Sep 8, 2008 9:34 am US/Mountain
Pellet Plant Uses Wood Killed By Pine Beetles
Written by Andrea Lopez
KREMMLING, Colo. (CBS4) ―
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Mark Mathis is trying to work out an agreement so his plant can use the logs from federal land.
CBS
As many as a dozen semi-trucks loaded with logs roll into the Confluence Energy pellet plant in Kremmling on a daily basis. Piles of logs are stacked all around a white, metal building where the dead trees are processed.
About 30,000 tons are waiting to be turned into pellets; the plant puts out about 200 tons a day. The entire business is aimed at recycling Colorado's dying forests.
About 1.5 million acres of lodgepole pines in Colorado are dead or dying from pine beetles, which infect the trees with a fatal fungus after they burrow into to them to lay eggs.
"The reason it [the plant] started is there was no one really doing anything about it, there was a lot of happy talk talk that this needs to be done and that needs to be done but it didn't seem like anyone was jumping into the deep end of the pool," said business owner Mark Mathis. "We can offset a tremendous amount of natural gas and fossil fuel by utilizing wood pellets. Basically this plant alone can heat 40,000 homes."
Mathis lives in the high country and has watched all of the lodgepole pines die around him. He saw an opportunity to log the wood and put it to good use. Construction on the pellet plant began around Thanksgiving of 2007 and it just opened about a month and a half ago. There are more than two dozen employees and the plant is operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
There are very few places to take the trees that are harvested, and saw mills can only use the wood when it still has moisture and some flexibility. Once the wood starts to dry out and crack, it can't be cut into usable lumber. But those unusable trees can be ground up at this pellet plant and turned into a product for consumers and businesses. In fact, there is zero waste at the plant.
Mathis says they pay for the wood, which comes from private, state, and federal land. They do about a third of the logging themselves.
"There's a lot of wood out there," he said, "access to the wood is one of the issues...trying to get people to coordinate their efforts in a whole log format so we can process it."
A congregation of forest service representatives as well as lawmakers from other states toured the facility on September 5th to see how these dead trees can be turned into a renewable energy source. Mathis says he is trying to gain the trust of the forest service and also establish a relationship with it so that he can secure contracts to log on its land. But there are quite a few steps to establishing those goals as the forest service wants the logging to be done according to strict prescriptions that require leaving certain trees standing, and taking care to minimize the impacts on wildlife and the environment.
"We would like to see agreements, some that are long, multi-generational agreements with the Forest Service so we can feel comfortable making capitol investments in the area that we plan to make," said Mathis. "To do that, we need a good working relationship with the Forest Service and other people to make sure that, if we're going to put $100 million in capitol into our facility, that we have some long term agreements that will help us get a return on that and manage the process."
The pellets are being distributed within Colorado. "We can deliver them in bulk to anywhere in Colorado and be virtually cheaper than natural gas," said Mathis.
Pellet stoves are a form of heating homes. They're clean burning. They're also used in biomass facilities to heat businesses. For example, some Routt County schools are using the pellets for heat. Mathis says the wood puts out the same amount of carbon dioxide rotting in the woods that does when it's burned. He hopes his product will offset the use of fossil fuels and gas.
The plant has also had a positive impact on Kremmling and Grand County.
"It has increased employment by 20 or 30 people," said Grand County Commissioner Gary Bumgarner. "There are also the loggers. People don't have to drive as far to get to work. It's a positive impact."
Bumgarner, who is a fifth generation rancher who has spent his entire life in the area, says there has been concern about what will happen to the plant and the industry when all of the pine beetle trees have been harvested. He says if the forest service continues to allow logging to thin the forests--making them healthier and more resilant to fire--the plant won't take a dive when this cycle of destruction is over. He said the community once harbored logging operations, but they were shut down and driven out by environmentalists opposed to cutting down trees, hurting the community economically. Bumgarner doesn't want to see that happen again.
Mathis agrees that logging work will still be needed after the dead trees are harvested. He says by thinning the forests, you allow more light and room to grow, producing healthier trees. An overcrowded forest produces trees that are skinny and unusable. As the forest regenerates, there will always be a need to thin it.
If Mathis can secure long-term contracts with the Forest Service, he plans to put $100 million into expanding his current operation.
(© MMIX CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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