Hawaiian Mill Hopes For Second Chance

As TradeWinds LLC continues to explore building a $50 million veneer mill on Hawaii's Hamakua Coast, the owner of shuttered Hawaiian EcoWoods, Ookala, envisions erecting an eco-industrial park on the ruins of his operation that closed two years ago.

Eric Renz is seeking $500,000 starting capital, money he believes will help Eco-Woods recover from its financial plight. He said the mill, which would provide wood for houses, furniture, crates and other uses, would be one of several wood-related tenants, including a nursery, a woodworking shop and Forest Solutions, a forestry consulting firm.

"He has a good location and solid concepts for the market and products," says Andrea Gill, executive director of Hawaii Forestry Industry Association. "If produced in a sustained quantity, he can build a market share."

Still, even Gill admits that Renz might have overextended himself when he tried to run the operation in its previous'life. "The size of the facility, its swift expansion, it was too big a step," she notes.

Renz has been trying to revive the operation since its closure in 1999, but now with the proposed TradeWinds mill, his plan might acquire more support, particularly among locals and environmental groups that are against the TradeWinds project.

"If you want to save the tropical rainforests, boycott tropical fruits and vegetables and buy tropical woods instead, because then people will grow trees."

- Patrick Moor?, Greenpeace co-founder

Some forestry and estate experts disagree, however. "It's ludicrous to even consider Renz in the same light as the other proposal, " says John Ray, president of Hawaii Leeward Planning Commission. "His operation will benefit if we can get TradeWinds to come here."

Sierra Pacific Suing PG&E

Sierra Pacific Industries. Anderson. Ca., is suing Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and the California Independent System to obtain court approval to sell power from four California cogeneration plants on the open market instead of to PG&E.

Sierra Pacific's cogeneration facilities use wood waste to generate electricity at its lumber mills in Lincoln, Quincy, Burney and Susanville, Ca., which, combined, produce 54.5 megawatts at full capacity, enough power for roughly 54,500 homes.

Although Sierra Pacific has sold power from its cogeneration plants to PG&E for 17 years, the firm claimed the right under California commercial law to cancel its contracts after PG&E defaulted in January on millions of dollars in payments it owed for the power.

Several days after the suit was filed, a state Superior Court judge extended a temporary restraining order enabling Sierra Pacific to sell power on the open market.

PG&E is said to owe SP $19.8 million, according to Pacific Gas Bankruptcy News, making the firm PG&E's 20th largest unsecured creditor.

Tribe Looking To Buy Mill

Colville Indian Tribe members have offered $6 million for a shuttered sawmill in Omak. Wa.. owned by Quality Veneer & Lumber Inc., Seattle, Wa.

Members of the Business Council of the Colville Confederated Tribes and the board of the Colville Tribal Enterprise Corp. want to reopen the mill as Colville Indian Power and Veneer, a facility that would make veneer and generate power. The tribe, which already operates a sawmill in Omak as Colville Indian Precision Pine Co., said the operation would employ 7l people with an annual payroll of roughly $2.I million.

Last fall, Quality Veneer closed mills in Omak, Wa., and Hoquiam, and Odell, Or., and filed for Chapter 1 I bankruptcy protection after losing $5.1 million in the first half of 2000, according to court records. A bankruptcy court judge awarded control of the business to a trustee, who is selling some of the company's assets.

The beleaguered firm paid $19.5 million in 1998 for the Omak mill, which closed when the previous owner sought bankruptcy protection. Last summer, Quality Veneer's lenders said the mill had a $4.3 million liquidation value.

Cal Cedar SawmillTo Close.

Citing declining profits, internal inventory policies and less global demand for incense cedar pencil casings, California Cedar Products Co., McCloud. Ca.. will close its

Roseburg,

Or., sawmill July I, according to manager Charles W. Moss.

Depending upon log availability, the mill will continue to operate through June 28. Although 55 fulltime employees will lose their jobs with the shutdown, several workers will remain through Sept. 30 to help ship commercial lumber orders.

Incense cedar lumber will continue to be manufactured in McCloud.

Enviros To Sue Over Logging

Environmentalists and commercial fisherman have filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue the state of Oregon over logging policies the groups consider harmful to the endangered coho salmon.

The filing, required under the Endangered Species Act, claims state officials are endangering the fish by allowing logging and road building in regions too close to streams.

The agencies involved, including the Pacific Rivers Council, Audubon Society of Portland and Pacific Coast Federation of Fisherman's Associations, maintain they will seek an injunction in July if the state does not alter its practices, which, if granted, could result in significant timber harvest reductions.

Yard Fire Reveals Drug Lab

A $500,000 fire at Easton Lumber Co. and Butler Box & Stake. Easton. Ca., destroyed half of the 4-acre site, and uncovered an apparent methamphetamine laboratory, which led to the arrest of a lumberyard employee.

The cause of the May 2l blaze, which burned for more than three hours, has not been determined.

Although the arrested man, Rosindo Orozco. 21. lived in a mobile home near where firefighters discovered what turned out to be methamphetamine, owner Gareth Butler said police do not believe Orozco has anything to do with the illegal operation.

"They questioned him and could tell by his answers that he most likely has nothing to do with the drugs," Butler said, adding that Orozco was subsequently released. "Rosindo is a fine employee. He's very honest and is a hard worker."

