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Miss Muggins Coffee and Fresh Donuts Vol. 13, Issue 17, January 10, 2009
Local entrepreneur's vision set to become reality
Local entrepreneurs Larry Lacroix on the left and René Tremblay of M&L Waste Management. By Jim Prince hat most p e o p l e considered an eyesore to be burned eventually; to one Chapleau entrepreneur those
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huge piles of slash wood waste left in the surrounding woodlands were a great o p p o r t u n i t y. A n opportunity, now in its final stages of realization, which, upon completion, will see Chapleau, enter the new world of Green Technology. L a u r e n t (Larry) Lacroix had already made his mark locally, after arriving here 1988 as the new owner of a bus line with contracts to transport local school
students. He subsequently served as a member of the Township Council, was an active member of the Rotary Club and the Snowmobile Club and most recently acquired the local bus line in neighboring Wawa. However, it was those piles of wood waste, and a burning desire to create jobs in a community which had seen hundreds of traditional forest jobs lost due to sawmill
closures, that led Lacroix to team up with another local entrepreneur, René Tremblay to form a new company, M&L Waste management. Partnered with some of the world's leading industrial companies tied to the b u rg e o n i n g g r e e n economy, the local businessmen are set to embark on a green project using woodfiber biomass as the primary woodstock designed to produce clean energy in the form of ten-megawatts of electricity to be sold to the provincial grid. The complex is to be located on the old A&L Lafrenière Lumber mill site, which has been vacant for several years. In production, the complex is expected to employ 34 direct jobs and an additional 100 spin off jobs and will represent a direct economic impact on Chapleau of approximately $2.5 million annually. The project will require a $56 million investment, half of that in Ontario. T h e B i o Energy Project had some creative beginnings, which were related during the recent project announcement at meeting of the local business and industry leaders.
L a c r o i x recalled that like so many of us, my wife and I love to drive around and take in all of Chapleau's natural beauty. At the same time they noticed all the slash left behind by the forest industry. “I started doing research on what we could use this waste for. It truly was a resource that we could use to develop a project.” Coincidentally, the Municipality was revamping its approach to economic development, away from the Chapleau Crown Game Preserve resulting from a provincial government decision to allow hunting (albeit restricted) there. This coupled with a downturn in the world economy and the resulting drop off in tourism conspired to remove the glow from the Game Preserve dream. This in turn led to Mayor Earle J. Freeborn's decision to form The Chapleau Economic Renewal Committee (CERC), which was supported by the municipal council. Its mission was to create an atmosphere conducive to attracting and promoting renewal opportunities within Chapleau in order to create jobs and new bus ines s . It recommended the
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Township Council provide “Investment Readiness Funds” to the newly formed M & L W a s t e Management, to enable it to explore the possibilities of its biomass project. In stepped local entrepreneur and engineer Bill Ivey who guided the company through its study and subsequent partnership with the other members of the new consortium. These members include SunBay Energy Corporation of Toronto, Toromont Cat, PRM energy systems of Arkansas and a company based in France, Europlasma SA. Under the proposal Toromont would be the operator of the plant. Speaking to the recent Chapleau gathering SunBay Managing Director Jordan Oxley said this project is really going to happen.”Toromont won't put their name to a project that will fail,” adding “this project is a major achievement.”' It was noted Toromont has a long history in Northern Ontario with the heavy equipment and power generation systems that will be used in the Chapleau plant. At the same time Lacroix said the consortium has been Cont'd on P.4 NORTHERN HAUL... We do it all! Serving the north with Distinction since 1996 Martel Rd. P.O. Box 788 Chapleau, On POM 1K0 PH: 705-864-1095 FAX: 705--864-1110
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