Letter to the Editor

Biomass

The proposal to use wood burning biomass plants in Sioux Lookout and Lac Seul is misleading as stated in the article in the Sioux Lookout Bulletin dated Wednesday, December 19, 2018.  Live standing Birch trees are to be cut, chipped and hauled to the biomass plants for use in the two communities.

The definition of biomass when used for energy production is left over waste from forestry / logging and agricultural farming. If anyone is interested in seeing this kind of biomass I recommend you take a drive behind Hudson, the Kathlyn Lake Road, Highway 642 east, and Highway 17 east from Dinorwic to Thunder Bay. Those piles of wood waste on the side of the road from forestry/ logging are real biomass.

We should not be cutting live Birch trees to create biomass.  This is exploitation and unsustainable use of our natural resources. The Boreal forest is the largest carbon sequestering sink in the world, thought by many scientific minds and naturalists to be the lungs of the planet. How fortunate we are as Canadians that a large portion of it is located in Canada. If we are going to move forward to a green future should we not be putting a value on a live standing tree in the forest rather than a dead tree in a chip pile?

Remi Lorteau