WHAT HAPPENED IN NEWFOUNDLAND?

Active Energy, the company that Richard Spinks was CEO of for six years, has been actively trying to start up a plant in the Great Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland since 2017. While he no longer works for the company, Spinks oversaw a lot of that work as CEO.

That project has raised some skepticism because of the amount of time it has been taking to come to fruition. The company has promised to build a $19.7-million plant in Hawkes Bay and in November 2018 was authorized by the Newfoundland government to harvest 100,000 cubic metres annually in the Great Northern Peninsula. The province gave the company two five-year forestry permits. But to date, no wood has been cut and no building has been constructed.

PC MHA Pleaman Forsey raised concerns about the lack of action during the fall 2019 sitting of the Newfoundland House of Assembly.

“Twelve months have passed, no timber has been cut, no ground has been broken to build a plant,” he said according to a CBC article. “The people on the Northern Peninsula are wondering if this project will happen at all.” Newfoundland’s Fisheries and Land Resources Minister Gerry Byrne has maintained that the province is still in discussions with the company and remains hopeful.

In the meantime, Active Energy has run a successful test with a power plant in Utah and is now in the process of opening a facility in Lumberton, N.C., where they’ve purchased a building for $50 million. Channing Jones, director of the Robeson County Economic Development Commission, confirmed in a phone interview that Active Energy is active in the process of getting equipment set up and he expects it to be operational soon. At least some of the equipment is coming from the Utah site, which has been decommissioned as the company switches its focus to North Carolina.