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September / October 2015

Vol. IX No. 5

Serving Soil, Mulch, Compost & Wood Pellet Producers www.SoilandMulchProducerNews.com

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Mulch Manufacturers Continue to Feel Heat from Wood Pellet Industry

By p.j. heller

rowing demand for wood pellets from the European Union, prompted by renewable energy mandates there, is severely impacting mulch manufacturers in the Southeast United States who are facing diminishing wood supplies and rising prices. The situation has become so dire that some mulch manufacturers are purchasing their own plots of land to obtain wood supply. “The demand [for wood pellets] is extremely high,” says Robert C. LaGasse, executive director of the Mulch and Soil Council. “We know this because if you’re anywhere near a major port, availability of raw materials has gone down and cost has gone way up. “My people are looking at 30 percent to 50 percent less material available and a 40 percent to 60 percent increase in price,” he reports. Ralph Spencer, president of Mulch Manufacturing Inc., one of the largest producers of packaged mulch products in the nation, says the wood pellet industry has created negative economic conditions that “make it difficult for us to compete in the marketplace and grow and be profitable.” “Generally speaking, there’s not additional wood to go around, so when the pellet industry moves into an area it affects availability of raw materials for everybody. Prices are up and

people have to go further distances to get raw materials to compete,” says Spencer, whose Ohio-headquartered company has been serving the eastern U.S. since 1985. The United States has become the No. 1 wood pellet exporting nation, shipping some 4.4 million tons in 2014, more than double the amount shipped only two years earlier. Demand for pellets is expected to increase in coming years as the EU, under its Renewable Energy Directive, attempts to achieve a 20 percent renewables target by 2020. One of its goals is to replace coal with biomass pellets to generate heat and electricity. The wood pellets can be burned in the same coal-fired plants, reportedly without requiring significant modifications. Renewable energy subsidies from the European Union are helping to drive the industry. In addition, U.S. taxpayers are supporting the industry through federal and state tax breaks or subsidies. Pellet mills have been built in at least seven Southern states and more plants are expected to come online; one major pellet manufacturer already operates three ports for shipping pellets overseas, with a fourth port scheduled to open next year in Wilmington, NC. LaGasse says that if subsidies for wood pellets were cut off by European countries, Continued on page 3

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Mulch Manufacturers Continue to Feel Heat from Wood Pellet Industry Continued from page 1

notably the UK, which is the largest wood pellet shape a significant segment of the renewable importer, “those mills would go into decline energy market over the next decade and perhaps immediately because there is no U.S. demand beyond,” it said. that would meet their production capabilities. The question of whether burning wood “The biggest issue you’ve got is that pellets versus coal reduces greenhouse gas government subsidies are distorting the free emissions remains a hotly contested issue. market,” LaGasse However, Spencer of says. “Basically you’re Mulch Manufacturing “Without government engaged in a noninsists the real issue — sustainable economic which he says has been subsidies in Europe, activity. How long totally ignored — is this wood pellet export before the people in the amount of energy the UK say, ‘We’re equired and the industry would not exist.” rpollution not going to pay any generated more for energy. This from the time a tree is is costing us too much to subsidize.’ Their planted until it is shipped as wood pellets across consumers are paying for it.” the ocean to be burned in an EU energy facility. Derb Carter, director of the North Carolina Spencer says proponents of wood pellet office of the Southern Environmental Law fuel to generate energy and heat in the EU “are Center, agrees that subsidies have been key to only looking at what’s going on at the point the growth of the wood pellet industry. of ignition. They didn’t consider what really “Without government subsidies in Europe, matters.” What really matters, he says, is the this wood pellet export industry would not exist,” impact you have on the planet from the entire Carter says. process, going back to planting the tree. He adds “Obviously the pellet people have their own that it’s only fair to go back that far because it’s viewpoint on this and they think it‘s going to go on all about clean air for planet Earth. for a substantial amount of time and it’s worthy Spencer suggests creating an alliance of of the investments they’re making in upgrading mulch manufacturers, along with representatives port facilities,” LaGasse notes. “And that’s no from the gas and coal companies, to push the small investment on their behalf. Then again ... argument that it makes “no sense to require if I had a crystal ball and could see how long wood pellets to be burned” when you consider these subsidies would last ... national economies the amount of pollution generated in the entire are being turned upside every day now.” pellet production process, including planting, How long those subsidies will continue is a harvesting, transporting and manufacturing matter of debate, especially since they are subject the pellets. to political and economic pressures; the UK has In the meantime, mulch manufacturers said its subsidies to biomass plants will end in nationwide are having to deal with the impact 2027 and its former Energy Secretary Ed Davey of the wood pellet industry on their businesses. said that biomass was only a temporary solution F. Brian Faircloth, vice president with to address energy and emissions demands. Suwannee Lumber Co., LLC, echoes LaGasse’s “Making electricity from biomass based on position. Suwannee, founded in 1954 and imported wood is not a long-term answer to our headquartered in Cross City, Fla., today is energy needs,” Davey told the British Broadcasting primarily a lumber company with mulch Company. “I am quite clear about that.” manufactured as a byproduct. The U.S. International Trade Commission “Certainly the pressure on raw materials has says demand for wood pellets is “trending increased greatly,” says Faircloth, a vice president upward.” with Suwannee, a small regional company which “The wood pellet market in the EU serves about four states in the Southeast and is and prospectively elsewhere represents new owned by a private equity group. opportunities for U.S. industry and for forest While there is ongoing debate about the raw landowners growing and selling timber. Both material inventory over the next decade or so, Korea and Japan are beginning to increase their Faircloth is somewhat optimistic. imports of wood pellets as well,” the commission “If the wood industry does its part in said in its January report, titled: Developments promoting a healthy replanting and forestry in the Global Trade of Wood Pellets. initiative, we’ll be fine,” he predicts. “But there’s a lot “Wood pellets are one of the most rapidly of pressure, without question, on the forest lands.” growing biomass energy commodities being A 2015 survey by the Mulch and Soil traded internationally and one of the important Council showed that 85 percent of respondents renewable energy sources replacing fossil fuels to in the Southeast were competing with pellet reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Developments mills or bioenergy plants for raw materials Continued on page 4 in wood pellets trade will likely influence and

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PUBLICATION STAFF Publisher / Editor Rick Downing Contributing Editors / Writers P.J. Heller • James M. Taylor Sandy Woodthorpe Production & Layout Barb Fontanelle • Christine Pavelka Advertising Sales Rick Downing Subscription / Circulation Donna Downing Editorial, Circulation & Advertising Office 6075 Hopkins Road, Mentor, OH 44060 Ph: 440-257-6453 • Fax: 440-257-6459 Email: downassoc2@oh.rr.com Subscription information, call 440-257-6453. Soil & Mulch Producer News is published bimonthly by Downing & Associates. Reproductions or transmission in whole or in part, without written permission of the publisher, is prohibited. Annual subscription rate U.S. is $19.95. Outside of the U.S. add $10.00 ($29.95). Contact our main office, or mail-in the subscription form with payment. © Copyright 2015 by Downing & Associates Printed on 10% Post-Consumer Recycled Paper

