Inside this issue

From the Editors

Wood Bio Conference Coming To Life

The 2020 Wood Bioenergy Conference & Expo was held March 10-11 in Atlanta. Do those dates mean anything to you? We sure remember them. Something called the coronavirus had just introduced itself to the United States. Atlanta reported its “first” case. This happened as we were in the middle of conducting the Wood Bio conference. Our event squeezed through, with no cases reported, but we all know the rest of the coronavirus story with its human carnage. Meanwhile, the trade show industry came to an immediate halt. Ultimately, some of those shows attempted virtual renditions, but they fell far short.

Now we are breathing easier, thanks to the marvels of modern medicine, and in-person events are coming back. By next spring, it appears we will be wide open, and most people will have the confidence to venture out.

So it would appear that the next Wood Bioenergy Conference & Expo, scheduled for March 29-30, 2022 again at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center in Atlanta, will have good health and timing on its side. As host of the event, Wood Bioenergy magazine and its personnel view this upcoming event as not only another great presentation of the developments in the wood to energy industry, but also as a celebration, a coming out party if you will, and also a remembrance of two years earlier, when the world entered the fight of its life.

From Left: Rich Donnell, Editor-in-Chief; Jessica Johnson, Senior Associate Editor; Patrick Dunning, Associate Editor; David Abbott, Senior Associate Editor; Dan Shell, Senior Editor

We’ve been busy putting together our lineup of keynoters, and we’re very pleased to report commitments from a half dozen of the leading players in this industry. Frankly they don’t get any better than:

● Matt White, Executive Vice President, North America Operations, Drax

● Thomas Meth, Executive Vice President, Co- Founder, Enviva

● Harold Arnold, President, Fram Renewable Fuels

● William Strauss, President and Founder, Future- Metrics

● Pete Madden, President & CEO, U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities

● Amanda Hamsley Lang, COO & Vice President, FORISK Consulting

They’ll provide a mix of perspectives ranging from the status and future supply of timberlands, to the latest in global industrial wood pellet production and trade, to the developing policies behind it all. And more keynoters will be announced soon.

Meanwhile the conference will have numerous technical presentations on raw materials, quality control, fire prevention, air emissions treatment, project development and advanced wood energy products. And approximately 70 equipment and technology exhibitors will be stationed in the Grand Ballroom.

As the slogan for this seventh Wood Bioenergy Conference & Expo proclaims, “The Future Is Bright!”

Cover Story

North Idaho Energy Logs Stays True To Roots

Article by David Abbott, Senior Associate Editor, Wood Bioenergy

MOYIE SPRINGS, Idaho – Located in Boundary County, about 30 miles south of the Canadian border, the headquarters of North Idaho Energy Logs sports both the U.S. and Canadian flags. “That’s a common thing in the community,” says Clark Fairchild, co-owner of the company and general manager at this facility. “We do pull quite a bit of shavings and sawdust out of Canada.”

Fairchild has two partners, Rob Pluid and Tom Oxford, both of whom are also in other businesses. Pluid runs a logging operation while Oxford’s Oxford Inc. does municipal road work and dust control for several counties and some logging roads. Fairchild and plant manager Bob Warrell oversee the Moyie Springs plant day to day.