Symposium news in the Ravalli Republic

Hamilton hosting bio-fuel symposium
by JENNY HARRIS - Ravalli Republic

For the first time in the history of the Bitterroot Valley, a symposium discussing the bio-fuel industry will take place this Saturday.

Sponsored by the Big Sky Coalition in conjunction with the Bitterroot National Forests and Ravalli County Commissioners, the day-long event will host a variety of speakers and topics related to energy sources, development, air quality and bio-energy opportunities.

The symposium is slated to discuss and explore the potential transformation of wood wastes into ethanol and methanol and burning them, in hopes of creating steam to generate electricity and heat.

Big Sky Coalition Director Sonny LaSalle said while the symposium has taken a lot of planning, he’s excited for the potential discussion.

“I think, if anything, the day will start an education process,” LaSalle said. “It will be great to pick up the ball, move forward and create new opportunities. The valley is 70 percent national forest and there’s a potentially very large economic benefit for the county, regarding materials. We’re excited at least to get the discussion going between a variety of people.”

Link to full article.

What is plasma conversion?

You'll find a full day of information about biomass and biofuels at the upcoming Biomass Symposium. We hope to see you there!

Biomass Symposium Agenda

You are invited to attend this free, informative event to be held Saturday, March 1, 2008 at the First Interstate Event Center, Fairgrounds RD, in Hamilton, Montana

• Sponsored by the Big Sky Coalition
• Co-sponsored by the Bitterroot National Forest and the Ravalli County Commissioners
• Moderator: Sonny LaSalle, Big Sky Coalition
  

Speakers and Topics

9:00-9:05 Welcome-Tom and Charlotte Robak, Big Sky Coalition

9:05–10:00 "BioEnergy Opportunities" Mark Knaebe: Forest Products Technologist, US Forest Service Technology Marketing Unit, Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, Wisconsin

10:05 –10:45 "Bio-Methanol: How Montana’s Energy Choices can Help Mitigate Global Climate Change and Produce Jobs" Kristiina Vogt: Professor of Ecosystem Management and co-coordinator of Forest Systems and Bio-Energy Program, University of Washington

10:50-11:30 "Woody Waste to Power Project" Dr Robert Topping: Director of the Western Energy Training Center, College of Eastern Utah

11:30-12:30 Lunch: "Energy Security and Clean Development for Montana and the Nation" Kevin Furey: Energy Development Officer, Energy Infrastructure Promotion and Development Office, Montana Department of Commerce. Lunch will be available for purchase on site from "Grumpy’s Bar B Que"

12:30-1:10 "From Forest to Market: Slash Utilization Processes On-Site" Pine Oil, Pellets, and Pyrolysis: Alarick Reibold: Research Engineer, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northern Arizona University

1:15-1:40 "Plasma-Conversion Technology- an Overview" Jay Toups: Staff Researcher, Writer and Webmaster, Big Sky Coalition

1:45-2:15 "What About the Air Quality in Ravalli County" Lee Jordan: Director, Ravalli County Environmental Health

2:20-3:00 "Local Success Stories"

• "Fuel for Schools" Tom Coston: Bitter Root RC&D
• "Grants For Fuel Reductions Through Thinning" Byron Bonney: Bitter Root RC&D
• "From Manure to Methane" Dan Huls: Huls Dairy

3:05-3:40 "25x25, America’s Energy Future" Bill Carlson: Principal of Carlson Small Power Consultants, Chairman of the USA Biomass Power Producers Alliance and Board, Member of the 25X25 Organization

3:45-4:15 "Algae to Bio-Diesel and Cellulosic Ethanol" Joseph LaStella: President of Greenstar Inc.

Communication Corrections

It has come to my attention there are some misperceptions about the Big Sky Coalition (BSC) running around in this "neck of the woods" and I will try to set the record straight. In my 42 years of being in the communications game I should not be surprised there are correction needs.

1. The BSC is only interested in large landscape scale forest thinning projects. Our stated objective of reducing fuel loading in the forest to reduce the chances of large catastrophic wildfires has been said and written over and over. It is our highest priority and that should be clear to everyone. We did adopt the 13 Principles of Restoration as the way to accomplish this objective, and those Principles make it quite clear that restoration involves more that just thinning the forest and we support those principles. There are varying levels of restoration needs in each watershed. Thinning and basal area reductions should produce the funding necessary to accomplish most of the needed restoration and that's the way it should be.

2. The BSC is trying to get the Forest Service to put out all fires so there is no smoke in the Valley. This is the one that bothers me the most. Yes, at our November 4th Rally there was discussion about people being tired of breathing smoke for 45 to 60 days, as they should be. I made it as clear as I could at the November 4th Rally and in newspaper articles, that we live in a fire dominant ecosystem and we cannot and should not put out all fires. The attempt to do that is one of the main reasons we are having so much trouble now with large uncontrollable fires. Principle 5 is Reestablish fire as a natural process on the landscape. We and other scientists are totally convinced that we cannot do this safely and with public acceptance without a significant reduction in fuel--usually through mechanical means.

3. The BSC has inferred that the Montana Forest Restoration Group and the two local committees are committed to large landscape level restoration projects. The BSC newsletter that I wrote does that and I am the one responsible for those statements. My rationale is: there is no practical way to achieve the Principles without doing large landscape level projects; you cannot (Principle 1) restore functioning ecosystems by enhancing ecological processes by analyzing and accomplishing 250 or 500 acre projects; you cannot (Principle 5) reestablish fire as a natural process on the landscape by analyzing and restoring small parts of the landscape. Quite a few of the Principles fit in this category, but the Bitterroot Committee has NOT made a commitment to any size project so, technically, I was in error for making those statements in the newsletter. I also made a common sense assumption that any project that has a significant cost will need to generate funds through the removal of trees that have value in order to pay for the other restoration needs. The Forest Service budgets are such that little money is available for these restoration projects. This assumption may prove to be false and time will tell as the committee moves forward.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope the misperceptions have been corrected.

Sonny LaSalle
Executive Director
Big Sky Coalition
sonny@bigskycoalition.org