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Frequently Asked Questions
Protecting old growth forests is a priority of the public and the BC government. Are you asking them to abandon this commitment to allow more old growth harvesting?
No! In fact, we have identified sufficient fibre in logging waste and fire-damaged timber stands to meet our fibre needs — without one more healthy tree needing to be harvested! we just need the province’s help to access this fibre through some regulatory changes that would be a real win-win — we can keep these crucial mills running and maintain BC’s old growth protection targets.
Isn’t pulp and paper a sunset industry? Aren’t new industries like technology and tourism taking over as the economic drivers of BC?
The industry’s future has never been brighter. Billions of dollars in new investments have been identified and ready to go, IF we can solve the fiber supply and cost challenges we face.
Demand for packaging, tissue and towel and specialty paper products are growing steadily, and we are in great shape to meet this demand. Potential new products include clean hydrogen from water pyrolysis, and the production of renewable natural gas from the wood waste we process.
We just need a little help from Victoria. If we get it, we will maintain the critical and positive economic position we have had here form more than 100 years.
Pulp and paper mills have been fouling the BC environment for more than 100 years. Wouldn’t our rivers and coastal waters and skies be cleaner and healthier if the industry
went away?
BC’s pulp and paper producers have made enormous strides in environmental protection throughout our history, especially in the last decade, with hundreds of millions of dollars invested to reduce emissions.
We are a green industry as we use a renewable and sustainable resource — trees — and re-use the water and chemicals that are required to make pulp. We are also able to generate our own green power from wood waste we process.
Climate change is a global issue, and BC was a global leader when it introduced the carbon tax. With other jurisdictions considering their own steps to reduce carbon emissions why should the Province drop the carbon tax that is forcing change upon your industry and others?
Climate change IS a global issue, and one we are addressing through constant innovation and improvement. We could address it even more aggressively if we are able to invest the hundreds of millions of dollars in new processes and equipment many of our mills have in the planning stage.
We just want to be on a level playing field with our global competitors who are able to fully offset carbon taxes and sell their excess power to the open market. So we are asking BC to maintain the carbon tax, but to use it as an incentive so that we can make these investments, not as a punishment that makes it too expensive for these investments to be made.
What are communities and your workers saying about the state of the industry and its future?
We have tremendous support from our labour unions and our operating communities. They have written letters of support to the provincial government and met with cabinet minster and MLAs to help press our case. You will find some of these comments elsewhere on this website.
Will the recent government announcements, namely the $50 million investment in FESBC and the $90 million innovation fund, fully address the fibre supply issue?
No. These two programs are a great start. The $50 million top up of FESBC will allow the sector to implement a program to salvage fire damaged timber stand and logging waste, with the potential of supplying up to 2 years of fibre. However, major Transformative Investments require up to ten years of stable, economic fibre to pay back the investment; therefore, the FESBC program will need to be extended another 8 years at a minimum.
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