A bill supported by environmental organizations that carved out an important exception for the Luke paper mill is struggling after being rejected by a House committee.

While the bill remains alive in the Senate, the prognosis for final passage is uncertain.

Should the bill fail, it returns the situation to the status quo and the Luke mill would be unaffected, officials said.

But the status quo is a bad idea, said a spokesman for a key Maryland environmental group.

“This critical bill for Maryland consumers and the environment overwhelmingly passed the Senate with bipartisan support and came just one vote short of passage in a key House committee. Unfortunately, a handful of delegates decided to continue to send Maryland ratepayer dollars to out-of-state, polluting companies. This bill would have supported new, clean-energy jobs in Maryland,” said Tom Carlson, the Maryland campaign director for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network.

Carlson said he wasn’t sure how likely reviving the bill in the House was, but the network would continue to work with delegates.

Fighting the battle against industry lobbyists in Annapolis isn’t an easy task, Carlson said.

“The Senate version of the bill remains alive and could be acted on favorably by a ... House committee in the next week if any delegate reconsiders their position,” Carlson said.

The bill passed the Senate 33-13 on March 28, but the companion House bill was reported unfavorably by the House Economic Matters Committee by one vote on April 1.     

The bill includes a list of renewable energy sources and makes the Luke paper plant eligible for renewable energy certificates.

“It’s like taking 250,000 cars off the road,” said Carlson.

The bill is also good for consumers, because it stops tax dollars from going to out-of-state companies.

In 2011, Carlson said, the certificates were worth $3.8 million, 91 percent of which ended up out of state.

The energy certificates can be traded and sold. Their value is equal to one megawatt-hour of electricity generated by a renewable energy source.

The certificates are expected to grow in value as time passes, sending more money to out of state companies, Carlson said.

It could amount to a value of $33 million heading out of state next year, Carlson said.

“The longer we wait, the worse this is. ... It’s outrageous,” Carlson said.

The initial bill would have redefined renewable energy sources to exclude “black liquor,” Carlson said.

The current bill’s certificates for the mill would expire in 2018.

The bill, though, directs the governor to find funding for the plant equivalent to what they might lose from phase-out of the certificates.

New Page Corp., based in Miamisburg, Ohio, owns the Luke mill and is a leading producer of coated paper in North America that operates 10 paper mills with 20 paper machines in the U.S. and Canada.

The Point Tupper paper mill has been running smoothly since its restart, according a delegation from the plant.

During the regular monthly meeting of Port Hawkesbury town council on Tuesday, three employees of the plant’s new owner, Port Hawkesbury Paper, painted a rosy picture of the mill’s operations.

Foncie Farrell, mill operations superintendent for Cape Breton, said production at the plant has exceeded expectations.

“The restart went very well considering the mill was down for over a year,” said Farrell. “It was kept in a state of hot idle, and that means the machines were turned regularly.”
In addition to having the mill produce excellent product, Farrell said he was surprised to have such a positive response from wood contractors who in many cases had started selling their materials to other mills.

As part of a new agreement, the mill has entered into a partnership with smaller mills to help it produce its raw product.

“It’s our intention, if a landowner or contractor wants to sell us everything that he harvests off his woodlot, we want to be able to buy that,” said Farrell. “We can market that to other markets.”

The mill, formerly operated by NewPage Port Hawkesbury, shut down in September 2011.

In October, the first roll of glossy magazine-style paper rolled off the production line.

Since that time, 304 people, including 267 full-time employees, have started work at the mill in various departments, including operations, maintenance, administration, forestry and salary.

While the mill remains a significant employer in the Strait region, there has been a net loss of about 250 jobs as the new owner has chosen to forgo producing a newsprint line.
Comments made around the table at council were positive toward the company’s purchase of the mill.

“You can just (be) happy that Mayor MacLean’s not here because he’d be hugging and kissing you,” said Coun. Bert Lewis. “Everybody in the region is very, very happy that the mill is up and running again.”

Deputy mayor Brenda Chisholm-Beaton echoed the sentiment of gratitude toward the mill’s operator.

“It’s such a wonderful thing to have you here and for you to express such great news,” she said.

