Hi: I have one request and one resource to pass on.
1. I have asked Rik Aikman, Environmental Coordinator for Buchanan Forest Products in Ontario and chair of the Ontario SFI Implementation Committee, to address our project on the topic of "Challenges facing the
Forest Products Industry in Ontario.” He will do this through a guest commentary on the Skidder. Would you please hit the “comment” button below and list any specific questions that you would like Rik to address? Please post your questions by Wednesday, July 30, so I can forward them to Rik in a timely manner.
2. Biomass Commodity Exchange: I thought you might be interested in this recent announcement out of Madison, WI regarding the implementation of the Biomass Commodity Exchange (BCEX) project.
The project is charged with “creating an implementation plan for a commodity exchange as a means to increase the efficiency of the supply chain providing biomass to the existing biobased fuels industries and the emerging concept of the forest biorefinery”. The implementation plan will also examine “the future trade of closed-loop energy crops, such as willow, poplar and switchgrass and as an approach to offset CO2 emissions through synergies created with other regulated exchanges such as the Chicago Climate Exchange. Organizers of the effort are seeking public and trade input to the business plan for a woody biomass commodity exchange.