s Liberal government passed the Boat Harbour Act. The law states the company must stop dumping into Boat Harbour by Jan. 31, 2020.
  • The mill could close in the days ahead – Without [a one year] extension, the company made it clear the mill would be forced to close.
  • The proposal faces considerable opposition – Fishermen, residents in nearby Pictou, the Pictou Landing First Nation.
  • The company’s position – if the province rejects the request for a deadline extension, the mill will not dump effluent into Boat Harbour.
  • The forestry industry already in trouble.

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Nova Scotia is sending Northern Pulp back for more information on contentious pipeline, again

By Taryn Grant
The Toronto Star
December 17, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

HALIFAX—Nova Scotia Environment Minister Gordon Wilson is calling for more information from Northern Pulp before deciding whether the mill can pump wastewater into the Northumberland Strait, casting significant doubt on the future of the decades-old kraft mill. “I have concluded that I need more science-based evidence,” Wilson said. “As a result, I have decided that Northern Pulp must file an environmental assessment report if they want to continue with this project.” Continued operation of the Abercrombie, N.S. mill hinges on having an effluent treatment facility for tens of millions of litres of wastewater, daily, and the mill’s current facility in Boat Harbour is legislated to close by Jan. 31, 2020. …Wilson said he was aware of the stakes of his decision. …For the Boat Harbour deadline to change, Premier Stephen McNeil would have to call the House of Assembly to sit before the end of January.

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Forisk Acquires the North American Wood Fiber Review, the Leading Price Reporting Service for Pulpwood and Biomass in North America, from Wood Resources International

Wood Resources International
December 17, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States

Bothell, Washington, USA –  Forisk Consulting, a leader in North American forest industry and timber market research, has acquired the North American Wood Fiber Review from Wood Resources International. The Review… will be published by Forisk as the Forisk Wood Fiber Review beginning in Q1 2020. Dr. Brooks Mendell, President and CEO of Forisk, says, “Adding the Review and 35 years of price data to our research portfolio strengthens our ability to serve the forest industry in the U.S. and Canada, as well as international firms with North American assets. Also, current subscribers can remain confident in the trusted price reporting, as we are thrilled to announce that Tim Gammell, the current Executive Editor of the Wood Fiber Review, will join our team.” Mr. Håkan Ekström, President and CEO of Wood Resources International, adds, “We are excited with this match and look forward to our continued work together.” 

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Forest Industry Continues to Boost Georgia Economy

All On Georgia
December 18, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

A new report shows Georgia’s forest industry continues to deliver strong results for the state’s economy. According to a Georgia Forestry Commission report provided by the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Enterprise Innovation Institute, total economic activity generated by the state’s forest industry rose to $36.2 billion between 2017 and 2018. Additional gains were recorded in employment and wages and salaries, as documented in the “2018 Economic Benefits of Forestry in Georgia” report. “The state’s forest industry supports more than 148,000 jobs in Georgia,” said Georgia Forestry Commission Director Chuck Williams, “and each of them contributes significantly to our quality of life. From everyday products such as lumber and paper to environmental services such as clean air, clean water and wildlife habitat, Georgia’s forests impact everyone.”

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Molpus Woodlands Group Purchases 86,605 Acres in East Texas

Molpus Woodlands Group
Business Wire
December 17, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

JACKSON, Miss.–The Molpus Woodlands Group, a timberland investment management organization headquartered in Jackson, Mississippi, has, on behalf of two clients, successfully purchased approximately 86,605 acres of timberland in east Texas. Located in east Texas and comprised of properties with over 75 years of management, these timberlands provide exposure to broad timber markets that represent the diverse spectrum of pulp, paper, lumber, and panel producers across east Texas. Molpus plans to include these timberlands in its certification with the Sustainable Forestry Initiative® standard. …Molpus’s forest certification program is a key element of its commitment to incorporating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies and practices into investment analysis and decision-making.

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The Construction Forestry Maritime Mining And Energy Union launches robocall attack on Dan Andrews over end of native logging

By Noel Towell and Benjamin Preiss
The Age Australia
December 18, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: International

The Construction Forestry Maritime Mining And Energy Union is blitzing “tens of thousands” of voters with a robocall campaign attacking the Andrews government over its decision to end native forest logging in Victoria. The calls, which feature the voice of a woman set to lose her job as a result of the government’s decision, began targeting regional voters around the state early this week with metropolitan electorates targeted on Wednesday and Thursday. Premier Daniel Andrews announced last month that the logging of native forest timber in Victoria would end completely by 2030, with an immediate ban on old-growth felling, infuriating the industry and the CFMMEU, the logging union. CFMMEU national secretary Michael O’Connor said on Wednesday the robocall blitz was “just the start of things” and that timber workers were in a rage over the policy change.

