The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

STARBUCK - Three buses carrying community leaders, stakeholders, members of the media and other well-wishers left the fairgrounds last Wednesday for a one-hour tour of the Columbia Pulp Lyons Ferry Pulp Plant. The tour was followed by a celebration and reception at the fairgrounds and an evening celebration at Woody's Bar & Grill.

Eveleen Muehlethaler, a senior advisor at Columbia Pulp, was onboard Bus No.2 to give an overview of the project, provide an updated timeline, and answer questions.

She said Columbia Pulp broke ground on August 10, and is expected to be operational in October or November of 2018.

Columbia Pulp will purchase $13 million in straw each year, using 230,000 tons (one 8' x 3' x 4' bale equals a half ton) of local wheat farmers' post-harvest wheat, and convert it into 150,000 tons of usable pulp for the production of sustainable, tree-free paper, packaging goods, and industrial and agricultural products.

Muehlethaler said the plant will operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, giving 90 employees livable wage jobs.

The "multiplier effect" will create another 120 jobs through spin off, she said.

Columbia Pulp will be a state-of-the-art plant using new technologies. Energy costs will be lower through the use of the natural gas power plant, which will generate steam and electricity. The air will be cleaner. Water will be taken out of wells, rather than out of the Tucannon River, she said.

There will also be a savings of 280,000 tons of wood chips each year.

"It takes 20 years for a fir tree to get big enough to chip up to make pulp," Muehlethaler said. "Current thinking is to ship one hundred percent of the straw to the plant by truck, and the chemicals needed to process the straw will be brought in by rail."

She said the tentative plan is to ship one hundred percent of the pulp from the plant by truck, and to ship all of the lignin and carbohydrate coproduct, which will be sold, from the plant by rail. Solid waste will be composted.

"We're working now to dig out the storm water pond," said Ralph Raymond, construction project manager for Pacific Civil & Infrastructure, Inc., at the project site.

Raymond said 15 acres have been leveled for the first two buildings, which will be a process building and warehouse.

There is a concrete batch plant on site and concrete work is expected to begin shortly, he said.

"We want to beat the weather on concrete," said Andrew Albrecht, president of PCI.

The construction crew currently numbers 20. They are working 12-hour days, including Saturdays. Albrecht said he expects a crew of around 120 next spring, and summer.

Michele Smith

On the return trip to Dayton, Muehlethaler told visitors that another company, Columbia Straw, will handle the logistics of the straw. She pointed out the new scale at their facility just a few miles south of Columbia Pulp.

Columbia Pulp CEO John Begley welcomed visitors returning from the project site at the celebration and reception in the Fairgrounds Pavilion.

Begley thanked all of the principal players who took part in developing the project.

State Representative Terry Nealy commended Begley for building trust within the community and with farmers.

Nealy said, "This is a great day, a great celebration for our community and our whole district . . . It's a win, win, win solution."

A Columbia Pulp media advisory states that Columbia Pulp is the first North American mill to make pulp for paper-making from straw.