Andrea Coombs, an outreach worker at the plant, said Port Hawkesbury Paper is currently the only large forestry operation that is certified to the Maritime standard in Atlantic Canada.
The mill is certified under the Forestry Stewardship Council, which includes certification from the process of moving wood out of the forest, down to selling the product to a paper customer.

“It really helps us when we get to those higher levels to compete with other companies, when we have that certification,” Coombs said.

The much-touted new deforestation policy of controversial paper giant Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) will save almost no forests in its main base of operations, Sumatra, Indonesia, a new report by NGO coalition Eyes on the Forest has concluded.

APP and Sinar Mas announced the policy in February as “an end to the clearing of natural forest across its entire supply chain in Indonesia, with immediate effect.” However, a new Eyes on the Forest (EoF) analysis that looks at all APP concessions – including those not covered by the moratorium - in Riau Province, Sumatra, found that the policy protects at most 5,000 hectares of natural forest. This compares to the deforestation of more than 2 million hectares caused by the operation of APP’s Sumatra pulp mills over the past three decades.

“We’re extremely disappointed. When APP published the policy, we thought it could be great news for Indonesia’s forests, biodiversity and citizens,” said Nazir Foead, Conservation Director of WWF-Indonesia. “However, after this new analysis for Sumatra, it appears that the company has announced a halt to deforestation only after completing nearly all the deforestation it could possible do.”

Among APP’s many natural forest wood sources are the concessions of its suppliers in Riau Province. They alone lost more than 680,000 hectares of natural forest between the start of the company’s Riau pulp mill in 1984 and 2012. Of that, 77% was lost in legally questionable ways, while an even larger proportion - 83% - consumed the habitat of critically endangered Sumatran tigers and elephants. 

WWF called on APP and Sinar Mas to announce a forest restoration commitment.

“The company is asking for a grand amnesty, for the ‘past to be forgotten’, leaving our country to deal with devastated ecosystems, social conflicts, on-going greenhouse gas emissions and critically endangered species who lost their habitat,” says Aditya Bayunanda, GFTN and pulp & paper manager of WWF Indonesia. “That is not acceptable, Indonesian NGOs are calling on APP to restore selected peatlands and forests lost in protected, High Conservation Value areas and to mitigate the damage its operations caused to surrounding natural forests, peat soils, and wildlife.”

Eyes on the Forest also highlights that SMG/APP’s much advertised High Conservation Value assessments are to be conducted in concessions where planned clearing is complete and the remaining forests are already protected by law or APP’s previous commitments. 

“Without a restoration commitment, these assessments have little meaning,” adds Bayunanda.

The report also shows that, despite previous company promises to exclusively pulp plantation fiber by 2004, 2007 and 2009, the company’s rate of deforestation remained constant between 1995 and 2011, apart from a short period in 2007-2009 when authorities were investigating alleged illegal logging by the industry, including APP wood suppliers. The rate slowed in 2012 – for the sole reason that there was very little natural forest left to cut.

“Our analysis points to one conclusion: APP once again seems to hope that it can fool people into imagining huge conservation benefits while overlooking past transgressions,” said Hariansyah Usman of WALHI Riau. “We don’t see the policy’s potential future conservation benefits balancing in any way the many unresolved issues stemming from APP’s deforestation legacy.” 

“Eyes on the Forest highlights that only full disclosure of all activities, including the status of all existing and planned wood supply bases and all mill expansion plans can prove whether this policy contains any real conservation benefits.”

Last week, NGOs in Kalimantan, on the Indonesian side of Borneo, found continued logging of tropical forest taking place in the concessions of two APP wood suppliers, who are supposed to be bound by the February deforestation moratorium. 

A serious red flag to WWF is the fact that APP’s mills continue to accept and pulp natural forest timber, under the claim that it was felled before the moratorium started on 1 February 2013. WWF-Indonesia calls on APP to close this loophole since it could be used by suppliers to feed wood into the mills from new deforestation, in violation of the policy. WWF has proposed a May 5 deadline to end their mills’ acceptance of natural forest timber, allowing the company over 3 months to transport stockpiles of wood cleared before February.