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Mulch Manufacturers Continue to Feel Heat from Wood Pellet Industry Continued from page 3

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Know What EPA Has in Store for You Each monthly issue of Environment & Climate News addresses issues that affect you every day: over-regulation by EPA; protection of our soil, water, and forest resources; and more. You can read it online at news.heartland.org or have it delivered to your email inbox for free at www.heartland.org/subscribe heartland.org/subscribe. If you prefer the smell of newsprint, subscribe to the print publication for $36 at store. www.heartland.org heartland.org. The Heartland Institute is a 31-year-old national nonprofit organization based in Chicago. Its mission is to discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems. For more inwww.heartland.org formation, visit our Web site at heartland.org or call HEARTLAND.ORG 312/377-4000. www.heartland.org HEARTLAND.ORG

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(similar results were reported nationwide, with 100 percent of Northeast respondents saying they were in competition with pellet mills/bioenergy facilities). The survey of Southeast mulch manufacturers showed that costs of raw materials over the past two years were up, with the majority (63 percent) saying prices had increased from 11 percent to 25 percent. Eighteen percent of respondents reported price hikes of 25 to 50 percent, while 9 percent said costs were up 51 percent to 75 percent. Another 9 percent of respondents reported costs up from 0 percent to 10 percent. The survey of more than a dozen mulch manufacturers in the Southeast also showed that availability of raw materials in the region was down, with 18 percent of respondents saying the decline was anywhere from 51 percent to 100 percent. Not all mulch manufacturers, however, are feeling the pinch, at least not yet. Hackney Parker, owner of Seaside Mulch with plants in coastal North Carolina and South Carolina, says while he hasn’t yet been impacted by the wood pellet industry, he’s taking a wait and see attitude. “There’s a couple (of wood pellet plants) getting ready to come on-line where I am,” says Parker, who has been in business for 20 years. “There’s nobody on top of me right now.” Gina McLean of Penick Organics in Macon, Miss., also says the impact in her area has been minimal in terms of inventory and price hikes. She cites abundant timber resources in Mississippi for that stability. “We really haven’t seen that [price increases] in our area as much as in other areas,” McLean says. “Maybe we’ve been insulated from that.” Family-owned Penick Organics has been in business since the mid1990s. In addition to the negative impact the wood pellet industry is having on mulch manufacturers in the Southeast, there are other issues that have been raised. Among them: the industry’s impact on wildlife habitat, water quality, degradation of forests and the true economic impact in the Southeast. Spencer notes that a pellet mill typically employs far fewer people than a mulch facility, making the mulch company a better economic driver for a community. “The wood pellet export market is simply not a very smart 21st century economic development strategy for our Southern rural communities. We can and must do better to support the economic well-being of the South’s rural communities,” notes the report Wood Pellet Manufacturing: Risks for the Economy of the US South, published by the Dogwood Alliance. “All signs point to biomass energy being a boom-bust market, and the bust will leave communities with stranded assets, denuded forests and diminished job and other economic prospects long before the hoped-for reductions in greenhouse gas concentrations have a chance to occur,” the report predicts. The Southern Environmental Law Center warns that “without proper safeguards and clear definitions of what constitutes a renewable energy source, the use of biomass could backfire. “Mature forests are at risk of being converted into energy plantations and wetlands are at risk of clean cuts, harming our water and wildlife,” it says. “... Much of this wood is whole trees that are clear cut and hauled to pellet facilities for eventual export to Europe.” Enviva, the world’s largest supplier of wood pellets to major utilities, has said it predominantly uses tree waste. “The only whole trees that Enviva uses are either young commercial softwood thinnings, which are cut to ensure healthy growth of high-value timber, or in some cases small, diseased or deformed trees that do not meet specifications for sawlogs. In many places, there is no other market for this wood,” the company says on its website. “Often, what may appear to be a whole tree is actually the top of a tree, which cannot be used to make the high-value wood products for which the trunks have been harvested.” Environmental groups, as well as others, contend that whole trees are Continued on next page

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Continued from previous page sometimes being harvested. “Despite claims to the contrary over the past several years, Enviva now concedes that it uses whole trees at its pellet plants,” according to the Southern Environmental Law Center. “Inspection of its log yards at its pellet mills by U.S. and UK media revealed this in 2013. Enviva is clearly using tree trunks, along with tops and limbs from clearcut hardwood forests.” “The pellet industry and the [British] utility have been deceptive about the sources of wood they use,” Carter of the Law Center told the Washington Post. “Envira’s website says they’re using only waste wood, but you can follow the trucks to the harvest sites and see what they’re doing.” Ben Larson, manager of forestry and bio-energy with the National Wildlife Federation, says demand for wood pellets by the EU is also having a negative impact on wildlife habitat. “What we’re seeing in North Carolina and other places is an increase in logging activity directly driven by the pellet industry and logging in areas and in ways that harm wildlife habitat,” he says. “In North Carolina and Virginia, there’s quite a bit of hardwood wetland logging going on to supply a couple of pellet mills. Those forests are often rare and have particularly high water and wildlife value. So logging them to make pellets for a power plant in Europe doesn’t make a lot of sense from our perspective.”

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The Great Deception

A Review of the Environmental Defense Fund’s Top 10 Global Warming Lies By James M. Taylor The following article was reprinted with permission from the September 2015 edition of Environment & Climate News. Heartland Senior Fellow, James Taylor, wrote the article as a rebuttal to a series of claims made by the Environmental Defense Fund in recent fundraising mailers it sent out.

he Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) raises money by deceiving people about global warming. The following is an overview of its latest fundraising letter. Global warming alarmists frequently make false and deplorable assertions to get attention and raise money, but the Environmental Defense Fund’s recent fund-raising mailer, “10 Global Warming Effects That May Shock You,” may have set a new low. The only good thing about EDF’s preposterous mailer is that it can be used to show open-minded people the difference between global warming alarmists and global warming truth-tellers. EDF has assembled what it believes to be the 10 most powerful global warming assertions in the alarmists’ playbook. Each assertion either backfires on alarmists or has been proven false. While reading how flawed EDF’s assertions are, remember these are the very best arguments global warming alarmists can make! Open-minded readers should have very little difficulty dismissing the mythical global warming crisis after examining the top 10 assertions in the alarmists’ playbook.

Alarmist Assertion #1

ats Drop from the Sky – In 2014, a scorching summer heat wave caused more than 100,000 bats to literally drop dead and fall from the sky in “B Queensland, Australia.”

