Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek's trio of biomass projects aims to reduce emissions, creating jobs and revenue
Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek’s years-long journey toward biomass adoption has been marked by a series of starts and stops.
Papasay Sawmill started with three employees, producing rough-sawn, air-dried lumber, but the operation was rudimentary at the outset. “Actually, now the guys are working in the wintertime in their T-shirts, which is pretty cool,” Hatton said. Part of the early challenge in getting people on board was overcoming negative perceptions of the forest industry as being destructive to the environment, Hatton noted. Imagery of scarred land left behind by clearcutting operations scared people off the idea for many years.
Today, Hatton estimated, the community has completed about 95 per cent of the background work required to move the district heating plan forward, including engineering, design and planning work. The community is simultaneously building new homes that would enable displaced members to move back home, which is a priority.
Other members of the partnership include the Red Rock Indian Band, Biinjitiwabik Zaaging Anishnabek, and Animbiigoo Zaagi'igan Anishinaabek. Called high-temperature pyrolysis, the process uses very high heat to convert woody material into renewable natural gas . The process also results in a material called biochar, which can be used as filtration media.
This past spring, CHAR received millions in funding for the LNFMI project from the federal government, and previously received $200,000 from the province.
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