“WWF recommends that paper buyers do not rush into doing business with APP”, says Rod Taylor, Director of Forests at WWF International. “APP cannot be regarded as a responsible producer without redressing the harm caused by its past operations and removing any doubt that wood linked to forest clearing can enter its mills.” 

EoF published analyses of the report on its interactive online map, based on Google Earth’s Maps Engine platform, allowing stakeholders to evaluate some of the aspects of APP’s new forest policy and monitor its implementation. EoF will update its database regularly as information from other provinces and new details about existing concessions becomes available.

Maine - A ribbon cutting ceremony to mark the opening of the nation’s first cellulose nanofiber pilot plant and a keynote address by U.S. Sen. Angus King will highlight the 63rd annual "Paper Days" at the University of Maine, April 3–4.

Innovation, with a focus on biobased nanoparticles and biofuels, is the theme of this year’s Paper Days, coordinated by the University of Maine Pulp & Paper Foundation. According to a press release from UMaine, Paper Days is expected to draw more than 300 industry leaders, researchers and students from throughout the U.S. and Europe. An estimated 60 paper companies and engineering firms are expected to send representatives.

The event is designed to facilitate the connection between the university and industry by getting UMaine students and faculty, and industry representatives together to learn about the latest topics in the field and to network, said Jack Healy, executive director of the foundation.

Following a luncheon and address by Larry Montague, president and CEO of TAPPI, seminars on biobased nanoparticle opportunities will be led by Alan Rudie, Forest Products Laboratory; Robert Moon, Purdue University; and UMaine alumna Beth Cormier, Sappi Paper and Agenda 2020 Technology Alliance. All will occur in Wells Conference Center.

Tours of Jenness Hall will focus on the Process Development Center in Jenness Hall, which is observing its 25th anniversary, and the Cellulose Nanofiber Pilot Plant, funded by a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Forest Service.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony for the pilot plant begins at 3:30 p.m. in D.P. Corbett Business Building. Expected to offer remarks will be UMaine President Paul Ferguson; Michael Rains, USDA Forest Service; Theodore Wegner, Forest Products Laboratory; and Sean Ireland, TAPPI and Verso Paper, Inc.

The pilot plant manufactures cellulose nanofibers (CNF), a wood-based reinforcing material that is increasingly of interest to researchers worldwide in the development of high-value materials. Last year, UMaine and the Forest Products Laboratory began a research collaboration on the conversion of wood components into novel nanomaterials; the incorporation of an array of nanomaterials into forest products to increase their functionality, durability and end-use performance; and development of new generations of high-performance wood-based materials.

UMaine is in a consortium with the Forest Products Lab, six other universities and numerous industrial partners pursuing research using CNF. Nanomaterial has applications in automobile components, paint and coating additives, composites and filtration media.

The Paper Days honors banquet begins at 6 p.m. in Wells Conference Center featuring a keynote address by Sen. King, and award and scholarship presentations.

Also being announced is a gift by Sappi Fine Paper North America to help launch the UMaine Pulp and Paper Foundation’s $2 million fundraising campaign for scholarships.

The following day, Paper Days participants will tour the Forest Bioproducts Research Institute’s Technology Research Center in Old Town, followed by an industry panel discussion, “Biofuels in the Face of Changing U.S. Energy Availability.” At the luncheon that day, Frederick Clark of EKA Chemicals will speak on “The Business Case for Sustainability.”

Scientists at the University of Georgia have created a microbe that converts carbon dioxide into biofuel, a discovery that might boost the battle against climate change.

Carbon dioxide is a major cause of global warming, but it's also fundamental to life on Earth. As any good toxicologist knows, "the dose makes the poison."

And thanks to new research at the University of Georgia, we might soon have an antidote for too much CO2: a manmade version of the microbe Pyrococcus furiosus, or "rushing fireball," that absorbs CO2 and converts it into fuel. If P. furiosus can work on a large enough scale, it might even help displace carbon-positive fossil fuels like coal and oil.

"Basically, what we have done is create a microorganism that does with carbon dioxide exactly what plants do — absorb it and generate something useful," says Michael Adams, a member of UGA's Bioenergy Systems Research Institute and co-author of a new study detailing the magic of P. furiosus. "What this discovery means is that we can remove plants as the middleman. We can take carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere and turn it into useful products like fuels and chemicals without having to go through the inefficient process of growing plants and extracting sugars from biomass."