The Facts: Global warming alarmists’ preferred electricity source – wind

power – kills nearly 1 million bats every year in the United States alone.1 This appalling death toll occurs every year even while wind power produces just 3 percent of U.S. electricity. Ramping up wind power to 10, 20, or 30 percent of U.S. electricity production would likely mean annual bat kills of 10 to 30 million. Killing 30 million bats every year in response to dubious claims that global warming might once in a great while kill 100,000 bats makes no sense. Just as importantly, alarmists present no evidence that global warming caused the summer heat wave in a notoriously hot desert near the equator. To the contrary, climate change theory and objective data show our recent global warming is occurring primarily in the winter, toward the poles, and at night. Australia’s highest recorded temperature occurred more than half a century ago, and only two of Australia’s seven states have set their all-time temperature record during the past 40 years.2 Queensland’s 2014 heat wave paled in comparison to the 1972 heat wave that occurred 42 years of global warming ago. If global warming caused the 2014 Queensland heat wave, why wasn’t it as severe as the 1972 Queensland heat wave? Blaming every single summer heat wave or extreme weather event on global warming is a stale and discredited tactic in the alarmist playbook. Objective science proves extreme weather events such as hurricanes, tornadoes, heat waves, and droughts have become less frequent and less severe as a result of the Earth’s recent warming.3 6

Soil & Mulch Producer News September / October 2015

Alarmist Assertion #2

Disease Spreads – Warmer temperatures are contributing to the “Lyme range expansion and severity of tick-borne Lyme disease.”

The Facts: Lyme disease is much more common in northern, cooler

regions of the United States than in southern, warmer regions.4 Asserting, without any supporting data or evidence, that a disease that prospers in cool climates will become more prevalent as a result of global warming defies objective data and common sense. Moreover, a team of scientists extensively researched Lyme disease climate and habitat and reported in the peer-reviewed science journal EcoHealth, “the only environmental variable consistently associated with increased [Lyme disease] risk and incidence was the presence of forests.”5 Granted, alarmists can argue that forests are thriving under global warming, with the result that forest-dwelling ticks will also benefit. However, expanding forests are universally – and properly – viewed as environmentally beneficial. Alarmist attempts to frame thriving forests as harmful perfectly illustrate the alarmists’ proclivity to claim anything and everything – no matter how beneficial – is severely harmful and caused by global warming. Moreover, even if global warming expanded Lyme disease range, one must look at the totality of global warming’s impact on the range of viruses and diseases. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports Lyme disease “is rare as a cause of death in the United States.”6 According to the CDC, Lyme disease is a contributing factor in fewer than 25 deaths per year in the United States. During a recent five-year span examined by the CDC, “only 1 [death] record was consistent with clinical manifestations of Lyme disease.” Any attempts to claim global warming will cause a few more Lyme disease deaths must be weighed against the 36,000 Americans who are killed by the flu each year.7 The U.S. National Institutes of Health have documented how influenza is aided and abetted by cold climate.8 Any attempt to connect a warmer climate to an increase in Lyme disease must be accompanied by an acknowledgement of a warmer climate’s propensity to reduce influenza incidence and mortality. The net impact of a warmer climate on viruses and diseases such as Lyme disease and influenza is substantially beneficial and life-saving.

Alarmist Assertion #3

ational Security Threatened – The impacts of climate change are expected to act as a ‘threat multiplier’ in many of the world’s most “N unstable regions, exacerbating droughts and other natural disasters as well as leading to food, water and other resource shortages that may spur mass migrations.” Continued on page 8

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The Great Deception Continued from page 6

The Facts: The alarmists’ asserted national security threat depends on assertions that (1) global warming is causing a reduction in food and water supplies and (2) migrations of people to places with more food and water will increase risks of military conflict. Facts refute both assertions. Regarding food and water supplies, global crop production has soared as the Earth gradually warms.9 Atmospheric carbon dioxide is essential to plant life, and adding more of it to the atmosphere enhances plant growth and crop production. Longer growing seasons and fewer frost events also benefit plant growth and crop production. As repeatedly documented in my Forbes.com columns,10 global crops set new production records virtually every year as our planet modestly warms. If crop shortages cause national security threats and global warming increases crop production, then global warming benefits rather than jeopardizes national security. The same holds true for water supplies. Data show there has been a gradual increase in global precipitation and soil moisture as our planet warms. Warmer temperatures evaporate more water from the oceans, which in turn stimulates more frequent precipitation over continental land masses. The result of this enhanced precipitation is an improvement in soil moisture at almost all sites in the Global Soil Moisture Data Bank.11 If declining precipitation and declining soil moisture are military threat multipliers, then global warming is creating a safer, more peaceful world.

Alarmist Assertion #4

ea Levels Rising – Warmer temperatures are causing glaciers and polar ice sheets to melt, increasing the amount of water in the world’s seas “S and oceans.”

The Facts: The pace of sea level rise remained relatively constant throughout the twentieth century, even as global temperatures gradually rose.12 There has similarly been no increase in the pace of sea level rise in recent decades. Using twentieth century technologies, humans effectively adapted to global sea level rise. With twenty-first century technologies, humans will be even better equipped to adapt to global sea level rise. Also, the alarmist assertion that polar ice sheets are melting is simply false. Although alarmists frequently point to a modest recent shrinkage in the Arctic ice sheet, that decline has been completely offset by ice sheet expansion in the Antarctic. Cumulatively, polar ice sheets have not declined at all since NASA satellite instruments began precisely measuring them 35 years ago.13 Alarmist Assertion #5

“A

llergies Worsen – Allergy sufferers beware: Climate change could cause pollen counts to double in the next 30 years. The warming temperatures cause advancing weed growth, a bane for allergy sufferers.”

The Facts:

Pollen is a product and mechanism of plant reproduction and growth. As such, pollen counts will rise and fall along with plant health and vegetation intensity. Any increase in pollen will be the result of a greener biosphere with more plant growth. Similar to the alarmist argument, discussed above, that expanding forests will create more habitat for the ticks that spread Lyme disease, alarmists here are taking overwhelmingly good news about global warming improving plant health and making it seem like this good news is actually bad news because healthier plants mean more pollen. NASA satellite instruments have documented a spectacular greening of the Earth, with foliage gains most prevalent in previously arid, semi-desert regions.14 For people experiencing an increase in vegetation in previously barren regions, this greening of the Earth is welcome and wonderful news. For global warming alarmists, however, a greener biosphere is terrible news and something to be opposed. This, in a nutshell, defines the opposing sides in the global warming debate. Global warming alarmists claim a greener biosphere with richer and more abundant plant life is horrible and justifies massive, economy-destroying energy restrictions. Global warming realists understand that a greener biosphere with richer and more abundant plant life is not a horrible thing simply because humans may have had some role in creating it. 8

Soil & Mulch Producer News September / October 2015

Alarmist Assertion #6

eetles Destroy Iconic Western Forests – Climate change has sent treekilling beetles called mountain pine beetles into overdrive. Under “B normal conditions those beetles reproduce just once annually, but the warming climate has allowed them to churn out an extra generation of new bugs each year.”

