Logging

As many as three potential buyers are emerging for Tembec's Pine Falls paper mill, but there don't appear to be solid offers for the struggling business.

On Wednesday, a former Tembec vice-president, J.P. Bradette, spoke to the mill's employees and the local chamber of commerce about his interest in purchasing the business.

"He (Bradette) was out to show that he is for real and he is serious and he's looking for support," said Ed Gassray, acting president of the Blue Water Chamber of Commerce. Bradette couldn't be reached for comment Thursday.

Tembec employees have also expressed interest in buying the plant, as has nearby Sagkeeng First Nation. But neither is close to making a formal offer.

Gassray said any potential buyer faces a big challenge, given a weak market for newsprint and a struggling North American economy. "If it was a strong market, it would be one thing. But when everything's weak it's a huge task," he said.

On Wednesday, the Manitoba Labour Board agreed to a union request to appoint an arbitrator to settle a contract between Tembec and the United Steelworkers union. The board's decision ended a four-and-a-half-month lockout involving more than 250 employees but the company has no intention of reopening the mill. The labour board's decision will, though, likely prompt the company to issue layoff notices, which will let workers apply for employment insurance benefits.

John Valley, a Tembec vice president designated to speak to the media about the Pine Falls operation, didn't return phone calls on Thursday.

Tembec announced during the lockout that the plant was up for sale. It said if a buyer wasn't found soon, the mill could be mothballed.

However, the union is still keen on having a new arbitrated contract in place for the future, said Cam Sokolowski, a mill employee and president of Steelworkers local 3-1375 at Pine Falls.

At the same time, Sokolowski said, the plant workers are also considering making an offer for the plant, although they're not very far in the process yet.

He claimed that Bradette is seeking union concessions as large or larger than those demanded by Tembec before the lockout Sept. 1. The Quebec-based forestry giant had proposed a 35 per cent cut in wages and benefits.

The union is working on an employee-based purchase plan that's "a little bit more viable for the employees," Sokolowski said.

Sagkeeng chief Donovan Fontaine said he told Tembec officials over Christmas that the band must be part of any group buying the mill, but he added he's still not convinced the band should buy it.

"That's the Catch-22," Fontaine said. "There isn't much time but we're still doing our due diligence."

Sagkeeng said with the dramatic decline in markets for the pulp and paper industry, any purchase of the mill has to have a plan that considers other markets and revenue streams.

Fontaine said Sagkeeng is actively working with the union, the community of Pine Falls and the province, adding he hopes a feasibility study will provide all the players with the right answers.

-- With files from Aldo Santin

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition January 15, 2010 A12

COPENHAGEN — The Bella Center was overflowing with incomprehensible acronyms this week, which often seems to obscure the important decisions under consideration.

There has been lots of talk of M.R.V. — that is, “Measurable Reportable and Verifiable,” a mantra used to describe the type of cuts and allocations of funding that all parties are demanding of each other — and from the A.O.S.I.S., or the Alliance of Small Island States.

But the worst acronym may well be L.U.L.U.C.F. (Land Use, Land Use Change, and Forestry) — and it hides a crucial issue.

The term refers to an agreement that covers forestry for developed countries that have pledged to reduce their emissions under the Kyoto Protocol – including some of world’s major logging countries, from New Zealand, Finland, Canada to Australia and Austria.

During the first commitment period of the Kyoto protocol, those reductions were voluntary. But after 2012, they may well be binding. And, as the developed countries have unveiled their plans for forestry at the Copenhagen talks, advocates have spied what they call a lot of “creative accounting,” according to Peg Putt, of the Wilderness Society of Australia.

As with any plan to reduce emissions, one key question is to establish a baseline. Under the Kyoto protocol, the baseline for factory emissions from industrialized countries was set at 1990. Now, a number of logging countries have proposed that the baseline for reduction should be set relative to the amount of logging projected to occur in the future, if the logging industry were allowed to grow as it is now.

In a deft bit of doublespeak, the countries call this method “a forward looking baseline.”

Environmental groups concerned about emissions from forestry call it “the logging loophole.” The result of this accounting strategy is that countries like New Zealand, Sweden, Finland and Austria would not have to reduce logging – and its emissions – nearly so much as other industries.

Indeed, with the loophole, New Zealand would actually get to increase its emissions 17 percent by 188 percent, according to calculations by the Climate Action Network. Switzerland and Norway and possibly France, have agreed to use a past baseline.

Ironically, especially in Europe, a lot of the new forest cutting will be used to provide wood for bioenergy. But isn’t that a good way to move away from fossil fuels?

Well, that depends, said Chris Henschel of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society and chair of the Climate Action Network’s working group on forestry.

“If you don’t do proper accounting – with the proper price for carbon – it’s hard to know,” he said. “With the loophole, the real emissions reductions are less than they say. You’re basically allowing them to have a second set of books.”

With the announced sale of the Tembec newsprint mill in Pine Falls, the Province of Manitoba will assist with the establishment of a community adjustment committee of workers and local leaders to work through economic challenges and opportunities facing the community, Labour and Immigration Minister Jennifer Howard announced today.

"The closure of the mill is a traumatic event for workers, their families and the community of Pine Falls," Howard said.  "We will do everything we can to help them cope with the impact."

Tembec announced today that it will put the mill up for sale.  The mill is the primary employer in the region.

"As well as working with the community to move forward, we are establishing a labour adjustment committee to help individual employees," Howard said.  "We are committed to working with the workers, the union and the company to help identify other employment opportunities."

The province will commit $1 million in support of activities and projects of the community adjustment committee.

Howard said Premier Greg Selinger will meet today with workers and area leaders to strike the committee and discuss options for support.

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Newly released government data uncovers woodland caribou living in an area between Thompson and The Pas that is scheduled for intensive logging operations. As suitable habitat for caribou in the area is limited, large-scale industrial forestry activities may lead to the demise of the local population.

The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society and the Manitoba Wilderness Committee are calling for a halt to logging operations in this area, and all intact caribou habitats, until the province can demonstrate that adequate measures have been put in place to ensure long-term caribou survival.

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