In photosynthesis, plants use sunlight to turn water and CO2 into energy-packed sugars, forming the base of Earth's food web. These sugars can also be fermented into biofuels like ethanol, but as Adams points out, removing them from a plant's cells is relatively inefficient due to the energy input required. P. furiosus, however, may offer a shortcut.

The microbe is a deep-sea "extremophile," thriving in violent conditions that would obliterate most organisms. It feeds on carbohydrates in super-heated seawater around hydrothermal vents, but by tweaking its genetic material, Adams and his colleagues created a new kind of P. furiosus that likes cooler temperatures and eats CO2.

The researchers then used hydrogen gas to spark a chemical reaction inside themicrobe, prompting it to incorporate CO2 into 3-hydroxypropionic acid, a common industrial acid that's used to make acrylics. With further genetic manipulations, they can also create a P. furiosus variant that produces an array of other useful chemicals, including fuel. And when that biofuel is burned, the researchers note, it releases the same amount of CO2 that was used to create it. That means it's essentially carbon-neutral, making it a cleaner alternative to fossil-based fuels like coal, crude oil and gasoline.

"This is an important first step that has great promise as an efficient and cost-effective method of producing fuels," Adams says. "In the future we will refine the process and begin testing it on larger scales."

Source: Mother Nature Network ( www.mnn.com ) 

Hyderabad: Four armed robbers struck at Satamrai on the NH in Shamshabad in broad daylight on Monday.

The robbers attacked a 30- year-old man and fled with Rs 3.5 lakh. The bike borne gang armed with swords and knives attacked Sanjeev Reddy, inflicting a deep wound on his hand, Shamshabad police said.

The victim, who is an employee of Meenakshi Paper Mill at Satamrai, was returning to his office after collecting money from customers at around 11 am.

“Four people on bikes followed him and made him stop on the road a few kilometers away from his office. They took out swords, attacked him and snatched the bag containing money from him,” RGIA inspector D. Durga Prasad said.

There were some vehicles passing by on the road, but the gang was so quick that no passer-by could intervene. “After the gang fled aome people informed the police. The victim, who was badly injured, was rushed to a private hospital,” a local source said.

Sanjeev told the police that the attackers were not wearing any mask. However, he could not notice the vehicle registration in the mayhem.

Sanjeev Reddy is a collection boy at the Meenakshi Paper Mill.

On particular days, he goes and collects the money from customers from the city. Police suspect that the gang had noticed him, chalked out a plan, and executed it.

The police have booked a case for robbery and started a manhunt for the offenders. The condition of victims is known to be stable.

The 2013 TAPPI Introduction to Wet End Chemistry course equips you with the latest technology and terminology for optimum papermaking performance.

Instructors for this course know that cost savings is ultimately your mark for a strong finish, so they focus the 3-day interactive training on innovative wet end chemistry principals and the use of additives to change or create new paper products.

This is the only training program that offers an in-depth focus on additives and what they can and can't do for your process. 

Through case studies, break-out sessions and networking with others in the course, you’ll learn how to:

• Implement new wet end technology to reach higher efficiency and consistent, quality products
• Use additives to improve or create new products
• Reduce downtime and off-spec production
• Make better judgments on selection and use of chemicals
• Better troubleshoot problems
• Respond quickly to changing fiber qualities, regulations and competitive pressures

This course is ideal for engineers involved in training, particularly within mills that have brought in newer employees or lost valuable experience through retirement. Many chemical engineers entering paper mills today don’t have a specific background in pulp and paper manufacturing and may not understand how to apply what they’ve learned to the papermaking wet end process. In this course, you will learn the importance of better communication of correct terminology in context to the chemicals and additives used in making better paper products that can rev up production.

