Ahhhh, do not be so sure of this. For those people who look to tomorrow , but no firther, then this story is short of being news-worthy, because , yes, the immediate product will be headed to Europe and possibly some to South America. But for those North American pellet burners with vision, this is something to rejoice in! You see, right now, in North Anerica, the mainstream of wood pellet sales are done in packaged bags which get fed into space heating stoves for residential use. But the real vision and benefit of wood pellets is to have a staple of central heating residential pellet boilers as well as industrial and utility applications as well. Right now, the cost of converting a home to a wood pellet central heater is cost prohibitive. That is because the upfront cost versus the savings is not significant enough to justify the expendature for most North American homes. But, if (and when) oil prices not only go up, but stay up, there will be a much different outlook on what the cost savings is. Right now, the biggest hurdle to overcome once you get past the up front cost, is having a stable and reliable supply of wood pellet fuel, which is geographically close enough to ensure cost effective bulk delivery. Currently there are only a handful of mills that offer this service and unfortunately, their quality may not be up to par for many end users. But having a mill in Maine, with this volume of production, will help ensure that when the central units start getting installed, and the utility companies begin to convert, that the production, supply and infrastructure are already in place. The only difference being that these pellets will then get loaded onto dry tankers for domestic use and not into containers for our dear friends across the pond.
I like the jobs in Northern Ontario but I wouldn't mind some pellets too!
All it takes is one senator in the company's back pocket to allocate the pork to built the infrastructure to make it accessable. I could be wrong, and I am OK admitting it when I am, but with our country's current administration, there is no way in hell that something as petty as other people's money would get in the way of spending!
(sorry mike)
