Businesses and families could soon have access to natural gas in Pictou County, making the area a better place to do business and more affordable to live and raise families.

"Our businesses, families, and others in the community understand the benefits of natural gas, and the province is pleased to work with Heritage Gas to deliver it," said Energy Minister Charlie Parker. "It will save millions of dollars in energy costs for large industrial employers, with savings around the corner for small businesses, hospitals, schools and family homes."

Heritage Gas is investing $15.3 million to extend its pipeline to Pictou County.

"We are proud to make this substantial investment in getting natural gas to Pictou County," said Jim Bracken, president of Heritage Gas. "Energy is a significant cost for industrial and commercial enterprises, so we are proud that we can help companies strengthen their competitiveness and position in the community. Northern Pulp's commitment as our first anchor customer was critical to making this project work.

"This is the first phase of the project and we look forward to working with the community to begin assessing feasibility of further expansion in 2014 and beyond."

The province is contributing $2.5 million to help with start up, which will be refunded as more businesses join.

"The chamber of commerce is truly excited and encouraged that natural gas will be coming to Pictou County," said Dave Freckelton, past-president, Pictou County Chamber of Commerce. "As we continue to plan for the economic future of this region, it is imperative we have energy sources that are cost effective and environmentally friendly. The announcement made today is a significant step in working towards an alternative for our members to consider."

As Heritage Gas builds the pipeline, Northern Pulp will convert its plant to natural gas as part of the company's plan to reduce its energy costs and improve air quality and environmental performance. The province will lend Northern Pulp $3.6 million and provide a capital equipment incentive of $900,000 to help it convert.

"The delivery of natural gas to Pictou County is good for business," said Pat Lee, CEO, Pictou County Health Authority.

"Our business is health care and we are continually seeking efficiencies and ways to save money. Natural gas will give us substantial annual savings, money that can be redirected to patient care."

Heritage Gas is submitting an application to the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board to expand into Pictou County. A separate application is being filed to establish a new rate for Northern Pulp.

Heritage Gas and Northern Pulp can terminate the agreement if the approvals are not granted

The first phase, to begin this spring, is to build a steel pipeline to Northern Pulp, on Abercrombie Point. That is expected to be finished by Dec. 1, with an extension to New Glasgow and Stellarton planned for 2014.

Natural gas burns cleaner than other fossil fuels, emitting 45 to 80 per cent less carbon dioxide than coal, and two-thirds that of oil, with negligible sulfur dioxides.

"Natural gas is an important part of the province's plan to move toward cleaner and more renewable energy sources, leading to lower, fairer electricity prices for Nova Scotians over the long term," said Mr. Parker.

Richmond, B.C.-based Paper Excellence Canada Holdings Corporation ended months of speculation on Tuesday, March 26th by reaching an agreement to buy Tembec’s Skookumchuck pulp mill for $89 million.

The long-term search for a buyer will be complete once Paper Excellence completes a review of the northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK) pulp mill’s various assets and liabilities.

“We’ve been in discussions in the past months,” Linda Coates, Tembec’s vice president of human resources and corporate affairs, told The Pioneer. “They have more mills in the NBSK side; they have a stronger position in the market than we did because we only have one of those mills in our portfolio.”

Paper Excellence’s parent company, Asian Pulp and Paper, is headquartered in Jakarta, Indonesia, and owns five other pulp mills in Canada: Mackenzie and Port Mellon in B.C., Meadow Lake and Prince Albert Saskatchewan, and Pictou, Nova Scotia.

The Skookumchuck mill has 290 employees – 230 unionized workers and 60 staff — many of whom live in Canal Flats and other Columbia Valley communities. Paper Excellence is expected to continue to “substantially offer the same conditions of employment to the staff; the labour agreement is part of the transaction, so Paper Excellence is bound by this agreement,” said Ms. Coates.

The transaction will likely close in late May or early June, and remains subject to certain conditions and regulatory approvals.

In recent years, Tembec sold its Canal Flats and Radium Hot Springs mills to Canfor. Ms. Coates did not offer comment as to whether Canfor was also in the running to buy the Skookumchuck mill.

“It’s been known it’s been for sale for a number of years, so if the buyer and seller have come to an agreement, that’s a good thing,” said Regional District of East Kootenay area F director Wendy Booth, whose area is home to several employees of the pulp mill.

Tembec acquired the Skookumchuck pulp mill in 1999 as part of the acquisition of Crestbrook Forest Industries Ltd. The mill initially started up in 1968.