Learning Outcomes
You could pour over all the how-to manuals available and still not retain this level and quality of working knowledge. Completing this workshop will enable you, among other skills, to: 

• Identify the properties of papermaking furnish and the process components and discuss how they interact to affect wet-end chemistry phenomena.
• Discuss possible solutions to paper machine process and paper quality problems associated with wet end additives and arising from chemical deposits.
• Identify additives that can be used to change the balance of charge for purposes of process control, trouble-shooting and optimization situations.
• Identify the most important factors affecting first-pass retention and the rate of drainage of water from the fiber mat during paper formation.
• Identify classes of wet-end chemical additives that can be used to achieve paper property objectives in various grades.

Download a printable copy of the 2013 Course Schedule here.

This course will sell out at 25 participants to encourage the most interactive discussions possible with ample question-and-answer opportunities.

Who’ll Be Attending
This course is designed for superintendents, product developers, process engineers, process and quality control technicians, as well as suppliers who need an introductory- to intermediate-level understanding of wet end chemistry. 

• Chemical and Process Engineers
• Mill Superintendents and Department Managers
• Research and Development Engineers
• Technology and Chief Chemists
• VP Research and Development
• Technology Directors
• Process & Quality Control Technicians
• Account Representatives for Chemical, Machinery, Equipment Suppliers

Print a color Course Flyer that you can post at your workplace or give to your boss.

Participants should have one to five years of paper industry experience, and college-level chemistry and math courses are helpful.

Compared to its paper-making peers, Resolute Forest Products Inc. ( RFP ) is still the smallest and the cheapest stock price for a paper company, and a favorite of Guru Prem Watsa , a mega shareholder. 

Headquartered in Montreal, Canada, Resolute Forest Products Inc. calls itself a global leader in the forest products industry including newsprint, commercial printing specialty papers, market pulp and wood products. The company owns or operates over 40 pulp and paper mills and wood products facilities in the United States, Canada and South Korea, and sells its products in 90 countries. 

Billionaire Prem Watsa , founder of Fairfax Financial Holdings, has earned the prestigious moniker of "the Warren Buffett of Canada." Watsa owns 24,776,519 shares of Resolute Forest Products Inc. ( RFP ), with a portfolio weighting of 13.1%. Resolute Forest shares are traded at around $16.07 with a P/E ratio of 55.9 and P/S ratio of 0.4. 

His holding history: 
With a market cap of $1.52 billion, Montreal's Resolute Forest Products is especially geared to documenting sustainability practices. The company's 2012 Annual Report describes a company still emerging from credit protection. 

Comment Dites Vous AbitibiBowater? 
Filing for creditor protections in the U.S and Canada in 2009, with a debt of approximately USD6 billion, the company, then named "AbitibiBowater," won court approval to finance restructuring. The company emerged from creditor protection in December 2010, and changed its operating name from AbitibiBowater to Resolute Forest Products about a year later. 
Resolute Forest Products generates revenue per category, as follows: newsprint for 36%, specialty papers for 25%, market pulp for 18%, wood products for 11% and coated papers for 10%. These products combined generated 2012 total sales at $4.5 billion, with an adjusted EBITDA of $3.86 billion. Net cash provided by operating activities is listed at $2.66 billion. 

Comparing Paper and Pulp Peers 
Still the smallest company and the cheapest stock price, Montreal's Resolute Forest Products has a market cap of $1.52 billion. International Paper ( IP) , with a market cap of $20.48 billion, makes industrial packaging, printing papers and consumer packaging, and is the largest manufacturer of container board in the U.S. Weyerhaeuser Co. ( WY) , with a market cap of $17.04 billion, trades in pulp and timber, and grows and harvests trees, builds homes and makes a range of forest products. Sonoco Products Company ( SON) , with a market cap of $3.51 billion, makes industrial and packaging products. 

Today's share prices: 
International Paper ( IP) $46.31 
Sonoco Products Company ( SON) $34.59 
Weyerhaeuser Co. ( WY) $31.33 
Resolute Forest Products Inc. ( RFP ) $16.07 

In the same year Resolute was emerging from credit protection, 2010, the company joined with Greenpeace and other organizations to become a founding member of the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement. The group formalized an agreement to protect the diversity of ecosystems and wildlife within the Boreal region. 

In his 2012 message to shareholders, Resolute's Richard Garneau, president and CEO, stated, "We work hard to integrate sustainability into the way we do business because we believe this approach brings value to our customers, our shareholders, our employees and the communities where we live and work." 