The Facts: Alarmists claim warmer winters are causing an increase in pine beetle populations. This assertion is thoroughly debunked by realworld data. As an initial matter, alarmists have responded to recent bitterly cold winters by claiming global warming is causing colder winters.15 One cannot claim global warming is causing colder winters and then turn around and simultaneously claim global warming is causing warmer winters. Global warming activists’ propensity for doing so shows just how little value they place on truthful debate. Scientific data verify winters are getting colder, countering the key prerequisite to EDF’s pine beetle claim. NOAA temperature data show winter temperatures in the United States have been getting colder for at least the past two decades.16 Pine beetles cannot be taking advantage of warmer winters if winters are in fact getting colder. Moreover, recent U.S. Forest Service data show pine beetle infestations have recently declined dramatically throughout the western United States.17 Forests and plant life are expanding globally, and particularly in the western United States.18 Pine beetles are a natural part of forest ecosystems. Expanding pine forests can support more beetles. The predictable increase in pine beetles is largely a product of, rather than a foil against, expanding pine forests. One can hardly argue that pine beetles are “destroying iconic Western forests” when western forests are becoming denser and more prevalent as the planet warms. Also, beetles have bored through North American forests for millennia, long before people built coal-fired power plants and drove SUVs. Beetles are not dependent on warm winters, as evidenced by their historic prevalence in places such as Alaska.19 Finally, pine beetles tend to target dead, unhealthy, more vulnerable pine trees rather than healthy trees. Decades of over-aggressive fire suppression policies have caused an unnatural buildup of older, denser, more vulnerable pine forests. These conditions predictably aid pine beetles.

Alarmist Assertion #7

anada: The New America – ‘Lusher’ vegetation growth typically associated with the United States is now becoming more common in “C Canada, scientists reported in a 2012 Nature Climate Change study.”

The Facts: Only global warming alarmists would claim that lusher

vegetation and more abundant plant life are a bad thing. Playing on a general tendency of people to fear change, EDF and global warming alarmists argue that changes in the biosphere that make it richer, lusher, and more conducive to life are changes to be feared and opposed. If barren ecosystems constitute an ideal planet, then the alarmist fears of more plant life make sense. But global warming realists understand a climate more conducive to richer, more abundant plant life is beneficial rather than harmful.

Alarmist Assertion #8

conomic Consequences – The costs associated with climate change rise along with the temperatures. Severe storms and floods combined with “E agricultural losses cause billions of dollars in damages, and money is needed to treat and control the spread of disease”

The Facts: Severe storms, floods, and agricultural losses may cost a great deal of money, but such extreme weather events – and their resulting costs – are dramatically declining as the Earth modestly warms.20 Accordingly, Continued on next page

Soil Continued from previous page EDF’s asserted economic costs are actually economic benefits. As documented by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and at Forbes.com, severe storms are becoming less frequent and severe as the Earth modestly warms. This is especially evident regarding hurricane and tornado activity, which are both at historic lows. Similarly, scientific measurements and peer-reviewed studies report no increase in flooding events regarding natural-flowing rivers and streams.21 Any increase in flooding activity is due to human alterations of river and stream flow rather than precipitation changes.22 Also, the modest recent warming is producing U.S. and global crop production records virtually every year, creating billions of dollars in new economic and human welfare benefits each and every year. This creates a net economic benefit completely ignored by EDF. Regarding “the spread of disease,” as documented in “Alarmist Assertion #2,” evidence shows global warming will thwart deadly outbreaks of influenza and other cold-dependent viruses. Additionally, the alarmists’ desired means of reducing carbon dioxide emissions – more expensive energy sources – make economic conditions even worse. Forcing the American economy to operate on expensive and unreliable wind and solar power will have tremendous negative economic consequences. President Barack Obama acknowledged this fact when he promised that under his global warming plan, “electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.” The economic consequences of Obama’s global warming policies can already be seen in electricity prices, which are currently the highest in U.S. history. Remarkably, Obama’s global warming policies are increasing electricity prices even while new natural gas discoveries, revolutionary advances in natural gas production technologies, and a dramatic resultant decline in natural gas prices would otherwise spur a dramatic decline in electricity prices.

Alarmist Assertion #9

nfectious Diseases Thrive – The World Health Organization reports that outbreaks of new or resurgent diseases are on the rise and in more “I disparate countries than ever before, including tropical illnesses in once cold climates.”

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The Facts: Outbreaks of “new or resurgent diseases” are occurring precisely because governments have caved in to environmental activist groups like EDF and implemented their anti-science agendas. For example, DDT had all but eliminated malaria in the United States and on the global stage during the mid-twentieth century. However, environmental activists championed false environmental accusations against DDT and dramatically reduced use of the life-saving mosquito killer throughout much of the world. As a result, malaria has re-emerged with a vengeance and millions of people die every year as a result.23 Also, as documented above in “Alarmist Assertion #2,” global warming will reduce the impact and death toll of cold-related viruses such as influenza. In the United States alone, influenza kills 36,000 people every year, which dwarfs all heat-dependent viruses and diseases combined. Few people other than global warming alarmists would argue that it is better to have 36,000 people die each year from influenza than have a few people die each year from Lyme disease (which, as documented above, isn’t even related to global warming).

Alarmist Assertion #10

hrinking Glaciers – In 2013, an iceberg larger than the city of Chicago broke off the Pine Island Glacier, the most important glacier of the “S West Antarctic Ice Sheet. And at Montana’s Glacier National Park glaciers have gone from 150 to just 35 over the past century.”

The Facts: Calling attention to anecdotal incidents of icebergs breaking off the Antarctic ice sheet, while deliberately ignoring the overall growth of the Antarctic ice sheet, is a misleading and favorite tactic of global warming alarmists. Icebergs break off the Antarctic ice sheet every year, with or without global warming, particularly in the Antarctic summer. However, a particular iceberg – no matter how large – breaking off the Antarctic ice sheet does not necessarily result in “Shrinking Glaciers” as EDF alleges. To the contrary, the Antarctic ice sheet has been growing at a steady and substantial pace ever since NASA satellites first began measuring the ice sheet in 1979. During the same year EDF claims “an iceberg larger than the Continued on page 10

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The Great Deception Continued from page 9

city of Chicago” broke off the Antarctic ice sheet and caused “Shrinking Glaciers,” the Antarctic ice sheet repeatedly set new records for its largest extent in recorded history.24 Those 2013 records were repeatedly broken again in 2014. The Antarctic ice sheet in 2013 and 2014 was more extensive than at any time in recorded history, yet EDF pushes the lie that the Antarctic ice sheet is shrinking. EDF’s assertion about Glacier National Park is also misleading. Alpine glaciers at Glacier National Park and elsewhere have been receding for more than 300 years, since the Earth’s temperature bottomed out during the depths of the Little Ice Age.25 The warming of the past 300 years and the resulting recession of alpine glaciers predated humans building coalfired power plants and driving SUVs. Moreover, opening up more of the Earth’s surface to vegetation and plant and animal life would normally be considered a beneficial change, if global warming alarmists had not so thoroughly politicized the global warming discussion. There you have it. These are the 10 best arguments global warming activists like EDF can make, along with the objective scientific facts that prove them wrong. No wonder global warming alarmists are so terrified of people having access to both sides of the debate. James M. Taylor (jtaylor@heartland.org) is vice president for external relations and senior fellow for environment and energy policy at The Heartland Institute. Taylor is the former managing editor (2001 – 2014) of Environment & Climate News, a national monthly publication devoted to sound science and free-market environmentalism. info@kingkong-tools.com www.kingkong-tools.com

