News stories tagged with "wood-products"

(06/02/10) New York's largest farm lobby group is pushing back, hard, against proposals to tighten regulation of outdoor wood-burning boilers.

The Department of Environmental Conservation wants new boilers to burn more cleanly, and wants old boilers modified to reduce pollution. The agency cites nuisance complaints about low-lying smoke from the burners, and concerns about air quality and public health.

Dean Norton, president of the New York State Farm Bureau, says the Department of Environmental Conservation's proposed restrictions will affect thousands of farmers and homeowners. He says the costs of compliance could reach into the thousands of dollars, at a time when framers are already struggling.

The first of several public hearings on the proposals is tomorrow evening in Watertown. Martha Foley has more.

(06/30/09) Congressman Scott Murphy (D-Glens Falls) traveled to Ticonderoga yesterday. His visit came on the heels of last week's House vote on historic climate-change legislation. Murphy, who took office less than two months ago, voted in favor of the bill. As Brian Mann reports, that decision was met with questions, criticism and praise.

(06/22/09) Last week, New York's Conservation Department announced that yet another invasive species has arrived in the state. This one, the Emerald ash borer, could be devastating. Millions of trees have already been ravaged by the tiny, green beetle, from Michigan to southern Canada. Brian Mann spoke with Robert Davies, head of the DEC Division of Lands and Forests.

(06/05/08) State environment officials have closed New York's borders to shipments of untreated firewood. The new regulations follow on the heels of a request for voluntary limits on the movement of firewood issued last year. Brian Mann has details.

(05/29/08) The North Country's manufacturing industry continues to decline. Jarden Plastics, in Tupper Lake, closed earlier this month. Some companies are holding on and looking for ways to survive and grow. But they face big challenges, with rising energy costs and foreign competition. Brian Mann spoke with Stephen Maselli, president of Old Adirondack Furniture in Willsboro. His company employs more than twenty craftsmen and salespeople. Maselli says the region needs to do more to develop and protect the Adirondack brand. One of the national furniture catalogs that used to sell his company's Adirondack chairs now buys chairs from a plant in Asia.

(08/21/07) The new owners of the Newton Falls paper mill say the plant in southern St. Lawrence County will resume production in two weeks. The plant has sat idle for seven years. Yesterday's announcement follows Governor Eliot Spitzer's decision to spend roughly $1.7 million in state funds to help pay for start-up costs. As Brian Mann reports, ninety workers have already been hired on at the mill.

(08/01/07) One of the last big conservation deals negotiated by the Pataki administration has been finalized. Nearly 52,000 acres in St. Lawrence County will be protected under the deal, according to a statement issued today by DEC commissioner Pete Grannis. Brian Mann has details.

(03/13/07) Federal officials have removed a big stumbling block for the paper mill in Newton Falls, in southern St. Lawrence County. The EPA announced yesterday that it won't require the new owners of the mothballed plant to undergo a comprehensive environmental review before it starts production. As Brian Mann reports, backers now say the mill could be back in operation by this summer.

(12/12/02) State officials in Albany have agreed to allow the use of rough cut lumber in construction projects. Without the change to state building codes, made on Wednesday, hundreds of small sawmills in the North Country would have been forced to shut down. Brian Mann has our story.