In 2012 Resolute Forest Products reported progress on its key sustainability commitments, including the areas of carbon management, fiber sourcing, forest certification, health and safety and product stewardship that involves using less fiber and fewer chemicals than competitive papers. The company has also developed and published a formal policy on First Nations relations with Canada's indigenous tribes. 

According to CEO Garneau, "Resolute recognizes that focusing on sustainability is good business. Our decision to produce a report combining financial and sustainability performance demonstrates our commitment to balancing environmental, social and economic priorities." 

"Canada's Warren Buffett," Prem Watsa's top buys, sells and holdings

The Prince Albert Pulp Mill is producing green power, but start-up of pulp production is still 12 to 18 months away, a representative recently told a local gathering. 

Dale Paterson, vice-president of operations for Paper Excellence, which owns the Prince Albert mill, provided an update on the mill's status at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon. 

Based on that presentation, the Prince Albert Daily Herald reported Mar. 29 that Paper Excellence is investing in a technology that is less costly and will allow the refurbished mill to produce both traditional paper pulp and dissolving pulp. 

The capital expenditure on this new technology is expected to be between $85 and $90 million less than the company previously anticipated, Paterson said. 

When Paper Excellence purchased the operation in 2011, the plan was to produce dissolving pulp at the site by the fall of 2013. Now, with dissolving pulp prices considerably lower than at that time, the company is exploring the production of market pulp, but must work around a non-compete agreement signed with Weyerhaeuser, the mill's previous owner. 

According to the Daily Herald, the mill faced a higher level of equipment failure than expected, and Paper Excellence will spend an additional $75 million to deal with issues arising from the mill's five-year shutdown. 

In the meantime, the mill's green power plant is currently exporting about 9.5 MWH to SaskPower, and employs 24 people. 

In total, the mill is currently employing 113 people and spending about $1.8 million per month between personnel and materials, the majority of which goes directly back into the local economy, reports the Daily Herald. 

Source: Pulp & Paper Canada

Wausau Paper has announced that it has signed a non-binding Letter of Intent to sell its specialty paper business to a new company (“NewCo”) to be formed and controlled by investment funds sponsored by KPS Capital Partners L.P. (“KPS”), a New York based private equity firm with significant experience in the paper industry and in completion of complex corporate carve-outs.

KPS has also signed a non-binding Letter of Intent to acquire another company and combine it with the specialty paper business within NewCo. Wausau has the option to have an initial ownership position in NewCo of up to 25 percent with the opportunity to earn up to an additional 5 percent interest upon NewCo reaching certain performance thresholds.

Key highlights of the transaction are as follows:

• NewCo will acquire the assets of Wausau’s Rhinelander and Mosinee mills; the assets of Wausau’s Brainerd mill are not included in the transaction;
• The transaction requires that the United Steelworkers ratify new collective bargaining agreements with NewCo;
• Wausau will retain legacy defined benefit pension and post-retirement liabilities related to the businesses being sold to NewCo; and
• The initial cash purchase price will be approximately $130 million, subject to KPS’ confirmatory due diligence and adjustments for the ultimate treatment of certain transaction related liabilities and customary post closing adjustments.

Hank Newell, president and CEO of Wausau Paper commented, “We are pleased to have signed this letter of intent with KPS, which will provide proven operations and management leadership for the Paper business along with new opportunities to expand its product offerings and market reach. This announcement represents an important step in the strategic repositioning of Wausau Paper, narrowing our focus on our Tissue business and creating additional value for shareholders.”

The ultimate transaction is subject to acceptable confirmatory due diligence, ratification of new collective bargaining agreements and satisfactory completion of effects bargaining, required regulatory clearances, final negotiation and Board approval of the definitive agreements and certain other customary contingencies to closing, including third party financing. While the Company expects to finalize the transaction in the second quarter of 2013, there can be no certainty or assurance about the timing, specific elements or completion of a transaction. The Wausau Paper sale to NewCo is also conditional upon NewCo acquiring the other company.

Mesirow Financial, Inc. and Ruder Ware LLSC have been the financial and legal advisors toWausau Paper. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP have been the legal advisors to KPS.

Source: Wausau Paper