References to support this article can be found at: http://news.heartland.org/newspaper-article/2015/07/27/top-10-global-warming-lies

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10 Soil & Mulch Producer News September / October 2015

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September / October 2015 Soil & Mulch Producer News 11

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Mulch Producer NEWS

Connecticut Advances on Food Waste Recycling

ridgeport, CT – According to a Courant.com article, Quantum Biopower has received a permit to begin building Connecticut’s first food waste recycling and anaerobic digestion facility. The opening of the Bridgeport Bioenergy Facility is a big step toward the state’s goal of diverting food and other organic waste from landfill. Connecticut law passed in 2011 sets a goal of 60 percent recycling by 2024. Forming the infrastructure to carry out the law has been a slow and tedious process with many logistics to work out statewide. This is why Rhode Island decided to offer an incentive – $6 million in loans to help developers attract private investment to build digesters. In the beginning, most of the food waste will come from commercial or institutional entities. Those producers that generate about two tons of food waste per week are required by law to separate and recycle organic waste, but only if they are located within 20 miles of a recycling facility. Starting in 2020, producers of one ton of weekly food waste will need to come into compliance. Meanwhile, local governments are increasing the number of recycling centers or expanding capacity at existing ones as curbside collection programs are established. At the state level, more applications for anaerobic digesters are being considered, and the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) is providing assistance to minimize compliance issues and ensure that recycling goals will be met. According to a 2010 DEEP study, about 13.5 percent of the state’s waste stream, or nearly 322,000 tons annually, includes food that has been thrown away. That figure rises to 31.5 percent or 750,000 tons annually when other compostable organics such as soiled paper and yard trimmings are included.

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12 Soil & Mulch Producer News September / October 2015

Chips Are Up for Successful Brush Collection Program

risco, CO – Summit County, Colorado is hoping somebody will take truckloads of wood chips produced by its recycling operation before November, according to a SummitDaily.com article. The county’s federal grant funded chipping program accepts flammable woody vegetation from residents. The community has embraced the program, making it very successful. In 2014, the county picked up enough brush to fill 44 semis full of wood chips. The chips were trucked to a biomass power plant in Gypsum to be used as fuel. But last December, a fire put the biomass plant out of commission, causing the facility to be shut down for reconstruction in 2015. Now Summit County must do something with the mountains of wood chips being stored on public lands in Breckenridge, Dillon and Silverthorne. According to the County Extension Office, the chips have to be removed to accommodate winter parking and snow storage. Ideally, the chips could go to another biofuel plant – if somebody will come get them. If that doesn’t work out, county officials say the chips may be used at school playgrounds or for making compost. With cutbacks to U.S. Forest Service budgets and future wildfire prevention programs in peril, local governments such as Summit County have become proactive. Summit County has more properties bordering what’s called the “wildland interface” than any county in the state, so its program is being seen as a model. The high rate of participation has provided usable data pointing to areas where risk may be concentrated. According to a county spokesperson, the data not only is helping wildfire mitigation experts improve their strategies, it could be used by home insurers to develop new risk management analyses that could reduce insurance premiums.

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September / October 2015 Soil & Mulch Producer News 13

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Airport Waste Recycling Delayed for Atlanta

CSPMA Announces Results of 2015 Harvest Season

tlanta, GA – Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport management expected keen interest in its Green Acres sustainability program, but so far the handful of companies that have submitted bids to build a recycling center have been disqualified, according to an AJC.com report. Under the terms of the RFP, the selected partner would lease 30 acres of airport property for 30 years on which it would build an enclosed commodity recovery, recycling and reprocessing facility. Prospective partners are expected to have extensive experience in composting and recycling, as well as in grey water filtration and agricultural production in an urban environment. The target start date is March 1, 2017. So what happened? “With anything that is new and groundbreaking, it’s understandable that there may be some amount of trepidation or uncertainty when exploring new ways to be sustainable,” airport spokesman Reese McCranie says. The first request for proposals had to be closed when it became clear that applicants did not understand the requirements for permitting, certain financial terms and other contract details. The airport said it would clarify and revise its solicitation documents. Atlanta’s contracting department expected several competing bids in July, when the airport requested proposals again. But the deadline at Atlanta City Hall came and went with no proposals submitted. A spokesperson said the department would try to learn why companies were not interested in the project before proceeding any further with bid solicitation. Green Acres is part of a sustainability initiative launched by Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and airport management to achieve Zero Waste status by the year 2020. Food waste and food packaging currently makes up 19,000 tons of annual waste generated at the airport. This year, the Airport’s more than 120 food concessions were mandated to switch to biodegradable plates and packaging. Utensils and cups must be made from biopolymers capable of fully degrading within six months. Hartsfield-Jackson has placed more than 300 recycling bins throughout the passenger concourses. Next year, the airport will place disposal kiosks in the food courts to separate food waste from recyclables. Eventually, the Airport would build an education center adjacent to the compost plant that would be open for tours and classes.

Swine Waste Energy Dispute Fires Up

reensboro, NC – Plans to source out-of-state swine waste to North Carolina biogas-burning plants is energizing some hot debate, according to a Greensboro.com article. North Carolina law requires electric companies to use small amounts of swine-based fuel in their operations. This provision of the law was written to encourage renewable energy innovation and new businesses. So, when Duke Energy announced it wanted to purchase fuel from out-of-state for its natural gas-powered Dan River and Buck power plants, the state’s Pork Council spoke up, arguing that North Carolina has plenty of hog farms and swine waste-based gas suppliers. The problem is that the biogas from out-of-state suppliers costs less, according to Duke. The company wants the Utilities Commission to designate the Dan River and Buck plants as “renewable energy facilities.” This classification would allow Duke to source biofuel from outside the state and meet its legal requirement for using swine gas. The company already has been negotiating with hog-waste refiners in Missouri and Oklahoma to pipe the gas to North Carolina. Meanwhile, in-state companies are working on innovations, such as turning swine waste into solid forms that could be used in existing plants that now burn poultry or wood waste. Optima KV, a Wilmington company submitted a “petition to intervene” to the Utilities Commission, stating that it plans to invest up to $70 million in North Carolina waste-to-energy projects. Public hearings are to be held this fall.

