Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced a 278-million-dollar (279-million US) investment Thursday to help Canada's pulp and paper industry become more environmentally friendly.

Speaking in Windsor, Quebec, Harper said Ottawa would namely allocate nearly 25 million dollars to paper manufacturer Domtar Corporation to help its pulp and paper mill "invest in energy-efficient and environment-friendly technologies."

The 24.8-million-dollar (24.9-million US) investment is part of the government's much touted Pulp and Paper Green Transformation Program, which seeks to help mills in Canada reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and produce renewable energy from forest biomass.

The rest of the investment would go to plants in New Brunswick, Alberta and British Columbia.

Environmentalists have long targeted the pulp and paper industry in Canada and the United States for using chlorine-based bleaches and unleashing toxic emissions in the air, water and soil.

Harper said Domtar would use the money to upgrade the Windsor facility's biomass boiler, expand its use of alternative fuels to generate renewable energy and use less steam to produce more paper with recycled content.

Lambasted at home and abroad for his lax efforts to tackle global warming, the prime minister defended his record, saying: "It's very easy… to proclaim great greenhouse gas emission targets."

"I'm well aware of the criticisms. But what we need are concrete measures in order to really meet those targets. And this government has been the first one to take concrete measures such as the one being announced today," he added.

earlier related report

Iowa ash trees to go under the ax
Des Moines, Iowa (UPI) Jan 6, 2011 –

Iowa officials say they've begun the process of ridding the state of ash trees threatened by a voracious pest and replacing them with more resistant varieties.

The action is in response to the discovery of the emerald ash borer, a tree-eating beetle, in northeast Iowa last year, the Des Moines Register reported Thursday.

City and park work crews are starting with mostly younger damaged trees, using the latest threat as an opportunity to get a hardier mix of trees along city streets and in parks, the newspaper said.

At an average cost of $1,500 per tree for removal, city managers are looking at a huge bill. Costs for removing ash trees could reach $15 million in Des Moines alone.

Robin Pruisner of the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship says starting removals now, even before the pest reaches further areas, is part of a strategy to spread costs over time while increasing forest diversity.

"It's all about eating the elephant one bite at a time," Pruisner said. "Cities need to do an inventory of ash trees first. If they have a lot of ash trees, it might be best" to remove some now.

By starting early, "the new species will get some size, both for shade and aesthetics, instead of having a city where all the trees are gone," she said.

It is highly likely all ash trees in Iowa will succumb to the beetle, which burrows under a tree's bark and cuts off its food supply, she said.

"As of right now, there is nothing on the horizon that shows any promise of stopping or drastically slowing down the emerald ash borer," Pruisner said.

Share This Article With Planet Earth