Wausau Paper (NYSE:WPP) will release 2013 first-quarter financial results on Monday, April 29, 2013, after the closing of the New York Stock Exchange. The company will hold a webcast to discuss earnings and current market conditions at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, April 30.

All interested parties are invited to listen to the webcast via the investors section of the company’s Internet site at www.wausaupaper.com. A replay of the call will also be available on the website from 1:00 p.m. Eastern time on April 30, 2013 until midnight May 7.

AFT Inc. has announced the opening of a new manufacturing facility in China -- Jiaxing AFT Manufacturing Co., Ltd. The facility is located in Zhejiang Province, west of Shanghai, on the Hangzhou Bay near an excellent transportation network of highways, railways, and shipping lanes.

Jiaxing AFT Manufacturing will serve the dynamically growing pulp and paper market in China and joins the network of other AFT manufacturing centers in Canada, Finland, and South Korea.

Activities at the Chinese facility include the production of performance components (for screening and refining systems) as well as equipment rebuilds for screens, refiners and pulpers.

In addition to its performance components, AFT offers systems and equipment for fiber processing (virgin and recycled fiber) including screens, refiners, stock preparation, and paper machine approach flow.

According to company officials, the Chinese organization will be an area for investment over the next few years as capacity is added and capabilities of the site are expanded.

To support the new facility, a website www.aftzhongguo.com has been recently launched. 

SAPPI, the world’s largest maker of glossy paper, plans to sell bonds to refinance debt even as yields on existing securities rise as the company retools mills from South Africa to the US to produce pulp used in clothing.

The company will raise at least R1bn, CEO Ralph Boettger said on March 26. Yields on Sappi’s euro debt due in April 2018 climbed by 87 basis points from a record low on January 14, reaching 5.4% on Thursday.

Rates on similarly dated euro bonds of competitor Stora Enso advanced by 45 basis points to 4.3%. South African firms’ dollar-bond yields have added 10 basis points in the period, JPMorgan Chase indices show.

"Sappi is hoping to achieve a more competitive interest rate in the bond market," Mohamed Kharva, a Cape Town-based analyst at Nedbank Group, says.

The Johannesburg-based company, which is also the world’s biggest maker of dissolving wood pulp, is selling debt to take advantage of the lowest South African interest rates in more than 30 years, which have spurred an increase in issuance by companies.

Sappi has to repay R1bn of bonds on June 27. Yields on the debt have climbed to 6.32% since reaching a record low of 5.66% on July 19.

Rates on the South African rand bonds due on August 1 have gained 66 basis points, or 0.66 of a percentage point, to 5.02%.

The company is spending $540m converting parts of its paper mills into plants that make the pulp, used to produce goods from sports clothing to pills and cellphone screens.

Sappi is betting on the product to increase profit and allow it to resume dividend payments, which it stopped in 2008 as it struggled with a high debt burden amid weakening paper sales in Europe.

Debt sales by companies in the continent’s biggest economy, excluding financial institutions, increased to $1.4bn in the first quarter from $1.06bn a year earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

"We can confirm that we are busy finalising the refinancing," Sappi head of corporate affairs Andre Oberholzer says. "We already use banks for other lines of finance. The bond market provides an additional avenue."

The wood-pulp conversion projects at the Ngodwana mill in Mpumalanga province and the Cloquet facility in Minnesota should be completed by the end of the third quarter, in June, raising Sappi’s output of the pulp by about 40% to more than 1.3-million tons a year, Mr Oberholzer says. "The overall dissolving wood-pulp market is growing at 6% a year while the viscose staple-fibre market grows at 8% a year."

The viscose variety, which is made from dissolving wood pulp, is used in sports clothing.

"Our global share of the overall dissolving wood-pulp market for 2012 was 14% and of the viscose staple-fibre market was 20%. These are set to increase once additional capacity comes online," Mr Oberholzer says.

Sappi, which returned to profitability in the year through to last September, said on February 6 that profit fell 62% in the first quarter because of lower paper and pulp prices.

The company derived 25% of its sales from southern Africa in the year to September.

The rand has depreciated 8.6% against the dollar this year, the worst performance among 16 major currencies tracked by Bloomberg after Japan’s yen, which has lost 9%.

The rand slipped 0.5% to R9.2725/$ in Johannesburg on Thursday morning.

Sappi’s stock dropped 7.1% in the first quarter, making it the worst performer in the 25-member Standard & Poor’s global timber and forestry US dollar index, behind Golden Agri-Resources, the world’s second-biggest palm-oil producer.