14 Soil & Mulch Producer News September / October 2015

he Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss Association (CSPMA), whose members represent approximately 95 percent of all North American peat production, recently announced the results of its the 2015 harvest season. A survey of CSPMA members was conducted on August 31 regarding the status of their 2015 Actual Harvest (including an estimate of what can be expected to be harvested for the remainder of the season) as a percentage of their 2015 Expected Harvest. According to CSPMA, the harvest season has been adequate but the overall lack of a strong harvest may challenge peat availability. The Prairie Provinces (Manitoba 98%, Saskatchewan 88% & Alberta 94%), experienced early favorable weather conditions and a strong start to the year. This helped to minimize periodic negative weather related conditions during the balance of the harvest season and the harvest numbers are said to be close to achieving expected yields. According to CSPMA, Québec’s North Shore (at 52% yield), and South Shore (at 72% yield) are well below expectations. This is primarily due to a later start and continuous, often heavy rain throughout the balance of the season, said the association. The association added that in the Maritime Provinces (New Brunswick [NB] & Prince Edward Island [PEI]), the largest peat producing regions in Canada, the industry has achieved its expected harvest volumes: (NB North 98% yield, NB South 94% yield and PEI 88% yield). More favorable weather conditions allowed for longer stretches of harvesting and a normal harvest year. CSPMA says further adjustments to the 2015 harvest report may be made, depending on the ability to harvest during the remaining fall season. Currently, due to a relatively low entry inventory level and regional harvest shortages, the supply of product particularly from the East may suffer. Customers may see product from non-regional shipping points and, as a result, higher transportation costs may occur.

Keynote Speakers Announced for COMPOST2016 Conference

elebrity gardener Joe Lamp’l and Environmental Protection Agency Assistant Administrator Mathy Stanislaus will inspire and inform the composting industry with compost use and the organics recycling regulatory outlook at COMPOST2016 in Jacksonville, FL Jan. 25-28, 2016. “Two of the most important issues for our compost manufacturers and allied members are covered in the work of these two individuals,” said Rod Tyler, president of the USCC. “Whether you’re a municipality in charge of picking up organics or a manufacturer working on selling the compost you’ve made, regulation and consumer education are make-or-break issues for our members.” Stanislaus’s group heads the EPA’s Sustainable Materials Management approach, a change emphasizing recovery of resources over disposal methods. Organics recycling will also be a critical component of EPA’s new 50% goal for reduction of food scraps. Lamp’l is the host of the popular Public Broadcasting System gardening show, “Growing a Greener World,’ and has served as USCC’s celebrity spokesperson for the past year. He is an advocate of tested, certified STA compost and compost for many applications. The US Composting Council’s mission is to represent the compost manufacturers and their suppliers, collectors, researchers, testers and educators. COMPOST2016, the 24th annual gathering and tradeshow of this industry community, advances the mission by educating attendees on best practices, current technology and the regulatory environment. To learn more about the world’s largest recycling Conference and Tradeshow, visit www.compostingcouncil.org/compost2016.

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September / October 2015 Soil & Mulch Producer News 15

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Mulch Producer NEWS

Anaerobic Digestion Plants to Help States Meet Recycling Goals

erris, CA – CR&R Waste and Recycling Services says it will have a $100 million anaerobic digester complex up and running by early 2016, according to a WasteDive. com article. CR&R’s digester will be able to process 84,000 tons of waste each year, while creating natural gas to power almost half of the trucks in the company’s trash hauling and streetsweeping fleet. CR&R already has been collecting yard waste from eight surrounding communities in addition to commercial clients in Riverside. A California law passed in 2014 requires certain businesses, multifamily dwellings and local jurisdictions to implement organic waste recycling programs beginning in 2016. The law spells requires local governments to have recycling programs and composting facilities in place so that the state can achieve a 75% reduction of waste going to landfills by 2020.

Waste Management Lowers Food Waste Collection Rates in Oakland

akland, CA – Restaurateurs here expressed outrage over food waste collection fees this summer when they learned about rate hikes ranging from 80 to 120 percent, an EastBayExpress.com article reports. The City of Oakland and Waste Management signed a franchise agreement in July with Waste Management that included commercial composting. Previously, restaurants were free to choose any waste hauler. In response to the complaints, the Oakland City Council negotiated lower rates that put commercial composting fees 20 percent higher than regular trash. The move rankled local environmental advocates and others who warned that higher composting rates would incentivize single stream collection and discourage food waste recycling. In September, the city and Waste Management renegotiated the contract terms, resulting in composting rates for businesses that are 30 percent lower than equivalent trash rates through July 2016 and then 20 percent lower than trash rates for the rest of the contract. Waste Management agreed to lower the rates in exchange for removing a local customer service call center from the franchise agreement, according to a city spokesperson. Restaurateur, Gail Lillian, has been a leading advocate for fairer composting rates. While reducing composting prices below trash rates is a step in the right direction, she says, city council should not commit to the rate being any more than 70 percent of the regular trash rate.

Oregon Wood Waste Landfill Soon to Become Park Land

pringfield, OR – Plans are underway to make hiking and mountain bike trails on 135 acres once used for dumping wood waste, RegisterGuard. com reports. A landfill, which was created by forest products conglomerate, Weyerhaeuser, and used for about 30 years, is set to become part of the 700-acre Thurston Hills Natural Area. The company capped the site with earth in 1982 and closed the facility three years later. Since then, the Oregon state Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has regulated the site under a closure permit it issued to Weyerhaeuser. Once DEQ completes its evaluation, the land will become part of a district park. This year, Weyerhaeuser replaced the old dirt-andgrass landfill cap with a less-porous, synthetic cover that repels heavy rainfall and allows leachate to seep out. The company also improved the drainage system so that it captures the stormwater that will run off the synthetic cover. The upgrades are intended to reduce Willamalane’s costs when it takes over ownership and operation of the landfill in February 2017 and also to protect the park district from legal liability related to past contamination. Weyerhaeuser has agreed to provide $10 million in liability insurance for 10 years to protect the park district from claims in the event the landfill contaminated neighboring properties. The park district paid $3.6 million for 106 acres of Weyerhaeuser’s wooded upland property and a short logging haul road. It received at no cost an additional 30 acres of lowlands, which includes the 18-acre landfill.

Reach more than 5,000 mulch, topsoil and compost producers/resellers, nationwide. Advertise in Soil & Mulch Producer News. Call Rick or Donna at 440-257-6453.

