Leftover logs from Muskrat Falls headed to China
Leftover logs from Muskrat Falls now headed to China
A forestry company that’s selling off the leftover wood from the construction of the Muskrat Falls recently lined up a new buyer for the product.
JP Forestry and Environmental Inc. out of Corner Brook, in partnership with the Innu Nation, announced in August of 2020 they would be chipping approximately 400,000 cubic metres of wood that had been harvested between 2013-2015 for the megaproject and selling it as biomass for the European markets.
Greg Penney, one of the owners of JP Forestry, said an opportunity came about with a Chinese buyer who wanted to buy the logs, unchipped, and it seemed like a great fit.
“It’s not what we were looking at initially but it’s a good opportunity,” he said. “(The Chinese buyer) wants the whole logs, trimmed down, whatever is suitable for their needs.”
Penney said there will still be a lot of wood chipped, both the logs that aren’t appropriate for the Chinese buyer and leftover wood from the logs being cutting to size. That wood will be sent to a U.K. buyer to use as biomass.
The change in focus from
exclusively chipping to logging and chipping doesn’t impact the plans the company has to hire people in the region, Penney said, with about 80 people needed for the operation.
He said they plan to have all the Muskrat wood done this summer. After that the company has a seven-year contract with the Innu Nation for further harvesting in the area, with talks of a further five years thereafter.
The company had previously announced the second phase of the project involves the harvest of up to 185,000 cubic metres of timber per year.
“We have long-term plans in the area,” he said. “We’ve got a great relationship with
the Innu, they’ve been a great partner and we’re excited to move ahead.”
LOCATION CHANGED
The company had initially announced it would build a dock and operate out of Wilbourne Bay south of Happy Valley-goose Bay but since then the plans have changed. Penney said they reached a deal with the Woodward Group of Companies and will now be shipping from the commercial dock in the central Labrador town.
“We won’t be working out of Wilbourne Bay. We have no plans to operate out of it whatsoever,” he said.
Cabin owners in the region had expressed concern when the company announced its intentions to build a dock in the area.
Jeff Lyall, one of those cabin owners, said he’s happy to hear the plans have changed.
“It never made sense to me to build a dock, at the cost of that, when there were other places available to do it,” he said. “This works better for everyone.”
Lyall said he’s relieved the operation isn’t going ahead in the area used by many for recreation, but he wants to go a step further and make sure it doesn’t happen in the future.
“I’m not going to stop until I’m sure nothing else is going there,” he said. “It should be a protected area, the whole area around it. There are lots of other places for stuff like this, I don’t want anyone setting up here.”