Increase to the Carbon Tax

[frock]

I have a question for anyone from southern BC. How do the logging contractors down there deal with the waste in the bush? Up here they stack it all and then burn it.

This is all leading to my rant .

Most of the northern BC communities do not have a transit service and some like the community I live near do not even have a Greyhound or taxi service. This means we are forced to use our vehicles because we have no other option.

I am now looking at a carbon tax increase yet this government is forcing/allowing logging contractors to free-burn millions of cords of wood every year. I don't know for sure, but I believe the government is forcing the loggers to do this. It only makes sense that if they were given the choice between paying for wear and tear on a hoe, fuel for the hoe and operator wages and just leaving the waste on the ground they would choose the latter.

It seems very ironic to me that I am forced to pay a carbon tax that is supposed to help reduce emissions (increased fuel costs should = less vehicle usage) yet this government is forcing emissions on a massive scale that is not necessary at all.

OK, rant over .

 

[eclipse1966]

I wonder if the pine beetle will be taxed a carbon tax? Take a look at the following article.

Plight of the pines : article : Nature Reports Climate Change

To answer your question yes they do burn down here as well but seems to me not as much as they used to.

 

[moyiesledhead]

Actually, burning wood is considered carbon neutral because left to rot it would create the same amount of CO2 as burning it does. Kinda like creative accounting.

My biggest issue with the carbon tax is it goes into general revenue instead of being spent on actually doing something about the problem....if it even is a problem. No matter what the greenies say the jury's still out on that one!

 

[frock]

I wonder if the pine beetle will be taxed a carbon tax? Take a look at the following article.

Plight of the pines : article : Nature Reports Climate Change

To answer your question yes they do burn down here as well but seems to me not as much as they used to.

They haven't slowed here at all. If anything it's gotten worse because they are logging on a much bigger scale due to all the beetle killed pine.

Interesting read as well.

 

[leadfoot33]

yup i do not agree withthe carbon tax, and the hey here is 100 bucks for you to make up for it.
they dont have transit that runs at the times i work so i have to drive.

 

[frock]

Actually, burning wood is considered carbon neutral because left to rot it would create the same amount of CO2 as burning it does. Kinda like creative accounting.

My biggest issue with the carbon tax is it goes into general revenue instead of being spent on actually doing something about the problem....if it even is a problem. No matter what the greenies say the jury's still out on that one!

The difference between burning and rotting is the CO2 is released over many years and not in a couple hours. The bigger issue is how long will the forest be able to support the next generation of trees if we keep removing the old trees that would normally fall, rot and fertilize the next generations?? At some point the soil will not support anymore growth.

 

[DRD]

I know some of the pulp mills have looked at tapping into the piles but the bureacracy involved was brutal. Wood would be rotten by the time they got the permits to pillage the burn pile.

 

[ferniesnow]

A couple of things: first of all they don't doo a lot of burning, and second they leave the old growth alone. They burn the stumps that they pull for their roads and the rest pretty much lays on the ground. Tembec was always increasing the old growth areas or replacing what had to be harvested due to pine beetle with younger old growth. They also fertilize the new planting areas.

Their (Tembec) forest stewardship was pretty good IMHO.

 

[moyiesledhead]

The difference between burning and rotting is the CO2 is released over many years and not in a couple hours.

Yup, that's the creative accounting part.

 

[Bnorth]

We don't do much burning, most is sold to the pulp mill. As far as not leaving it there, you can't for a couple reasons. Most importantly if you leave the block littered with pulp wood and tops there isn't enough room/sunlight for the seedlings to grow, secondly everything is cut down and processed. the processing happens on deck not on the block so the wood is all skidded/hoe chucked to the deck. You would literally have to skid it back out around the block and then deal with issue 1. After logging a block there is a lot of branches and small wood left around the block that will fertilize the soil, you don't need the bigger logs for fertilizer. So much is left on the block that often a hoe has to go in and mound to further enhance the success of the seedlings.

 

[Stompin Tom]

We don't do much burning, most is sold to the pulp mill. As far as not leaving it there, you can't for a couple reasons. Most importantly if you leave the block littered with pulp wood and tops there isn't enough room/sunlight for the seedlings to grow, secondly everything is cut down and processed. the processing happens on deck not on the block so the wood is all skidded/hoe chucked to the deck. You would literally have to skid it back out around the block and then deal with issue 1. After logging a block there is a lot of branches and small wood left around the block that will fertilize the soil, you don't need the bigger logs for fertilizer. So much is left on the block that often a hoe has to go in and mound to further enhance the success of the seedlings.

Bnorth,

It depends is the block uses skidders or forwarders, if they use forwarders the wood is processed in small clumps throughout the block leaving the waste spread out in a fairly even manner. If the wood is skidded it is then piled and either burned or left for the chippers to come in.

 

[Stompin Tom]

I have a question for anyone from southern BC. How do the logging contractors down there deal with the waste in the bush? Up here they stack it all and then burn it.

This is all leading to my rant .

Most of the northern BC communities do not have a transit service and some like the community I live near do not even have a Greyhound or taxi service. This means we are forced to use our vehicles because we have no other option.

I am now looking at a carbon tax increase yet this government is forcing/allowing logging contractors to free-burn millions of cords of wood every year. I don't know for sure, but I believe the government is forcing the loggers to do this. It only makes sense that if they were given the choice between paying for wear and tear on a hoe, fuel for the hoe and operator wages and just leaving the waste on the ground they would choose the latter.

It seems very ironic to me that I am forced to pay a carbon tax that is supposed to help reduce emissions (increased fuel costs should = less vehicle usage) yet this government is forcing emissions on a massive scale that is not necessary at all.

OK, rant over .

In this region, central interior of BC there is less and less burning every year. On site chipping has become widespread. The portable chippers enter the site, chip and mulch the wood waste and send it out by live floor trucks to local pellet plants.

I would say on site burning is less than half of what it was 5 years ago.

 

[Bnorth]

Bnorth,

It depends is the block uses skidders or forwarders, if they use forwarders the wood is processed in small clumps throughout the block leaving the waste spread out in a fairly even manner. If the wood is skidded it is then piled and either burned or left for the chippers to come in.

Correct but our terrain is quite steep so no one uses forwarders around here. I would like to see more chipping and hogging on the blocks but unfortunately there are no pellet plants here and the pulp mill isn't that hard up for fibre yet.

 

[JaySimon]

yup i do not agree withthe carbon tax, and the hey here is 100 bucks for you to make up for it.
they dont have transit that runs at the times i work so i have to drive.

Cork Soakers don't even send me the 100clams.

Somehow, our gas prices went down 2 cents after the tax increase? Odd.

Also, when prices were rising years ago, it was due to the p[rice of a barrel of oil. Now oil is down, our gas prices haven't changed much, whats the excuse this time? I just wish they could admit they're greedy.

 

[moyiesledhead]

Cork Soakers don't even send me the 100clams.

Somehow, our gas prices went down 2 cents after the tax increase? Odd.

The long weekend was over!

 

[BombardierBratz]

How about bringing back the steam locomotive. Burn the trees, get transportation. I was going to slam B.C. just because a member on this site is always bashing Albertans (Hint Phucking Albertans in HER signature), but I wont. Adding todays technology to old time applications might help in different areas as well. Today I read that they are working on lithium batteries that you can paint onto any surface for power generation. I wonder if a steam locomotive with this paint and solar power would be economical enough to haul vehicles great distances to save on emmissions?