Last week, residents of Gum Springs met with Arkadelphia Economic Development representatives, worried about the Shandong Sun Paper (Sun) fluff mill. The report says, “Sun Paper representatives are concerned with how people in the community feel. They brought that up a number of times. They were concerned if students would be protesting if they started cutting down some trees and they are very clean with the water.” Comments made by the Arkadelphia Alliance Board raise additional questions. “Overall, the mill will not degrade the air quality, water quality or timber resources.” False, this is pure fiction!
Will Arkadelphia get a mill?
No. “The mill is positive news to some people, there are others who have expressed their concerns regarding the acquisition of the $1.3 billion bio-products mill.” Sun is a privately owned Chinese company selling disposable diapers. According to the 2016 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) Sun will invest more than $1 billion to build a massive mill, and ship 700,000 tons per year of fluff to China. Around four million tons of trees per year will be used to feed the mill with 400 truck deliveries per day. This is not a joint venture, the mill will be designed, owned, and managed by Sun. Arkadelphia “acquires” pollution, road congestion, and deforestation.
Is this a bio-products paper mill?
No. This is a fluff mill. Bio-products makes it sound high-tech, but is just a mill. Sun plans to generate all the power it needs using wood powered steam turbines and sell 50 megawatts of power to the grid. The mill will use millions of gallons of water from the Ouachita River and burn wood as fuel.
Is this a chemical mill?
Yes. But this is a secret to hide the stench and pollution. One report claims mechanical fluff will be used, with no chemicals or pollution. This is fiction. There are different types of fluff. Mechanical fluff is low quality, containing wood splinters, unacceptable for baby diapers. Mechanical mills use large amounts of electricity to power electrical grinders used to convert woodchips into fibers. Last week, AEDC refused to confirm Sun is a chemical mill and claims an exclusion from the Freedom of Information Act. Is this why Sun is worried about student protests?
How bad is the stench of the mill?
Bad. “Thanks to technology, the mill will not release an odor in the air. This is essentially an odorless technology. I don’t think we will have a negative consequence of just the smell.” Fiction. All chemical mills, using sulfates produce sulfur compounds, smell like rotten eggs.
Are there other air quality concerns?
Yes. Burning wood releases carbon dioxide. Combustion is a complex chemical process using oxygen and wood as fuel to create fire, releasing wood smoke with toxic particulate matter and other gases. Long term exposure to PM, equivalent to second-hand smoke, is lethal. Moving away from the mill is the only solution.
Will the mill pollute the Ouachita River?
Yes. “They have to take 16 million gallons of water a day out of the Ouachita River; 11 million gallons will be returned as wastewater.” With the downstream pollution from the Crossett GP paper mill, the cumulative impact to Louisiana would be deadly.
Is this the best deal for the Natural State?
No. The Arkansas Economic Development Council (AEDC) declines to put a price tag on the deal, but the MoU shows more than $260 million for Sun. Not all the 250 jobs are for Arkansans and the hourly rate is unknown. Gov. Hutchinson promised to expedite all permits and gave AEDC’s Mike Preston a $50,000 bonus. How could this happen in the Natural State? The smelly mill is hardly a tourist attraction. Thousands of eco-friendly jobs can be created with $260 million to grow our $7 billion revenue tourist industry.
Arkansas deserves a bright future. With the facts on our side, how can we pretend all is good and not fiction? We are left, once again, with only one option. Facts will prevail.
Dr. Luis Contreras
The Kraft mill is a steal for China. Gov. Hutchinson said Chairman Li, the founder of Sun Paper, “is an extraordinary businessman and a tough negotiator.”
In addition to over $260 million in subsidies from Arkansas taxpayers, China gets:
1. Sixteen million gallons of water per day from the Ouachita River, returning eleven million gallons of water as wastewater, bleached with chlorine.
2. A permit to pollute the air with wood smoke and particulate matter (PM), carbon dioxide, and sulfur dioxide rotten-egg stench.
3. Over 3 million tons of timber, at bottom prices.
4. Road congestion and road wear from 400 logging truck daily deliveries to the mill.
5. A new $35 million multimodal container loading facility to send fluff on railcars to China. The Marion Union Pacific facility is 3 hours from the mill. Why build a dedicated facility?
Eric Hughes of the Arkadelphia Alliance Board, said, “overall, the mill will not degrade the air quality, water quality or timber resources.”
Are these guys for real? Not even the 250 jobs are for locals, Chinese managers will get top salaries, and the hourly rate for locals is up for negotiation.
Once the mill is built, we will find how tough Chairman Li really is.
Arkansans deserve better, a full due diligence independent study is in order, before taking another step.
Are there better alternatives for forest owners than selling timber to the Sun mill at a loss?
Yes, Forest Carbon Offsets, a simple win-win solution.
Coal-fired power plants do the opposite of forests. Forests capture carbon dioxide, release oxygen and store carbon deep in the forest soil, filter rainwater and prevent flash floods.
Arkansas net electric energy generation burning fossil fuels is 58 percent of the total. Polluters will benefit paying forest owners to stay in business … until the Sun shines!
Are timber sales to a fluff mill the best deal?
Pulpwood plantations near Gum Springs, grown as a cash crop, and the many loggers and truckers involved in the supply of round logs to the mill are the main proponents. Based on the current timber inventory it is easy to see why tree farms and pine plantation owners want the mill, as long as they make a profit. Selling at a loss to make it up in volume is fiction.
Here is why: the mill would be designed, owned, managed and operated by Sun, a privately held Chinese company. To make a profit from their $1.36 Billion investment, they need to sell disposable diapers made in China at low cost. The mill will pay the lowest price for timber taking bids from forest owners. With one buyer and many sellers, Sun will drive the price of timber down, down, down.
“I’ll sell at a loss but make it up in volume!”
Sun does not need quality timber to make fluff, but they will demand on-time and on quantity deliveries as needed by their production schedule, with penalties for non-compliance.