Dear Editor,
As a long term Rotarian, I have always been a big supporter of our beautiful community; plus, when I was the club fundraising director, very impressed at our citizens’ generosity.
So, why the need to get behind this proposed Straw Pellet and MDF Straw Board Manufacturing facility?
Simple economics with the oil patch demise around Stettler, plus, we have available well-qualified workers who could easily transition to working in the plant.
To a job that would offer fair wages and benefits all year long and be an attractive alternative for our future high school graduates.
Plus, between the construction labour requirements, then with the facility up and running with three eight-hour shifts, the contract people to bale the massive number of wheat straw bales required, stockpile them at strategic locations and transport them to Stettler.
Add to this with all the local economic spin-offs with the needed additional workforce and businesses to serve them; there would be little to lose and much to gain!
I urge all the Stettler citizens, plus those in our county and surrounding counties, to support this project, as we need sustainable long term, well-paid jobs to grow our community with long term prosperity!
As a farm boy who came here from England with a dream and some tools at age 22, I have been very fortunate in all aspects of my life, and I want to support this project as my way of giving back to our community.
The group who developed this project have done their homework, and I am very impressed with what they have done to date.
This plant will take a sustainable byproduct – the straw left over after harvesting wheat or other grain crops on alternative years or as often as our area’s soil fertility needs allow.
Then process it in an environmentally sensitive manner into straw pellets – a more ecologically friendly option than wood pellets and highquality MDF products such as boards or mouldings.
Into a global market with demand growing for both products, in the process replacing a diminishing supply of lumber that takes multiple years to regrow.
The plant will be looking to use other crop residues down the road – oats, barley, canola, flax and hemp straw if available in large enough quantities for commercial strawboard production.
On top of all the above advantages, this plant will use co-generation to provide electrical power using natural gas and waste products from the production process.
The CO2 produced by this unit would be captured and piped down to Big Valley to enable enhanced recovery from the oil-wells in that area, potentially giving new life to the refinery at Content Bridge!
Peter Boys, CAFA
Boys Financial Services