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Wood Products Industry Releases Reuse Wood Website

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he American Wood Council (AWC) and Canadian Wood Council (CWC) have partnered with Building Materials Reuse Association (BMRA) to develop an online North American directory outlining reuse and recycling options for wood and wood products. The website can be found at: ReuseWood.org. “For wood products, there has historically been a lack of awareness of the opportunities to recycle and reuse wood products, and thereby extend their useful life. We are aiming to change that,” said AWC President & CEO Robert Glowinski. “Our industry wants to do its part when it comes to the full life-cycle impact of our products. It’s our hope that this directory will help educate builders, designers and consumers on the many opportunities to salvage, recycle or reuse wood products, in turn reducing waste.” “Various construction sector stakeholders are increasingly being called upon to balance functionality and cost objectives with reduced environmental impacts on the built environment.” explained CWC President Michael Giroux. “This online resource is one of the ways the wood industry is taking ownership in the areas of reuse and recycle – affirming the renewable qualities of wood and wood products, and assisting the design/construction communities in reaching their green objectives.” Features of the website include: • The business directory is accessible via both map and list, with easy sorting capabilities according to target categories (location, services provided, etc). • Individual listing pages show the contact information, location and available services for each business. • The sustainable wood guide includes useful information and articles on the different wood products and the opportunities for wood reuse or recycling. “The demand for reclaimed wood products has been steadily increasing as consumers recognize and value the look, feel, functionality and cost of reused wood in products such as flooring, furniture, structural timbers and more. The North American Wood Reuse and Recycling Directory will connect demand and supply to ensure the continued growth of this reclaimed wood market, while simultaneously keeping thousands of tons of wood out of landfills,” said BMRA Executive Director Anne Nicklin.

Prison Land Viewed for LargeScale Composting in Ohio

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18 Soil & Mulch Producer News September / October 2015

rafton, OH – A NorthCoastNow.com article reports that The Lorain County Solid Waste Management District and Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections have begun discussing plans to build a composting facility on prison-owned land. The composting center would be enclosed and would process yard, agriculture and food wastes. Formal plans have not been submitted to the county commissioners to date, according to the Solid Waste Management District, but a state-of-the-art design to minimize odors would be a foremost consideration. An Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections spokesperson says that the proposed site for the recycling facility, Grafton Correctional Complex, has roughly 1,100 acres of farmland. The 25-acres being considered for the project previously served as pastureland for livestock. Eight composting facilities are operational at prisons in Ohio, six of which were built to handle a combined 1.9 million pounds of food waste annually.

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Preparing For What’s Next 2015 Mulch & Soil Council

Annual Meeting Please join us for the 44th Annual Mulch & Soil Council meeting

This year’s meeting will provide you with the essential tools and information you need in Preparing for What’s Next in the mulch & soil market for the coming year: Packaging Materials, Business Software, Fire Issues, Peat Moss Forecast, Planning for Economic Change, Growing Media, Social Media and more.

Members and non-members are invited to participate

When & Where? DoubleTree Hotel 60 S Ivanhoe Blvd. Orlando, FL 32804

For Details Visit: www.mulchandsoilcouncil.org

Save the Date!!! October 21- 22, 2015

Are you Prepared ?

September / October 2015 Soil & Mulch Producer News 19

Product/Equipment Profiles

Dust Control Technology Offers Trailer-Mounted Dust Suppressor with Dedicated Power Source

n re s p o n s e to customer i n p u t , Dust Control Te c h n o l o g y (DCT) designed the DustBoss® DB-60 FusionTM -a powerful suppression system with an efficient diesel generator -- which can be hauled to job sites that lack a convenient power source. The DB-60 Fusion forces water through a circular stainless steel manifold with 30 atomizing spray nozzles, then launches millions of tiny droplets with a powerful 25 HP fan that produces 30,000 CFM (849.50 CMM) of air flow. Atomized mist droplets of 50 to 200 microns in size are thrown out in a 200 foot (60 meter) cone at an adjustable 0 to 50° elevation angle, capturing airborne dust particles and dragging them to the ground. The unit is paired with a 45 KW gen set featuring a John Deere Tier III Flex engine featuring a 100-gallon fuel tank, allowing up to 24 hours of runtime. The efficient diesel engine delivers 480 Volts (60 Hz) with a full load current of 46 amps. For more information, contact Dust Control Technology at (309) 693-8600 or info@dustboss.com or visit www.dustboss.com.

Rotochopper Launches Slow Speed Shredder Line

otochopper is launching a new line of industrial slowspeed shredders. The first model in this new line, the HTS-2, is an aggressive dual shaft shredder designed to pre-process stumps, commingled C & D, railroad ties, and other forms of mixed or contaminated waste. The HTS-2 shredder minimizes the costs of turning challenging feedstocks into end produc ts like compost, landscape mulch, and boiler fuel. By reducing m a i n t e n a n c e costs and increasing total uptime, the HTS-2 shredder maximizes the value of raw materials that pose problems for high-speed grinders. The HTS-2 simplifies operation and maintenance with a user-friendly design that keeps your shredder in sync with the rest of your processing equipment. The open shredding table allows dirt, stones, and other abrasives to easily pass, reducing wear rates. Grease points and other routine maintenance areas are easily accessible. The HTS-2 shredder is available with diesel or electric power units from 400 to 630 hp, in stationary, portable, or track-mounted configurations. For more information, contact Rotochopper at (320) 548-3586 or info@rotochopper.com or visit www.rotochopper.com.

20 Soil & Mulch Producer News September / October 2015

Komptech Introduces the New Multistar S3 New Generation Star Screen

uilt on a trailer chassis, the Multistar S3 machine has a small footprint while still offering mobility for service providers or multi-site use. Just like the larger star screen models, the S3 can process a large range of materials from compost to green waste to bark, chips and pre-shredded wood waste. Almost all the options on the larger machines are available on the S3, including wind-sifting, screen deck variations, switch from three to two fractions, hopper extensions and more. The Multistar S3 machine, with a hopper capacity of up to 4.5 cubic yards, provides continuous operation, while large screen decks allow the machine to process between 125-200 yards per hour, depending upon application. The S3 has Komptech’s patented CLEANSTAR®, a simple and effective self-cleaning system for the screening decks, keeps throughput and separation performance high, despite variations in input material. As with Komptech’s other star screens, setting the desired particle size is straightforward and done with one touch from the control panel. All components are electrically powered, from grid power or with the on-board diesel generator. For more information, contact Komptech Americas, LLC at (720) 890-9090 or info@komptechamericas.com or visit www.komptechamericas.com.

Screen USA Introduces the Newest Model to Their Trommel Screen Line-up

h e SCREEN U S A TROM512 was developed to fill a niche in the screening market and has many u n i q u e features. Screen USA’s TROM512 machine is extremely heavy-duty and has accessibility, including two large hinged doors that open up on each side to give complete access to the trommel screen and drive system. In addition to the screen door, this machine offers full access to the engine area, as there are three access doors (one on each side). Lastly, the TROM512 was designed with access doors for all bearings, enabling easy maintenance. The SCREEN USA TROM512 is equipped with a 3.2 yard hopper, 39” wide variable speed feeder, 5’-0 x 12’-0 trommel screen, and a built-on fines conveyor. An optional built-on overs conveyor is also available. A 60 HP CAT Engine is at the heart of the machine. This trommel is offered on either a wheel or track mount system. For further information on this machine, Screen USA Inc. can be reached at (770) 433-2440 or rick@screenusa.net.

