The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

By Don C. Brunell

Editor’s Note: Don Brunell is a regional business columnist who works out of Vancouver, Wash. This column will appear in newspapers throughout the state this week.

Here’s a switch! Rather than closing another pulp and paper mill, a new one is under construction right here in Washington.

Columbia Pulp’s plant on the Snake River will use a new technology that pulls cellulose out of the abundant straw left over from wheat and alfalfa harvests. The $184 million plant near Dayton is scheduled to open later this year. Traditionally, pulp comes from wood either grown speci...