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Finance & Economics

Residential Construction To ‘Increase Substantially’ Come 2020

By Aly Yale
Forbes Magazine
December 18, 2019
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada, United States

The new year is shaping up to be a good one for homebuyers. Not only are homebuilders more confident in the market than have been in 20-plus years, but recent construction numbers are surpassing expectations. …The developments, along with strong economic growth, spurred Fannie Mae to revise its housing forecast for 2020. The company now predicts housing starts to jump 10% across 2020, with 1 million new homes hitting the market by 2021. …“Despite the expected increase, the supply of homes for sale remains tight and strong demand for housing is continuing to drive home prices higher, particularly in the more entry-level price tiers,” Duncan said. 

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North American softwood lumber production on a downward trend

Global Wood Markets
December 17, 2019
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada, United States

U.S. sawmills produced 26.616 billion board ft. of softwood lumber in the first nine months, edging down 0.1% from the 26.653 bbf produced in the same period a year earlier. …Apparent U.S. softwood lumber consumption in the first nine months was 36.742 bbf, down 0.1% from 36.783 bbf last year. …Canadian sawmills produced 18.608 bbf of softwood lumber in the first nine months, down 10.9% from last year’s 20.889 bbf. Sawmills in BC accounted for 7.625 bbf of the nine-month total, a 20.6% drop from output a year earlier of 9.601 bbf. Sawmills east of the Rockies produced 10,983 bbf, 2.7% less than the previous year’s output of 11.288 bbf.

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Pattison’t offer to buy Canfor abandoned

By Nelson Bennett
Business in Vancouver
December 17, 2019
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Shares in Canfor Corporation dropped 20% on the news that an offer by Vancouver billionaire Jim Pattison has been cancelled. …If Pattison’s offer was intended to boost the company’s share price, it worked. Even with this morning’s selloff, Canfor’s share price is still well above what it was when Pattison first made his offer. …Paul Quinn, analyst for RBC, admitted in a briefing note that analysts like him were shocked by Monday’s decision. “Based on our analysis published last week, we expect that Canfor will trade at ~$13 per share”.

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Canfor shares dive after Great Pacific calls off privatization deal

Canadian Press in Canadian Business
December 17, 2019
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada, Canada West

VANCOUVER — Shares in Canfor Corp. fell more than 20 per cent after Great Pacific Capital Corp. failed to win the approval of the company’s minority shareholders and called off its plan to take the lumber producer private. …Canfor shares were down $3.56 at $12.00 in early trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The stock had traded for $8.80 before Great Pacific made its offer on Aug. 10. Great Pacific, which holds a 51 per cent stake in Canfor, said the offer was within a range determined to be fair by a Canfor special committee and its advisers.

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

Putting Wood to Work: 7 Benefits of Using Timber in Commercial and Industrial Design

By Megan Schires
Arch Daily
December 17, 2019
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, United States

When it comes to commercial and industrial buildings that need to stand the test of time, wood is proving it has the necessary resilience and strength, while offering unique advantages over steel and concrete. In retail and office spaces, wood not only offers remarkable durability, but introduces a much-desired aesthetic warmth once absent from such environments. Adding mass timber to these spaces is a kind of modern-day revival of the century-old timber post-and-beam buildings of the past. What’s old becomes new again, but with all the state-of-the-art technologies and sustainable features expected in today’s commercial buildings.

  1. Cost-effectiveness
  2. Versatility and adaptability
  3. Ease of use
  4. Sustainability
  5. Aesthetics and biophilic benefits
  6. Choice and customization
  7. Durability

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17-storey wood tower with LGBTQ community centre proposed for downtown Vancouver

By Kenneth Chan
Daily Hive
December 17, 2019
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

A 17-storey, mixed-use wood tower with the new home of QMUNITY and 139 units of social housing will help bookend downtown Vancouver’s Davie Village at its eastern boundary. …Non-profit housing developer New Commons Development and ZGF Architects have submitted a rezoning application to redevelop 1190 Burrard Street …Such hybrid mass timber buildings — including the 2017-built, 174-ft-tall, 18-storey UBC Brock Commons Tallwood Student Residence — typically have prefabricated materials, such as cross-laminated timber floors supported on glue-laminated wood columns. These buildings receive further structural resilience from a concrete core, which also encases the elevator shafts and emergency staircases from fire. Additionally, this will be a high-performance green building pursuing Passive House certification. …using a hybrid mass timber structural system … the construction timeline will be considerably shorter than a conventional tower structure built out of concrete and steel. The building could reach completion as early as late 2021, given the efficiencies with wood construction

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Mass timber construction is about more than just storing carbon

By Lloyd Alter
Treehugger
December 17, 2019
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada East

It also can put people back to work and save our forests. TreeHugger has been covering the mass timber scene for a dozen years, starting with Waugh Thistleton’s timber tower in Hackney. Now Tim Smedley of the BBC talks to Andrew Waugh. He starts, as we do, with the carbon footprint, and the fact that trees are the best form of carbon capture and storage. …CLT is now taking off in the United States too. …But no matter how you calculate it, the upfront carbon emissions of making mass timber are a fraction of those of making steel and concrete. Those industries are pushing back hard and even pushing out life cycle analyses demonstrating that over 50 years their buildings are not much worse. But we don’t have a lifecycle. …If we are going to build at all, we have to do it in wood.