Soil

Two Biomass Power Plants Slated for Alabama

thens, GA – Alabama-based GreenFuels Holding Company has cleared an initial hurdle toward building two of the largest wood-burning plants in the United States, reports OnlineAthens.com. The Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) has approved GreenFuel’s application for a 79 megawatt plant and is now considering the holding company’s application for a 58-megawatt plant. According to documents filed with the EPD, the two plants together would burn about a million tons of construction and demolition material and produce nearly 140 megawatts of electricity annually. Moody’s reports that construction is to be financed by $225 million in notes to be issued by Georgia Renewable Power LLC, which is owned by GreenFuels, and Georgia Power Finance Corp. GreenFuels will sell the electricity to the Georgia Power Company and Duke Power Company. The projects will help Georgia meet sustainability goals, but environmentalists are viewing the plans with skepticism. Ecologist Mary Booth of the Partnership for Policy Integrity, an energy policy advocacy group, refers to biomass as “the new coal” because it results in the same pollutants as coal plants -- sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and hydrochloric acid. In a 2014 report, Booth wrote that biomass plants are allowed to emit twice the pollution of an equivalent coal plant. In both applications, GreenFuels has requested the EPD to approve upper limits of 249 tons per year for key pollutants. Booth is questioning GreenFuel’s claim that it will not exceed pollutant limits specified in the applications. Engineers calculated expected annual maximum carbon monoxide emissions for the 79-megawatt plant at 224 tons per year, and the same amount of nitrogen oxide; 106.5 tons of sulfur dioxide; 60.6 tons of volatile organic compounds and 16 tons of hazardous air pollutants, including 8.1 tons of hydrogen chloride. The 58-megawatt plant’s projected maximum pollution numbers are similar: 224 tons of carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide per year; 85.8 tons of sulfur dioxide; 47.7 tons of volatile organic compounds and 21.6 tons of hazardous air pollutants, including 8.1 tons of hydrogen chloride. The EPD has approved permits for eight or nine such plants over the past several years, but only two have actually been built and became operational.

Mulch Producer NEWS

Ohio Considers Animal Waste at Compost Facility

oungstown, OH – According to Vindy.com, Pioneer Site Services LLC has registered plans with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA) to build a Class III composting facility in Mahoning County. The proposed recycling facility, which eventually would accept manure, hay and corn husks, is located in a rural area near sources of agricultural waste. Pioneer is now in talks with state, county and local governments to obtain preliminary approvals. In a letter to Pioneer Site Services, Ohio EPA outlined requirements for the facility, including access roads, surface water monitoring and runoff management, and also listed the permissible bulking agents or additives. The bulking agents would be wood chips, straw, clean and untreated wood, sawdust, compostable containers and shredded newspaper, cardboard or brush. The permissible additives would be urea, bacterial or fungal inoculum, crushed eggshells and earthworms. Mahoning County currently has several Class IV composting facilities, but they are authorized to take only yard waste, which includes leaves, grass clippings and brush. The Class III Pioneer site would be limited to 135,000 square feet, or a little more than three acres and would be inspected routinely by the county health department

September / October 2015 Soil & Mulch Producer News 21

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Mulch Producer NEWS

Bandit Industries Adds Three New Dealers

USDA Permit Process Holds Up Composters

andit Industries recently added to its network of dealers in North America with the addition of three new dealers. According to the company, all locations will offer Bandit® equipment as well as support and service. According to Bandit, these new dealers and locations will further increase the quality of service and support Bandit customers receive in Georgia, Alabama, and the northwestern United States, carrying the latest large and small Bandit equipment. They are as follows: Southland Machinery is central and northern Alabama’s source for construction equipment sales, service and parts – and now Bandit small equipment. Southland specializes in excavators, skid steers, wheel loaders, telehandlers, rough terrain and industrial forklifts, backhoe loaders, offhighway dump trucks, and Bandit hand-fed chippers and stump grinders. FMI Equipment is a locally-owned small business serving eastern Washington, northern Idaho and western Montana. It is a fully authorized dealer for Terex Compact, Takeuchi, Echo/Shindaiwa, Scag, Exmark and Bandit hand-fed chippers and stump grinders. With over 100 years of combined experience in logging, compact equipment, construction, and landscape industries, they are more than prepared to handle their customers’ equipment needs. Yancey Bros. Co. is the source of large Bandit equipment for the state of Georgia, from the Appalachians to the Atlantic. In business for more than 100 years and more than 20 dealer locations, Yancey Bros. has strived to offer the highest level of customer dedicated products and services available. They remain committed to offering equipment and support to keep up with their customers’ changing needs. Yancey Bros. will offer Bandit’s complete lines of whole tree chippers, forestry mowers, and The Beast® horizontal grinders. Learn more about Bandit’s complete lineup of machines and find a dealer near you! Visit www.banditchippers.com or call 1-800-952-0178.

unnyside, WA – Loads of green waste will have to be sent to landfill instead of two Yakima County composting centers while the state Department of Agriculture irons out details for moving the material from quarantined zones, reports NBCRightNow.com. “The Department of Agriculture set it up so that if a composter is taking green waste from a quarantined area to a pest free area you had to get a special permit, but right now there is no criteria for the special permit,” Vern Redifer, Public Service Director with Yakima County Waste Management, explained. The two composters that accept green waste from Yakima, Natural Selection Farms and Royal Organic Products, are in a holding pattern while the new special permits are prepared. “In the short term we’re just going to have to treat the green waste as garbage and bury the rest of it in the landfill with the rest of the garbage,” Redifer said.

Screen Machine Industries Hires National Sales Director

creen Machine Industries recently announced the addition of Jody Beasley as National Sales Director for the USA & Canada. Jody comes to SMI with 18 years of industry experience related to the Bobcat, Doosan and Ditch Witch product lines. Roles have included retail and wholesale credit management, financial sales, dealership management, district sales management, new dealer recruitment, and channel enhancement positions. According to the company, Beasley brings key leadership, experience, insight, and collaborative entrepreneurship with him. Jody is relocating himself and his family to the Columbus, Ohio area from his current residence in Texas.

hogzilla@cwmill.com www.cwmill.com

www.hogzilla.com 22 Soil & Mulch Producer News

September / October 2015

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September / October 2015 Soil & Mulch Producer News 23

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VOL. IX NO. 5

sep / oct 2015

Inside This Issue

Mulch Manufacturers Continue to Feel Heat from Wood Pellet Industry PAGE 1 The Great Deception: A Review of the Environmental Defense Fund’s Top 10 Global Warming Lies PAGE 6 Chips Are Up for Successful Brush Collection Program PAGE 12 Oregon Wood Waste Landfill Soon to Become Park Land PAGE 16 Wood Products Industry Releases Reuse Wood Website PAGE 18 USDA Permit Process Holds Up Composters PAGE 22

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