Duo presents plan for straw mill project near Starbuck

Starbuck may be the center for a wheat straw processing plant. But it remains to be seen if Whitman County farmers will benefit from it.

Mark Lewis and Dave Powers of Columbia Pulp Mill wanted to talk to farmers about their proposal to build a straw processing plant near Starbuck, but not one farmer attended the Tuesday morning presentation with the exception of county and port commissioners. The few people who did attend explained farmers were out in the fields on a nice spring day.

Although the crowd was sparse, Lewis explained the proposal for close to two hours and then fielded questions.

Lewis explained that straw pulping is not new, but the last straw pulping plant shut down in 1959. He said technology is turning the industry around.

“We’ve taken this from the lab to the commercial scale,” Lewis said.

The plant will be located on 449 acres along the Snake River with natural gas, existing electrical supply, rail and barge capability along with good access to State Route 261.

“There’s four million tons of wheat straw generated annually within a 100-mile radius of the site,” Lewis said.

The new technology creates a stronger pulp that can be substituted for styrofoam used for cups and food storage.

“There’s enough wheat and alfalfa straw in Washington for all the paper produced, not just copy paper,” Lewis said.

A plant in Yakima uses 20 tons of straw per day. The plant takes full-size bales and drops them in a chopper to be processed, he said.

“We know that farmers can’t continue to burn stubble,” Lewis said. “We can take that straw and make something with it.”

Lewis said there are approximately one million tons of wheat straw burned every year and as a result 45,000 tons of ash also is released. The environmental impact is enormous and he said the plant would eliminate that impact.

He said the company would offer farmers contracts at $50 per ton for wheat straw.

Whitman County Commissioner Art Swannack confirmed during the presentation that Lewis was in the ballpark with the straw price.

Lewis said the facility will have minimal environmental and social impact. Lewis said typical pulp mills have an odor in the air and cited Boise and Longview as examples. He said if the plant emits an odor, it would be like wet straw.

The plant will operate 24/7, 365 days a year. Lewis said the estimated construction cost is less than $50 million, much less than the cost of a wood-based pulp mill for $250 to $300 million.

He also said operational costs are less than a wood pulp mill. He also said they would have 14 to 21 days of inventory on the site.

He said it will take 10 months for the plant to be at full production by mid-2016.

Lewis and Powers said they are still seeking $50 million in funding for the plant.

“We need to get the right kinds of financial partners,” Powers said.

There will eventually be 150 full time employees that will have “well paying jobs,” he said.

“These will not be minimum wage jobs,” Lewis said.

He said technological positions will pay between $85,000 to $125,000 annually with operators jobs paying $15 per hour for entry level positions to $45 per hour for more advanced positions.

Lewis also said they would like to find the labor force within the nearby counties. He said public transportation could provide a bus that would run to and from Dayton.

The complex will consume less than 450,000 gallons of water a day and excess water could be sprayed on land the mill wasn’t using.

The mill will process 615 tons of straw per day, 215,000 tons per year, Lewis said.

Construction is to begin later this year to be complete some time in 2015.

Lewis said that they have no agreements with any Whitman County farmers at this time and only have eight to 10 agreements with farmers in Columbia County. He said he is talking to farmers within a 75-mile radius of the Starbuck plant.

Lewis also said that they have talked to custom balers.

Powers explained that before the plant could be operational, more agreements would be solidified.

“We have a unique opportunity here,” Lewis said. “We have a high straw density advantage. There’s more straw per acre here than anywhere else.”

Port of Whitman County Commissioner Dan Boone said there's been similar proposals in the past and asked what made this straw plant different.

Lewis replied there's new technology and tremendous demand for the straw product.

"This could be extremely profitable," he said.