South Africa’s Mondi was the best performer, rising 34%.

As consumers turn from magazines and newspapers to computers and cellphones to consume media, Sappi’s move away from paper makes sense, Mr Kharva says.

"For them to increase exposure to dissolving wood pulp is a good diversification strategy due to it being a growth market, unlike graphic paper, which is in structural decline."

County delegate says he won’t back bill to halt paper mill energy credits

Despite pressure from a local global-warming group, Del. Galen Clagett of Frederick said he has no intention of changing his vote on a bill to stop financial rewards for paper mills that burn a tar-like substance called “black liquor” to generate power.

The Chesapeake Climate Action Network is working feverishly to convince Clagett (D-Dist. 3A) to change his vote before the Maryland General Assembly adjourns its legislative session Monday night.

“There is still time for him to change his mind,” said James McGarry, the network’s policy analyst, at a news conference Wednesday afternoon in Frederick. “I hope he will change his mind.”

Network members, Frederick business owners and students conducted a news conference at Cafe Nola in hopes of convincing Clagett to change his vote. The group targeted him because they said early on he had indicated to them that he would support the bill.

But Clagett said in a phone message Wednesday night that he has no intention of changing his vote because he fears that the end of the subsidies could mean the loss of 870 jobs at the Luke Mill Coal Power Plant, the state’s only paper mill in Allegany County.

“I’m not sure this is the best way to go,” he said. “I have some problems, and I’ve chosen to go by the way of saving jobs. We’ve lost a lot of jobs in this state, especially in Western Maryland. And there is only one of these plants in the whole state.”

Currently, paper mills receive millions of dollars annually in electric ratepayer subsidies to burn black liquor — a tarry byproduct of the paper-making process.

Environmentalists argue that burning black liquor is a pollutant, and instead the subsidies should go to new wind and solar projects.

On March 28, the Maryland Senate agreed and passed SB684, that within five years would end the subsidies paper mills receive.

But when a version of the bill — HB1102 — came before the House Economic Matters Committee the next day, Clagett voted in opposition, which stopped the bill from moving out of committee and onto the House.

Seven business owners in Frederick also have sent a letter to Clagett saying they were “disappointed” with his vote.

“I’m disappointed by Delegate Clagett’s vote, but it’s not too late for him to do right by local businesses and our environment,” Matt Triche, general manager of Cafe Nola, a downtown restaurant that is powered by green energy, said in the letter. “I want the subsidy we pay on our electric bill each month to support new clean energy and jobs here in Maryland. That’s only fair for ratepayers and good for business.”

By redirecting the subsidies to wind power clean energy projects, up to 1,400 megawatts of new clean energy would be produced, and an estimated 1,800 new jobs would be created in Maryland, the letter states.

Under Maryland’s Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard laws is a requirement that renewable sources generate a specific percentage of the state’s electricity supply each year, increasing to 20 percent, including 2 percent for solar power, by 2022, according to the Maryland Department of Legislative Services.

More than 400 people have helped build the $250 million biomass power plant that now towers over Business Highway 51 and the Wisconsin River, and their months of hard work have the project on schedule to begin generating power late this year.

When the facility opens, a parade of 50 to 75 semitrucks every weekday will keep the plant’s boilers stoked with treetops and branches that will create steam and electricity. In addition to producing clean energy, the new site will improve air quality by reducing overall emissions from the Domtar paper mill by about 30 percent, according to a Domtar and We Energies informational handout.

That parade of trucks loaded down with 300,000 to 500,000 tons of wood debris referred to as biomass will come from forests within a 75-mile radius and will employ dozens more people, including Jeff Plunkett, fiber procurement manager for Domtar.

Plunkett is in charge of buying wood materials for the paper mill and new biomass facility. He said he has a growing list of local contractors lined up to provide the wood waste, though he declined to name any.

“This gives an opportunity for the forest products industry for an additional outlet for their material,” Plunkett said. “It will open up potential new markets for people who want to get into the wood waste business  and market it instead of burning or putting it in a landfill.”

In November 2008, the company began talks with We Energies to develop an alternative energy source, and the partnership was announced in September 2009 for a new biomass plant to be built at the Domtar Rothschild site. Since its introduction, the project has divided village residents and faced opposition because of its hefty price tag. Construction began in August 2011.

Rick Graap, owner of Graap Logging in Merrill, has supported the biomass facility since it was first proposed. He hopes to have a contract later this year as one of the biomass material providers for the new facility, and already has about 25,000 tons of tree tops and branches stored in north central Wisconsin.

