"With cheaper energy critical to its survival, the recently reopened Great Northern Paper mill in East Millinocket will begin burning natural gas in April – not from a hoped-for pipeline along the Penobscot River valley, but from a fleet of special tanker trucks...
...Replacing oil with natural gas is a priority for all paper mills not on a gas pipeline, said John Williams, president of the Maine Pulp & Paper Association.
Buying wood fiber and paying workers, who earn an average of $61,000 a year, are the top two expenses in papermaking. Energy is third, and with slim profit margins, saving 30 percent on energy can make or break a mill, Williams said.
“Converting to gas is probably the biggest thing happening with the Maine paper industry right now,” he said. “It’s the biggest thing we can do something about.” For example:".....................
Keystone Pipeline kibosh was actually a favor to Warren Buffet? WB owns railroads that have taken a big hit from Obama's war on coal, but now it was announced that Warren's railroads will be shipping natural gas by rail and that will make up for the loss of coal shipments. Doesn't that sound safer? Instead of rural gas pipelines, we will have huge containers of conpressed natural gas traveling through our towns and cities. Lucky Globeville.
Unintended consequences?
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
