Here in beautiful BC the provincial goverment is turning over a new green leaf - or at least that's the spin they're putting out.

I attended a public meeting last week at which the minister of forests sat beside the energy minister and referred to the waste of wood in the forest industry as 'disgraceful' and 'unacceptable'.

He indicated that if he's not satisfied with the response to a call for proposals to use the waste wood by the major players [i.e Canfor, Louisiana Pacific, Interfor and West Fraser - directly or through jv's] he is prepared to introduce legislation within a couple months that will turn that wood over to those who will use it. He also indicated the government's particular preference for converting this fibre into 'clean energy'.

Considering the situation in the forests in BC beetle-killed wood plays into this in the short-term but, once this supply is consumed it'll be a long time before any useful timber will be available in those parts of the province affected...This will leave 2 sources of sustainable fibre in BC - one on Vancouver Island and the other in Northeast BC [where there is plenty of nice, juicy aspen and spruce - both unaffected by the pine beetle and both prime targets for ethanol extraction as I understand the technology].

Anybody know of a company who has made reference to ethanol production in this part of the world??? IMHO it looks like the pieces are available to make this a viable proposition...