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Forestry

Lim Geomatics and FPInnovations announce an exclusive global licensing agreement for FPDat II and FPTrak

FPInnovations Blog
December 18, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

Montreal, Quebec — Lim Geomatics, a software and consulting company that leverages innovative technology to create geospatial products and services in the natural resources sector, and FPInnovations have developed a strategic partnership to continue blazing an exciting digital trail for the forest industry. Effective January 1, 2020, Lim Geomatics will assume the licensing, operation, and support of FPDat II and FPTrak – the integrated platform developed by FPInnovations to improve the performance of harvesting equipment and decrease the overall cost of forest operations. All existing customers who use the platform to plan, execute, and monitor harvests across Canada can expect a smooth transition without interruption or impact to their day-to-day operations. Lim Geomatics has unrivaled domain expertise with the development and maintenance of smart tracking geospatial systems for the forest industry.

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‘America’s Forests’ speaks for the trees

By Ben Bolton
Mother Nature Network
December 17, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

Forests keep our planet cool, clean the air we breathe, create jobs and so much more. So it’s about time they got their own TV show. “America’s Forests” highlights the people and places shaped by forests, and the viewer meets them all with the help of host Chuck Leavell, who may be best known as the keyboardist for The Rolling Stones, but he’s also an accomplished tree farmer. “We do stories about any aspect of forests in America,” Leavell tells MNN. “It could be anything from how our forests filter our water, how they clean our air; the making of fine furniture out of wood; the process of building musical instruments out of wood.” …Leavell also knows trees could use some help telling their story. He travels the country explaining why forests are the answer to many of the world’s problems.

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Degraded soils mean tropical forests may never fully recover from logging

By University of Cambridge
Phys.org
December 16, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Continually logging and re-growing tropical forests to supply timber is reducing the levels of vital nutrients in the soil, which may limit future forest growth and recovery, a new study suggests. This raises concerns about the long-term sustainability of logging in the tropics. Trees of recovering tropical forests were found to have tougher leaves, with lower concentrations of the nutrients phosphorus and nitrogen—both essential for plant and tree growth—than trees of old-growth forests. This suggests that multiple cycles of logging and recovery irreversibly remove phosphorus from the forest system, and are pushing the nutrient content towards ecological limits. “Old-growth tropical forests that have been the same for millions of years are now changing irreversibly due to repeated logging,” said Dr. Tom Swinfield, a plant scientist in the University of Cambridge Conservation Research Institute, and first author of the paper published in the journal Global Change Biology.

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Enhanced career supports for youth coming in 2020

By Sustainable Forestry Initiative
Global Newswire
December 17, 2019
Category: Forestry

OTTAWA — Youth across Canada will be better supported to enter the workforce in 2020 and in following years thanks to tremendous growth at a small but mighty non-profit called Project Learning Tree Canada (PLT Canada). Thanks in part to funding by the Government of Canada and employers across the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) and Canadian Parks Council (CPC) networks, PLT Canada has placed over 2,000 youth into Green Jobs since 2018. The organization has managed to achieve gender balance in its job placements and connect more than ten percent of its positions to Indigenous youth. …“Thanks to Project Learning Tree Canada, more young Canadians have access to meaningful work experience in the green jobs sector,” says the Honourable Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion. 

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Canada Infrastructure Bank signs memorandum of understanding to advance wind energy project in Nova Scotia

By Ian Melin-Jones
Pulp-Paper World
December 18, 2019
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada East

Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB), Port Hawkesbury Paper and IFE Project Management Canada (IFE) have just announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) formalizing their collaboration on the potential Pirate Harbour Wind Farm in Nova Scotia. …With support from the Province of Nova Scotia, Port Hawkesbury Paper and IFE are evaluating the potential development of a 112 megawatt wind farm… The wind farm would supply green energy to Port Hawkesbury Paper, the largest industrial employer in the region, with the goal of further enhancing sustainable energy supply to Nova Scotian industry. …”This project would reduce the Mill’s reliance on fossil fuels for energy, focusing instead on wind farming as a source of renewable energy. CIB’s expertise in green infrastructure will be an asset to this project during the planning phase,” said Catherine McKenna, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities.

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