Three Oregon-based timber companies Boise-Rogue Valley Plywood, SierraPine Ltd. and Timber Products Co, have installed millions of dollars in pollution equipment to meet an October federal deadline, reports the Mail Tribune.
Federal law required the companies to eliminate about 168 tons of the 261 tons of hazardous pollutants they release annually, including wood fibres, glues and other compounds used in manufacturing.
White City-based Rogue Valley Plywood ¬¬– a unit of Boise, Idaho-based Boise Cascade LLC – has until December 20 to test newly installed equipment that cost under US$2 million.
SierraPine installed the largest thermal oxidizer ever supplied by a Canadian manufacturing firm, AH Lundberg Systems GeoEnergy division of Vancouver BC; while Timber Products, based in Springfield, installed both a thermal oxidizer and bio-filter to treat air from its plywood and particleboard presses, at a cost of roughly US$3m.
Five other Oregon wood products companies have also to comply with the new rules.
