PORTLAND — The trade association representing Maine’s pellet fuel manufacturers and allied industry is calling upon the University of Maine at Fort Kent to “keep the promise” made at the June 2013 ground-breaking ceremony for its $4 million biomass heating plant.
At that time, according to its own press release, then University President Wilson G. Hess stated that “the project will spur Northern Maine’s growing wood pellet and biomass fuel markets by consuming nearly 1,000 tons of wood biomass annually,” notes the Maine Pellet Fuel Association. “President Hess went on to state that the project “will serve as a working environmental education example of local renewable fuel replacing non-renewable oil …”
“Sadly,” according to Pellet Fuels Association Director Bill Bell, “UMFK has now been getting almost 90 percent of its pellets from Canada. This was not what was promised by President Hess three years ago, and it’s certainly not what was intended by the President, the Congress, or Maine Forest Service when UMFK took $2.7 million in federal economic recovery funds to install their pellet heating system.”
Bell commended the University of Maine System’s legal counsel (Sara Mlynarchek) for her quick response to the request from Northeast Pellets LLC, the Ashland pellet manufacturer previously supplying UMFK, for complete data about pellet deliveries to UMFK since July 1. “However,” Bell noted, “this data shows that of the total of 346 tons delivered, 302 tons have come from a Canadian supplier.”
Bell acknowledged that the loss of UMFK’s business is not the only factor which has forced Northeast Pellets to cut production and employment by 50 percent. “But it is very disappointing, after Northeast Pellets has invested almost half a million dollars to assure deliveries to UMFK, for 87 percent of the purchases of their largest customer now to be sourced from across the border.”
The Maine Pellet Fuels Association and the offices of U.S. Senators Collins and King have initiated research into the larger issue of pellet imports from Canada. “But this is a long-term project,” the Association notes. “In the meantime, we hope very much that UMFK will seize the opportunity to return to the vision set forth by the University less than three years ago.”
In its own press release, UMFK affirmed that the college continues to purchase energy from Daigle Oil Company, a Maine-based vendor headquartered in Fort Kent with 175 employees throughout northern Maine.
The University of Maine System issued a competitive solicitation for wood energy at UMFK in the fall of 2014 in compliance with Maine law and as part of an effort to achieve savings, reduce carbon emissions, and provide support for the emerging wood pellet industry and the forest products industry. Daigle Oil Company of Fort Kent was one of two bidders to respond and, as the low bidder, was awarded a contract that runs through June of 2016.
To ensure stability of pellet supply, the solicitation required that the vendor have two independent sources of wood pellets. Northeast Pellets of Ashland has been and continues to be one of the sources used by Daigle Oil Company to supply UMFK according to a statement issued recently by the company.
“Daigle Oil Company has a long history of supporting local businesses, including Northeast Pellets, who we’ve been supporting since we entered the pellet delivery business in the spring of 2012 and we continue to purchase pellets from them,” said Sonya Dechene LeBoeuf,” marketing manager for DOC.
“A stipulation of the UMFK contract required pellet supply from two separate sources. We use Northeast Pellets and a Canadian supplier due to the fact no other local suppliers exist in this area,” continued Dechene LeBoeuf.
“While we regret learning that Northeast Pellets has been forced to reduce its production, UMFK remains committed to working with our local energy supplier to ensure that locally-sourced wood pellets continue to provide clean, efficient energy to our campus and community,” said UMFK Interim President John Murphy.
