Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
straw pulp bottle
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Mark Lewis, Columbia Pulp chief technology officer, at the August ground-breaking for the new facility.
Whitman County farmers may have a new way to deal with straw. Columbia Pulp broke ground on its 40-acre mill at Lyons Ferry in August. The mill will create pulp from straw which can be used to produce a variety of products like tissues, paper plates and take-out containers. The construction project is forecast to cost $184 million.
“Their construction has been pretty unreal,” said Whitman County farmer Kevin Mader. Mader is one of a number of area farmers already providing straw to Columbia Pulp through Columbia Straw Supply.
The pulp mill is expected to begin operation October 2018 and has been more than a decade in the making. John Begley, Columbia Pulp CEO, stated that in the first year the mill plans to use 100,000 tons of straw. As operations pick up, that number is expected to move to 250,000 tons annually.
“Certainly Whitman County is our target zone,” he said. Columbia Pulp plans to get the straw for its operations from a 100-mile radius from the mill.
While Columbia Pulp emphasizes the environmental and economical aspects for area farmers, those already selling the straw see it as something else.
“We’re more approaching it from a management view,” said Brad Miller who farms in the Colfax area.
“It’s definitely a management tool for us to reduce our tillage and our footprint,” Mader said. “It makes it easier for us to no-till.”
Before selling their straw, the farmers would either burn it in the field after harvest or work it back into the soil.
Miller contracted for delivery of 45,000 tons which will come off his higher yielding fields. He leaves the stubble on the lower-yield areas to put back into the soil. He heard about the mill and its need for straw about four years ago and contacted them. Given the history of straw and straw pulp endeavors in the area and after the first two years with little tangible progress, he was skeptical of the project’s longevity.
With the mill construction proceeding now, he still wonders if the mill will actually meet its predicted demand for straw volume.
“It’s going to take farmers getting on board,” he predicted.
Mader said he sees hope in the future of Columbia Pulp.
“I think they’ve got a great business plan, and they’ve got a strong market,” he said.
Mader said it was a logistical nightmare to manage and haul the straw. Miller had to buy another piece of equipment to stack the bales, but he said if you look at the lifetime of the machinery it is worth it. It is also harder to rely on someone else and their timing, Mader said.
Selling the straw does cut down on the smoke from burning straw, but both felt the better ecological benefit was reduced diesel emissions from working the the straw. Miller’s combines leave the straw in a windrow, so he only has to make one more pass to bale it. He noted the downside of selling is absence of residue to put back into the soil.
He noted there are no firm numbers on the worth of that residue.
“I think the overall benefit is still a positive,” Mader said.
The new mill will be sulphur free and won’t have the rotten-egg smell commonly associated with pulp mills. Begley said all the water used by the mill will not be discharged .
The mill, which is less than two miles upstream from Lyons Ferry state park, is expected to employ about 90 workers. Hiring will be done out of a work source office in Walla Walla. Columbia Pulp’s main office is located in Dayton.
Ben Rankin, co-owner of Columbia Straw Supply, said farmers will get paid about $60 per ton for delivered straw. The base price is $5 per ton of standing straw and that number goes up to compensate for work done in producing it.
This graphic shows the layout and setup of the Columbia Pulp mill near Lyons Ferry. Construction on the site began in August with the mill to open Oct. 2018. Once up to full capacity, the plant will process up to a quarter of a million tons of straw. The straw pulp will be used for products that are generally made of wood pulp.
Jana Mathia is a reporter at the Whitman County Gazette.
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