Butler said police believe another unnamed employee, who also lived in the mobile home, is the prime suspect in the drug operation. He said the man, whom he called a combination handyman and night watchman, was on vacation in Mexico at the time of the fire and has not been heard from since. "I don't imagine we'll be hearing from him again," Butler said. "As for myself, I am totally innocent and the police seem to agree with me, thankfully."

While banling the blaze, firefighters found a suspicious looking 22-liter flask, according to Fresno County sheriff's sgt. Rick Hill. "They called us and we decided it was drug-related," he said, adding that he expects to make additional arrests.

Investigators eventually located about 50 gallons of methamphetamine solution in a detached garage, as well as two flasks, a pair of heating mantles and 30 l-gallon Coleman burners, Hill said, enough to produce about $500,000 of the drug.

"It looks to me as if they might have hidden the flasks and mantles, wrapped them in black plastic and buried them in shallow dirt," he said.

"The operation is in a very isolated area," Butler said. "lt appears that someone took advantage of that isolation to set up the lab."

Butler, who also owns Butler Box & Stake, Santa Ana, Ca., praised the efforts of two employees, brothers

Fernando and Jorges lbarra, whom he said worked diligently to help save the main building from the fire. "Those two hustled around with forklifts trying to diffuse the fire. They really deserve a lot of credit," he said. "It's a crazy thing, really, a double-whammy. You come up to appraise your business and find half of it burned down and then police tell you they found a drug operation there to boot."

Butler, who said the operation is "bouncing back," chuckled about business being "especially strong" the day after the fire. "Morbid curiosity, I suppose," he mused.

L-P Products SCS Certified

MDF and particleboard manufactured by Louisiana-Pacific have been certified by Scientific Certification Systems, Inc., for their recycled/recovered fiber content.

SCS conducted on-site inspections of select LP industrial plant facilities in California. Montana. Louisiana and Texas.

Certified particleboard produced in the Arcata. Ca.. and Missoula. Mt.. facilities have a 90Vo recycled and recovered wood fiber content level.

Lumber, plywood, round stock, poles, pilings. Agency stamped, preservative treated, fire retardant wood products.

Superior To Buy Sun Studs

Superior Lumber Co., Glendale, Or., has agreed to purchase Sun Studs, Roseburg, Or. The deal is set to close June 30.

Superior will operate the stud mill at full capacity, but not reopen the veneer mill, which closed May 18, according to Superior general manager Steve Swanson. Superior already produces veneer as well as plywood and dimensional lumber at its Glendale plant.

Swanson also owns and operates Swanson-Superior Forest Products, Noti, and a smaller facility in Junction City, Or, With the srud mill, says Swanson, "we're getting a new product that fits very well with our existing product line."

retary; Norma Gavotto, treasurer; Julia Keller, Keller Lumber Co., and Beverley Sperry, Washington Convention & Trade Center, directors.

Sperry also was honored as HooHoo-Ette of the Year and Denman as Lumberwoman of the Year.

Enviros Suspected In Fires

The radical environmental group Earth Liberation Front is suspected of setting separate fires that gutted a pair of hybrid tree-growing facilities in two Northwest states, authorities say.

The May 2l fires, which reportedly ignited at roughly the same time with practically identical timedelayed devices, ravaged Jefferson Poplar Farms, Clatskanie, Or., and the University of Washington Center for Urban Horticulture, Seattle, Wa.

The latter blaze caused about $3 million in structural damage, destroying laboratories and offices and consuming many rare and irreplaceable books. The Oregon fire produced at least $500,000 in destruction. No one was injured in either fire.

Toby Bradshaw, a University of

Washington research associate professor in plant genetics, called the Seattle fire "the work of ignorant cowards who don't understand how ecosystems really work," and said both incidents may have been set by eco-terrorists angry at efforts to raise fastgrowing poplar trees for the paper industry.

He said fast-growing hybrid poplar trees are five to l0 times as productive as forest-grown trees, as hybrids yield a significant amount of wood on a small area of land.

Authorities said Earth Liberation Front slogans were spray-painted at the Jefferson Poplar Farms fire, where two buildings and several vehicles were ruined. No similar graffiti was found at the horticulture center.

Although Portland, Or.-based ELF has not claimed responsibility for either fire, the group did admit to starting a Jan. 2 blaze that caused $400,000 in damage at Superior Lumber Co., Glendale, Or. (see Feb., p. 32), and also claimed responsibility for a 1998 fire that resulted in $12 million in damage at a Vail, Co., ski resort,

0ranize Supplies lnstantly

Organize and protect materials with the heavy duty Trlm Rack. lt assembles in less lhan one minute, with no tools required, to provide a neat working environment and save money by lessening damaged material. Durable 16-gauge, f -inch tube steel construction and oowder coat linish.

Sparks For Hoo Hoo Ettes

Lumberwomen gathered at the Nugget Hotel & Casino, Sparks, Nv., May 4-6 for the 39th annual National Hoo-Hoo-Ette convention.

During the event, Gayle Denman, Huttig Building Products, was installed as president; Iva May Noy, v.p.; Lynn Keller, Crown Pacific, sec-