Graap said he plans to hire about two to three new employees to drive trucks, should he contract with Domtar and We Engergies. He will also hire two other employees to operate in the woods.

“I’m excited not only for myself but also for the raw forest products industry in the state,” he said. “When you diversify markets, it strengthens the industry in any business. Not to mention all of the other related tire and parts companies that will benefit from this amazing addition to central Wisconsin.”

Once the facility is in full operation, the plant will employ about 30 full-time workers. About 60 percent of the steam will drive a turbine to create electricity for We Energies, a Milwaukee-based energy company. The remaining steam will be used inside Domtar’s Rothschild mill, which employs 400 people.

While Domtar will continue to buy electricity from Wisconsin Public Service Corp., the new 50-megawatt biomass facility will supply 100 percent of the mill’s steam, used to create the high-pressure, high-temperature environment necessary to convert wood chips to pulp and to dry paper after it is made, said Craig Timm, a Domtar spokesman.

Before the plant opens late this year, many parts need to be prepped and tested, including the biomass boiler, the fuel-handling system and steam blows. Testing the biomass boiler ensures boiler pipes are welded properly and can withstand required pressure. The steam blows push steam through pipes to clear dirt and debris that accumulate during construction, and the fuel-handling system includes conveyor systems and the truck unloader.

Uruguay's President Jose Mujica, speaking without realising a microphone was on, has insulted Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and her late husband and predecessor, Nestor Kirchner.

"This old lady is worse than the cross-eyed man," Mr Mujica, 77, said, according to a video posted on Todo Noticias Television channel website and audio posted on Uruguay's El Observador. "He was more of a politician, she's stubborn."

Relations between the neighbouring countries have deteriorated since Ms Kirchner restricted imports and tightened controls on the exchange market. The measures, which limit access to foreign currencies, have hurt Uruguay's exports and tourism industry. A $1.1 billion investment in a pulp mill on the river bordering both countries led to a four-year bridge blockade by Argentina, which accused Uruguay of violating an international accord on the river's use.

In 2007, when then Uruguayan president Tabare Vazquez allowed the pulp mill to start operations, Mr Kirchner told him he had "stabbed Argentina in the back". In 2002, Uruguayan president Jorge Batlle accused Argentines of being a "bunch of thieves", a comment for which he later apologised during a trip to Buenos Aires.

Mr Mujica, a former guerrilla who took office in 2010, said later he had not spoken publicly about Argentina at the event in Uruguay and would not offer clarifications, the Montevideo-based newspaper El Pais reported.

Officials at Uruguay's Presidential Office declined to comment when reached by telephone. Phone calls seeking comment from Argentine presidential spokesman Alfredo Scoccimarro weren't immediately returned.

Mr Kirchner, who died in October 2010 from a heart attack, was president from 2003 to 2007. His wife succeeded him and was re-elected in 2011.

Read more:  http://www.smh.com.au/world/uruguay-president-lets-slip-crosseyed-insult-20130405-2hag7.html#ixzz2PZaPn5CP

Wednesday marked the 63rd annual "Paper Days" at the University of Maine.

The event coordinated by the UMaine Pulp & Paper Foundation drew paper industry leaders, researchers, and students from around the world

The day was especially exciting for UMaine students. 

"It's a huge opportunity to network and get internships and jobs. You know, people get internships from 'Paper Day' if you're a student, so it's a big deal for University of Maine students and the Pulp & Paper Foundation," said senior Lucas Mathers. 

But this "Paper Days" was a cut above the rest.

"This particular 'Paper Day' is all about innovation so were looking at what's new coming out on the horizon for the forest product industry and were highlighting nanocellulose which is a technology for the future," said Mike Bilodeau, Director of the UMaine Process Development Center. 

Throughout the day the university showed off its Cellulose Nanofiber Pilot Plant, the nation's first plant of its kind. 

But what is this state of the art technology useful for? 

"Considered for food thickeners, noncaloric food thickeners, for yogurts, milk shakes, its also used in coatings and paper and make packaging lighter," said Bilodeau. 

"Businesses can come and do their own work and get that advantage that they need," said Hemant Pendse, Director of UMaine's Forest BioProducts Research Institute. 

The benefits this new machinery could have are endless, and are especially impressive to someone who worked in the paper industry for over twenty years.

"It's great for the University of Maine Orono. It's great for the forest products here in the state of Maine and I think it offers a lot of potential for the forest products industry here in the state of Maine," said Rep. Mike Michaud.